***BREAKING NEWS***
35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
 “As we remember the lives destroyed by this disastrous decision, Roe v. Wade, we rise again to defend the dignity of women. Women deserve better than abortion. As a society, we have a responsibility to protect the the rights of vulnerable women and innocent children,” said Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., President of Heartbeat International since 1993. “Nearly 1,100 Heartbeat affiliated pregnancy centers and Option Line, our 24/7 national call center and website (PregnancyCenters.org) offer alternatives, support, and love to women who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant or suffering from the trauma of abortion. In communities across the country, people are working tirelessly to provide free and confidential services to help women and families. The American people believe that life is an unalienable right. This is why so many come to our Nation’s Capital and March for Life.”
March for Life 2008: A Unified and Energized Movement
By Nathan Burd, Director of International Program & Public Policy
For 35 years, pro-lifers from all around the country have gathered for the March for Life in Washington, D.C. to call for the end of abortion. The March is held in January to coincide with the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and although the weather is always brutally cold, the sight of pro-life Americans filling the streets of our nation’s capital is enough to warm our hearts.
The 2008 March for Life reaffirmed that our movement is unified and energized. As we marched down Constitution Avenue towards the Supreme Court, we were surrounded by good-hearted people from all different aspects of the movement: young and old, post-abortive women and men who lost their fatherhood, elected officials, sidewalk counselors, pregnancy center staff and volunteers, students, pastors and priests, and other concerned citizens. They come from various walks of life to demand justice for the unborn.
Just three short years ago, I remember rows of protesters from Planned Parenthood and NARAL heckling us as we marched. This year, I saw one lone pro-abortion protester shuffling aimlessly around the steps of the Supreme Court. They are demoralized because they know that our movement is winning the hearts and minds of the American people. The clock is ticking on the culture of death in our land.
As the March ended and we gathered on the steps of the Supreme Court to listen to dozens of post-abortion women tell their stories, I looked up at that giant building and read the words engraved along the top: EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW. If we keep working, marching, and praying, those words will soon be true.
Read President Bush’s March for Life remarks here.
Heartbeat President Meets with U.S. President before Marching for Life
Pro-life leaders from around the country were invited to the White House to meet with President George Bush before the March for Life.
“Today we're heartened -- we're heartened by the news that the number of abortions is declining. But the most recent data reports that more than one in five pregnancies end in an abortion. America is better than this, so we will continue to work for a culture of life where a woman with an unplanned pregnancy knows there are caring people who will support her; where a pregnant teen can carry her child and complete her education; where the dignity of both the mother and child is honored and cherished. We aspire to build a society where each one of us is welcomed in life and protected in law.” - President George W. Bush
Click here to view Pictures of this and the 2008 March for Life.
Major Metropolitan Newspaper Spotlights Heartbeat’s Work
 Pregnancy centers stir debate
By Rita Price
The Columbus Dispatch profiles Peggy Hartshorn and Heartbeat International's mission to reach and rescue babies and mothers and to renew communities for life. Dispatch award winning journalist's writing confirms a growing media trend to recognize link between breast cancer and abortion. Read the full article...
JAMES D. DeCAMP | DISPATCH
A map in the office of Heartbeat International President Peggy Hartshorn shows the group's pregnancy resource centers in the U.S. It has 77 centers in Ohio and nearly 1,100 worldwide.
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Just as many Americans know where they were when President Kennedy was killed or when terrorists struck on Sept. 11, Peggy Hartshorn carries a frozen memory of Jan. 22, 1973.
"I was on High Street in Columbus, listening to the radio," she said. Hartshorn called her husband. "Find out if it's true! Can this be true?"
With Roe v. Wade paving the way for legal abortion nationwide, she thought, "There would be more and more pressure put on women to have abortions." Hartshorn became an activist and started housing pregnant women in her home.
On the eighth anniversary of the decision, in 1981, she and her husband founded Pregnancy Decision Health Centers, a member of Heartbeat, in Columbus, Ohio. They were among the first such centers in the country to offer ultrasounds; hundreds have followed suit. Read the rest of the article...
Heartbeat’s 37th Annual Conference to Convene in Dallas in April
"While the Annual Conference gave us a surge of energy as we prepared to open the doors of our ministry years ago, we soon realized that running a center without adequate training is like driving a car without brakes. It could be dangerous! our team now relies on the Annual Conference for yearly "refresher" courses. We owe much of our growth and success to what we've learned through Heartbeat tools, training, fresh ideas, and proven concepts, especially the Annual Conference.
"The environment of center operations is rapidly changing. We must be vigilant in sharpening the skills and using the resources that God has entrusted to us. The Annual Conference in Dallas promises the latest research, practical educational sessions, and encouragement you need to continue to expand your ministry. Join me in Dallas in 2008 for a 30,000 mile tune-up!" -Cindy Boston, Pregnancy Care Center (Springfield, MO)
Gail Schreiner, Africa Cares for Life, will present a Keynote address at the 2008 Heartbeat International Conference.
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“The conference was much more than what I expected. I came to the conference feeling rather empty but very soon my emotional bank was topped up. Furthermore, the few days spent with so many wonderful people from all over the world revitalized and energized me more than words could ever explain.” -Gail Schreiner, Africa Cares for Life (South Africa)
“The conference was helpful and a real blessing for me. Now I feel like I’m not alone anymore.” -Lucy Popova, Women’s Information Center (Bulgaria)
“It was wonderful to receive so much great teaching and to meet so many Americans that work for the same purpose and vision as we do. We’re absolutely thrilled and blessed to take part in all the experience that you have.” -Christina Marie Braüner Nielsen, Heart for Life (Denmark)
Learn more about this valuable training or click here to read what other International Guests have said about the Heartbeat Conference.
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Truth about worldwide well-being debunks the population disaster myth
by Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., Heartbeat President
 More people live better today than at any time in recent history says Indur M. Glokany in his book, The Improving State of the World: Why We’re Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet. This uplifting study illustrates that the very demands of increasing populations have compelled us to develop technologies in feeding, educating, and healing people worldwide.
Very good news indeed, this new look at our planet and our lives explodes the population disaster myth. For example, since 1970, chronic hunger and global illiteracy rates have dropped dramatically. Life expectancy has doubled since 1900. Medical advances like ultrasound even allow us to cure babies during pregnancy and save them from abortion.
We love hearing from you!
Our LifeSavers and Strategic Partners lavished us with Christmas blessings, cards, and photos in December. We are grateful for and encouraged by your thoughts and prayers.
— Peggy and the Heartbeat Family
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Yet the population disaster myth continues to poison everyday decisions with a dark message that people, especially the poor and disadvantaged, are problems that need to be limited or even eliminated and that childbearing itself is bad for life on earth. Abortion advocates use this myth to justify the killing of innocent children. This is a dehumanizing “solution” for a problem that does not exist.
We at Heartbeat -- LifeSavers, Strategic Partners, Board members, and Staff -- are called in a special way to defend the dignity of life. Together, we can lead society to cherish life. Our democratic institutions themselves were built on the belief that life is a gift of the Creator and a reflection of God Himself. Our job is to reawaken these values in our families and communities by our own example, especially by living our pro-life values. Your generosity in prayers and giving plays an important role in our progress.
I have hope for the success of our mission because as a society, we have faced previous challenges so successfully. So, let us trust in God, give of ourselves, and look forward with hope as we partner together for life.
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2008 Strategic highlights
Goals and challenges that drive Heartbeat programs
Heartbeat supports affiliate ministries’ goals of offering hope and desperately needed life-saving options for women and families in the face of abortion. More than 1.2 million women in the US and up to 60 million more worldwide suffer from the scourge of abortion each year. Yet, many pregnancy resource centers (PRC’s) are small, have limited hours, depend heavily on volunteers, and lack funds for marketing to reach these women with abortion alternatives.
“Reach down your hand from on high; deliver me…” (Psalm 144:7).
In 2008, Heartbeat continues to reach and rescue as many lives as possible around the world through an effective network of care centers that renew their communities for life. |
Option Line, Heartbeat’s national 24/7 call center and website, supports local PRC’s through marketing help (a website design and hosting), and by directly patching through abortion-vulnerable callers to local PRC’s.
Option Line attracts over 200,000 calls, e-mails, and instant messages yearly through our own advertising and collaborations with other advertisers. Since over 70% of callers contact Option Line when their local PRC is closed, we have initiated the cutting-edge, web-based Plus Link program to make immediate center appointments, so these callers (and their babies) are not “lost.”
By the end of 2008, Option Line will double the number of centers on Plus Link, covering the major US cities with the largest number of abortion clinics, and prepare to roll out the program to over 2,000 centers.
“Rescue me, O Lord, from evil men; protect me from men of violence” (Psalm 140:1).
Heartbeat supports over 1,000 pregnancy centers with training, on-line guidance, on-site and distance learning programs, and resources such as manuals for best practices in development and delivery of effective services, operations, and governance. Heartbeat also is committed to the formation of leadership for our movement. In 2007, more than 1,000 leaders benefited from person-to-person training at our Annual Conference and other in-depth trainings for new and existing center leaders.
In 2008, Heartbeat will increase the number of affiliates to 1,150, will provide person-to-person training to over 1,250 leaders, and will expand our outreach with web-based training.
“He sent me to bind up the broken hearted... They will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations” (Isaiah 61:1-4).
Heartbeat’s Urban Initiative is a strategic effort to increase the number of pro-life centers in large cities where most abortions are performed and where abortion clinics greatly outnumber pro-life centers. Earlier this year, Heartbeat of Miami, our Urban Initiative pilot project, opened the first ultrasound-equipped center in Hialeah, an area of Miami with seven abortion clinics and no life-saving medical centers.
In 2008, plans call for opening two additional sites, in North Miami and South Miami, and beginning the second phase of this crucial initiative in three new cities.
Your generosity reaches, rescues and renews lives that hang in the balance. We ask you to join us in prayer and action so that these ambitious plans will be blessed with God’s grace, wisdom, courage, and love.
 The good news, “Daniel of the Year”
Award honors the pregnancy center movement
World Magazine, a pro-life Christian publication, has recognized the pregnancy center movement as its “Daniel of the Year.” World Magazine lauded the PRC movement saying, “Faith in God gave them the strength to stand up against tyrants who tried to put themselves in God’s place.” The whole story, WORLD’s 10th Daniel of the Year, is online at WorldMag.com.
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New Miami-Dade Pregnancy Help Medical Clinic
By Reverend John Ensor, Executive Director, Urban Initiative
Heartbeat of Miami partners plan for 2nd clinic in North Dade-Miami. |
Last year, our Urban Initiative focused on establishing our first Pregnancy Help Medical Clinic (PHMC) in one of Miami’s neediest Latino neighborhoods. By God’s grace, many people gave generously and worked together. Heartbeat of Miami (HOM) is now changing lives and rescuing babies in a mission that Latino Christians embrace as their own and operate. Area clergy now declare more willingly the biblical call to cherish and defend innocent human life. Members step forward to help abortion-vulnerable women through HOM and recast a vision for sexual integrity within marriage. As this increases, abortion is stigmatized, rejected by individuals and ultimately, defeated as a local business.
Now we turn to an even harder task: establishing a PHMC in Miami’s predominantly Black neighborhoods. Why is it harder? Heartbeat Board members, Mrs. Pat Hunter and Dr. Alveda King, have dedicated their lives to awakening the Black Christian community to the harsh reality of abortion, the “black genocide,” (their words). They believe the obstacles are steeper and deeper because they are multi-leveled and inter-connected. Part of the problem is that all people and churches resist facing the ugly truth of abortion and admitting our blood-guilt.
Often, we do not want to know because we do not want to be responsible to stop it. Often, Black leaders feel this acutely, given the many other challenges their neighborhoods face.
And often, traditional pro-life organizations do not invite Black leaders to the planning table. We will be more effective when everyone involved in the struggle is on the same page, at the same time. Race issues and “racism,” perceived and real, between the currently predominantly white pro-life movement and the Black churches also make the task significantly more difficult.
Nonetheless, in Miami, individuals from several Black churches have formed a Development Team. They found the perfect location. We lack the means at present, but we are praying for underwriters and volunteers.
Your partner in a steeper and deeper work,
Rev. John Ensor
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Heartbeat welcomes
Dr. Julie Parton
 Dr. Julie Parton has joined her loving heart and vast experience with Heartbeat’s Board and mission to encourage more women to choose life over abortion. During her years working at Focus on the Family as the Director of Pregnancy Resource Ministry, Dr. Parton helped equip pregnancy centers nationwide with ultrasound technology.
An ultrasound test helps provide a mother with the valuable information she needs to make an informed decision explains Dr. Parton. A Focus on the Family study shows that 90% decide to carry their babies to term after viewing an ultrasound. Dr. Parton currently works with the Life Training Institute in Colorado. |
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January 20th marked Option Line’s fifth anniversary with a milestone: service to over 641,000 people struggling with abortion. Men and women facing crisis pregnancies, suffering from past abortions, or seeking honest answers about abortion find a compassionate and trusted voice and the help of a local pregnancy center when they call (800) 395-HELP or go to OptionLine.org. This 24/7 national call-center is a joint venture of Heartbeat International and Care Net.
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Julie Stobbe is the Founder/President of Act of Life, a ministry that advances adoption as a loving parenting choice. |
Redemption through adoption:
From the heart of a birthdaughter
by Julie Stobbe
I am the product of a crisis pregnancy, knit together in the womb of a frightened teenager who chose to give me life and a family through adoption.
Over the years, I felt many emotions related to my adoption. I was angry with my birthmother for giving me up until I faced some hard truths. Had she aborted me, wouldn’t that truly be giving me up… to death? Would parenting me before she was prepared have been the best choice for either of us? I realized that my birthmother loved me. God showed me this truth: every single goal I had ever accomplished was a direct result of her decision to give me life and to give me a future through adoption.
I decided I wanted to thank my birthmother. Our reunion progressed from a phone call to letters with photographs and finally, to a meeting. I was 26 years old, performing in a Broadway musical at the time. She traveled to meet me at the end of a performance. The last time she had seen me I was a 3 day-old infant. Today, she is a dear friend and we continue to enjoy the gift of love and life that she made possible!
Watch for Part 2 of Redemption through adoption, From the heart of a birthmother, in the next issue of LifeLines.
The birthmother controls the adoption plan
- Confidential adoption allows a birthmother complete anonymity.
- Open adoption allows her to select her child’s parents and enjoy a direct, ongoing relationship as her baby grows up.
- Semi-open adoption combines advantages of confidentiality and connection. The birthmother selects the parents but they exchange only non-identifying information, possibly through a third party.
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e-Partners From Kiev with love
Peter and Ginny van der Steur are Christian missionaries who have spread the Gospel in the Ukraine for many years. They discovered Heartbeat’s e-Partners through the web in 2005 and began a program of regular giving to Heartbeat’s mission.
“It’s a privilege to support Heartbeat’s mission every month as an e-Partner.
Whether you’re in Kiev or Kalamazoo, we encourage you to join us as e-Partners.
It’s an easy and secure way to save women and babies.” — Ginny van der Steur
e-Partners is a simple way to transfer funds electronically from an account that you designate to Heartbeat International. You can give confidently knowing that we encrypt and protect your financial data and respect your privacy. For e-Partner details, please call Anita at (888) 550-7577.
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Electronic Fund Transfer Provides Powerful Provisions
 If saving and changing lives is your reason for giving to Heartbeat then you should be an ePartner for Life. Electronic monthly partnership provides powerful provision! Investing monthly in Kingdom work is as effective as monthly retirement investing in this world but eternally more valuable.
Even if the Lord has been directing you in single gifts, we want you to consider both. Why? We need both in this war against life. Rock-solid monthly ePartners combined with occasional giving in addition as needs arise makes you extremely effective in this battle for life. Donate now or contact Anita at 888-550-7577 for personal service. You are joined with us in this labor of love. Thank you.
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Address: Heartbeat Int., 665 E. Dublin-Granville Road, Suite 440, Columbus, OH 43229, USA
Phone: (888) 550-7577 | Fax: (614) 885-8746| Email: vcline@heartbeatinternational.org
©2008 Heartbeat International, Inc. All rights reserved. |
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