For Christine Melchor, the big old blue bus is packed with history that must be taught. Some of it is seen, like the photos of children born after their mothers came to visit. Some is unseen, like the stories of those mothers and children that still linger around its aging steel, glass, and rubber. Thousands of them.

"You feel them," she explained, "when you walk up the steps." As Executive Director of the Houston Coalition for Life, she sees the priceless value of the almost five-decade-old bus turned mobile pregnancy center known as "Big Blue," the first mobile center of its kind in Texas. It was her brainchild. Now it stands ready for a new vital mission of education as it rests in retirement at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Houston. Melchor says its historic contribution must be permanently marked and remembered for future generations of advocates.
"We need to immortalize it," she declared, "When we first put it out there, we had no idea of what would come of it."

The next odyssey for Big Blue could be more important still. With most abortions now banned in Texas, at least by law, Coalition Director of Development Alexandra Sizemore points to the ongoing need to move hearts and memorialize the years of work by the people who prayed outside the bus, and cared for mothers inside it. "Who knows what will happen in politics in the future?" she asked. "It stands as a concrete reminder that this group stood up against the giant of the abortion industry."

Big Blue's epic journey is measured, not in miles but in mothers, and their babies. Since 2011 it sat mostly stationary, parked six days a week on Gulfcrest Street in Houston, where the Coalition offers expectant mothers pregnancy tests, counseling, ultrasound exams, and an alternative to the abortions offered through the massive Planned Parenthood headquarters across the street. Over the years, it hosted more than 40,600 visits, delivering 21,000 positive pregnancy tests. Among all those tests, the mothers decided to keep their babies in almost 20,000 cases. "In 2024 we had 5000 visits," Melchor said, "and 97 percent of the positive pregnancy tests we did continued their pregnancies."

"It's a very powerful mission," said Head Nurse Cheryl Park who has long worked with mothers in Big Blue. "A lot of stories in there, a lot of terrible, and good stories. I used to pray that I'd have kids, and I got blessed with a lot of kids, who survived because of the bus."

Christine Melchor traces Big Blue's journey back to an early morning in 2009 as she drove in the dark and pondered the challenge presented by what was then the new Planned Parenthood mega center. "I really always felt this was a direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit," she recalled. "We knew Planned Parenthood had bought the building on Gulfcrest. We were hoping a pregnancy center in Houston would expand over there and we could refer women there on the spot and not have to drive 25 minutes away. I was asking God what to do. I felt the call that said 'You're there every day. Why don't you do it?"
Following the example of mobile pregnancy centers in other parts of the country, Deacon Mike Mims of Anthony of Padua Church proposed repurposing a bus and creating such a facility using his Woodlands vehicle customization business Imagi-Motive. Then he tracked down just the right vehicle, a 1987 vintage New Jersey transit bus that had been a touring bus for a Christian band. After transporting it down from Pennsylvania, he went to work. "It took nine months for it to be retrofitted," Melchor noted. "Isn't that funny? -We said it was the birth of our baby, in December 2010." Imagi-Motive continued work on later, smaller, "Baby Blue" mobile centers in vans, even after Deacon Mims' death in 2014, under the leadership of his son.

Big Blue hit the road in February 2011 and quickly inspired mechanic Leo Galvan, who offered to serve as a driver for a few days. He continued for 14 years.

"I didn't know anything about the Coalition for Life," he said. "I didn't pay attention. It didn't affect me until I sat behind the wheel. I made it my ministry."

The reception on Gulfcrest was less than enthusiastic. Planned Parenthood "escorts" tried to steer expectant mothers away from Big Blue and occasionally chased Coalition prayer groups off the public sidewalk. But slowly, more and more mothers came, for testing, counseling, and for the free ultrasound exams. "'Free' sounds really good," chuckled Melchor. "Planned Parenthood was charging $150 for an ultrasound." Some of the mothers' stories were wrenching. "I saw a pimp brought one of his workers to the bus," Galvan recalled. "I said 'What is this guy doing with this girl? You can't do something to the child like that!" Other cases became gentle triumphs, like the older woman who thought her high blood pressure would make her pregnancy risky. "I told her I'd adopt her baby spiritually. I showed her the ultrasound pictures," Park said. "I called the Carmelite nuns in San Antonio to pray. She came out and said 'I'm going to have this baby.' That was an instant miracle."

From 2011 to 2025, the bus drove, six days a week, from its parking spot at the Catholic Charismatic Center on the opposite side of Interstate 45 to take its post, opposite Planned Parenthood, offering aid for mothers. Eventually, time, age and mechanical challenges caught up with Big Blue. In July, the Coalition finished work on a new Big Blue bus to take its place. "It brings tears to my eyes to think about retiring it," Melchor sighed. What comes next, she says, can be just as important for the mothers and children of tomorrow, and for those who will speak for them. Besides its status as a priceless artifact of the fight for life, Big Blue emeritus can become an educational center where visitors can walk in the footsteps of its heroes, and the mothers and children they saved. "We can have a marker made for it," she said, "and show what its accomplished. We have pictures, hundreds of pictures of those babies. A lot of those moms have come back with their babies to thank us. Some of those children can come too as they've grown up."

While a full-sized bus is somewhat larger than the stone that took down Goliath, Sizemore points out that Big Blue is just as iconic a gem, a precious one, and a crucial memento for the future.

"We need to remember the place where people stepped up," she said, "and keep this reminder to stand up to the giants." 

By Charles Molineaux