The Vereniging ter Bescherming van het Ongeboren Kind (association for the protection of the unborn child) was launched in 1971 ‘with the aim of offering women who did not want to be pregnant an alternative to abortion’. The VBOK claims to have 100,000 members and operates nine information centres nationwide. It has a paid workforce of 50 and around 750 volunteers. The organisation says it guided 335 women through unwanted pregnancies in 2006.