OUR HISTORY

In the 1980s, Brother Mathias Barrett (founder of the Good Shepard Center and the Barrett Home for unwed others in Albuquerque) started a ministry to pray in front of abortion facilities in Albuquerque. The ministry became known as "Project Life" and was devoted to offering pregnant women help and alternatives to abortion. 

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In 2006, Fr. Stephen Imbarrato revived the ministry and worked with a board of directors to rename and establish Br. Mathias' legacy as Project Defending Life, a tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization. Fr. Imbarrato dedicated the organization to educating New Mexicans about abortion  and its impact on our families spiritually, physically, and emotionally. To help women who were at-risk for abortion, Fr. Imbarrato opened a pregnancy resource center in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. 

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Now located just 350 feet from Albuquerque's Planned Parenthood abortion facility and under new leadership, Project Defending Life has become the epicenter of pro-life ministries that houses a pregnancy medical clinic, a sidewalk ministry, and the Holy Innocents Chapel. Our pregnancy center in Santa Fe also houses a Eucharistic chapel and is currently being transformed into a medical clinic as well as the hub of pro-life mission work for northern New Mexico. 

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