{"id":53035,"date":"2025-11-19T19:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T19:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/53035\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T19:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T19:13:10","slug":"st-petes-new-choices-all-options-pantry-provides-free-abortion-care-and-pregnancy-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/53035\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pete\u2019s new Choices All Options Pantry provides free abortion care and pregnancy support"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ALana\u2019e Hernandez with the Choices All Options Pantry in St. Petersburg, Florida. Credit: choicespantry \/ Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

Choices without judgement, without cost. This is what Lana\u2019e Hernandez believes care for pregnant people should look like, and she\u2019s putting her money where her mouth is. Hernandez just opened the first Choices All Options Pantry in St. Petersburg where anyone can go to access free, self-serve supplies for birth control, abortion, full term pregnancy and infant care.<\/p>\n

The pantry is located in a hallway at the Museum of Motherhood in the Warehouse Arts District. It can be accessed through a back door which is open to the public from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. seven days a week.<\/p>\n

Choices is serious about being judgement-free; you don\u2019t have to walk by a front desk, and the hallway is not heavily-trafficked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can just show up and take what you need from the pantry,\u201d Hernandez told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. \u201cNobody\u2019s there asking what you might need it for or how many you need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Items stocked in the pantry include: pregnancy and ovulation tests; prenatal vitamins; diapers and rash cream; over-the-counter birth control; nausea remedies; emergency contraceptives; breast pumps; and educational zines and pamphlets to help you access free resources for abortion or continued pregnancy. There are too many items to list here, but Choices\u2019 Instagram page<\/a> has a video showcasing what\u2019s available to everyone for free.<\/p>\n

If you put the Museum of Motherhood into a navigation app, it will take you to the front entrance. To get to the back entrance, turn east onto 7th Avenue S off of 28th Street S\u2014just north of Pinellas Trail. It\u2019s a door right near Daddy Kool Records\u2019 back entrance.<\/p>\n

\"MapA map showing directions to St. Petersburg\u2019s Choices All Options Pantry. Credit: By Valerie Smith \/ Open Maps<\/p>\n

Hernandez is a case manager at Florida Access Network,<\/a> an organization unaffiliated with the pantry that helps people access abortions. She initially got involved with Planned Parenthood after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to impose harsher restrictions on abortion with its Dobbs v. Jackson ruling. Hernandez\u2019s role has exposed her to a lot of gaps in the care available to pregnant people.<\/p>\n

Crisis pregnancy centers advertise free services for pregnant people, but the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists<\/a> says they operate unethically to try to dissuade people from getting abortions. People who seek abortions out-of-state need childcare, but often can\u2019t get it. Government-funded WIC provides food for people who are pregnant or have young children, but it doesn\u2019t pay for diapers, nipple pads or other important care items.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese things should be free,\u201d Hernandez told CL. \u201cThat\u2019s where mutual aid comes in to help bridge that gap and to give the people the things that they should already have access to.\u201d Hernandez credited Tampa Period Pantry<\/a> organizer Bree Wallace with helping her get the project off the ground through advice and support.<\/p>\n

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Up to this point, Hernandez has funded Choices entirely out of her own pocket. With the government shutdown pausing SNAP payments, Hernandez understands that the financial pressure could lead some people to choose between eating and getting pregnancy and infant care supplies. To help cover that gap, she self-funded the pantry so she could deploy it as soon as possible.\u00a0
Choices is accepting monetary and material donations<\/a> to keep the pantry stocked, and Hernandez hopes to establish more in the coming months. \u201cI think reproductive healthcare and mutual aid go hand-in-hand,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cIt\u2019s all one big resource that needs to be funded.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This article appears in Nov. 13 \u2013 19, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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