Heartbeat International wishes every one of you a blessed Christmas,
and God's Love and Light in the upcoming year.
Heartbeat celebrates the nativity of Christ with the Tree of Life.
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Christ’s Family Teaches Us Trust in God
by Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., Heartbeat President
 A crisis pregnancy -- never an easy matter -- could happen in any family.
Sadly, I have witnessed the terror of teen girls and the sorrow of grown
women as they were literally forced by their parents, husbands, and
boyfriends into abortion clinics. In fact, the outcome of most unexpected
pregnancies depends on the willingness of every member of the family
to trust in God. That is why Mary and Joseph, along with their parents,
represent such a powerful model of trust for us today. As a family, they
teach us how to trust and how to say “Yes!” to life, even when what God
asks of us seems impossible.
Mary trusted God’s messenger when she accepted the mystery of the
child within her. Joseph trusted the divine instructions sent in a dream.
As members of tribes and accountable to other family members, Joseph
and Mary’s parents also faced the challenge of this mysterious child.
Their trust in a loving God gave them the courage to say “Yes!” to life, too.
Ordinary family life can lead us to extraordinary holiness. |
As a Heartbeat LifeSaver, you are often the “family” for women in crisis pregnancies. Just as no one in Mary’s family knew at
the time where her extraordinary child-bearing would lead, no one knows the design God has for the children we save. Yet
like
Mary, Joseph, and their families, you trust that God will turn the unknown and unexpected to good. You cannot be present in
the counseling room so you trust Heartbeat to reach and rescue the women, children, and families who depend on us.
Like Mary, Joseph, and their families, you know that God’s greatest gifts may perplex us at first but satisfy our souls
beyond measure when we trust in Him. Thank you for trusting in God’s call and saying “Yes!” to life, renewing families
and communities through your support of Heartbeat’s network of affiliates.
May you and your loved ones abide in the blessings
of Christmas.
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Heartbeat Defends Women’s Right to Informed Consent
Rita Reyes, Choices of the Heart Executive Director, delivered the Heartbeat message from the courthouse steps of the New Jersey Supreme Court.
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Women have been stripped of the right to informed
medical consent before an abortion. So ruled the New
Jersey Supreme Court on September 12, 2007 in the case
of Acuna v Turkish.
Immediately, Heartbeat International swung into action
in the face of this dangerous court decision. Heartbeat joined
other organizations in a “friend of the court” brief
Amici Curiae asking the New Jersey high court to reconsider
the decision. The brief included Heartbeat and Care Net statistics
confirming that over 75 percent of clients in our medical
clinics choose life after an ultrasound. Many Heartbeat
centers offer ultrasound technology.
Heartbeat also took a public stand. From the New Jersey
Supreme Court building steps, Rita Reyes, Executive Director
of Heartbeat affiliate Choices of the Heart, delivered a message
on behalf Heartbeat International. “We must unite to protect all women
by providing them with scientific truth. Whether or not the courts reverse
this decision, Heartbeat centers will remain steadfast in providing life-affirming
reproductive health services to women in New Jersey and everywhere.”
The case before the court involved Rosa Acuna. She had been told by gynecologist Sheldon
Turkish, M.D., that she was six weeks pregnant – not with a baby, but “just tissue.” Believing
that no life had formed in her womb, Acuna underwent an abortion. Weeks later she learned
the truth. A serious infection set in because Turkish had failed to remove all the baby’s body
parts. Devastated that she had actually aborted a living, human being, Acuna sued Turkish.
Acuna’s attorney, Harold Cassidy, argued that informed consent required disclosure that
an embryo is an existing human being at the time of the abortion. He cited a New Jersey case
holding that a physician must explain all medical information that a reasonable patient would
need in deciding on a medical procedure.
Turkish and his attorney claimed that informed consent does not apply when doctors have
a different scientific, moral, or philosophical viewpoint on when life begins. The court ruled that
a doctor may abort a pregnancy without explaining to the patient the biological development
of the unborn baby.
Rita Reyes tells of her own unplanned pregnancy 20-some years ago, “A pregnancy that
would have been terminated had I not been given correct information about fetal development
and abortion’s risks. Without that information, my 19 year-old son, a sophomore at Rutgers
University, would not be here.”
Concludes Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., Heartbeat International President, “Abortion hurts
women. Heartbeat is committed to exposing this tragedy and seeking justice for women
and their true reproductive rights.”
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A Child Is Born!
By Reverend John Ensor, Executive Director, Urban Initiative
Christmas and Easter mark the heart of the Gospel. When we are gripped by
faith, the incarnation and resurrection
produce courageous acts of compassion before which the
very gates of Hell will eventually give way.
For Christ to reign as our most excellent Savior,
He was required to submit to incarnation and crucifixion.
“Being born in the likeness of men…he humbled himself by
becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him
the name that is above every name” (Philippians 2:8-9 ESV).
Marella, born October 23, 2007, is the “firstborn” of Heartbeat’s Urban Initiative. Marella’s mom heard about Heartbeat of Miami on the radio as she left the office of a doctor who had advised her to abort. |
As imitators of Christ, we too are called to show up in this
broken world and take up our cross. The work of Heartbeat
International is best summarized as cross-bearing for the
child-bearing. No light work, often it is tearful work; and it
always drives us to earnest prayer and the need to boldly ask
for generous sacrifice. We could say, “They got themselves
into this mess; why make it my problem?” And Christ could
have said the same concerning us and skipped the crib and the
cross. But love makes its own demands.
This life-saving, death-defying power has now been birthed
into Miami’s Hialeah neighborhood (site of Heartbeat of Miami). Our first ultrasound equipped
pregnancy center is actively challenging the seven
abortion facilities nearby. We are now working toward two
more clinics in similarly abortion-targeted neighborhoods.
And we are prayerfully planning strategic initiatives in other
major U.S. cities for 2008.
We are not much trained in cross-bearing Christianity
these days. Nonetheless, this is what it takes, most of the
time, and over the long haul. The Gates of Hell do not yield
to symbolic events and right beliefs alone. Abortion will not
give way to saying, “I am pro-life,” and an annual walk around
the city. But it is giving way to cross-bearing sacrifice and
neighbor-loving intervention -- one woman at a time.
This Christmas, will you rejoice in God’s presence with
us and through your gift, join us in cross-bearing for the
child-bearing?
Click here to donate...
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Wreath of Heartbeat Affiliates
 The Christmas wreath
reminds us of God’s promise of
eternal life and His nourishing grace.
Heartbeat’s circle of affiliates is like
a wreath, adorning more than 1,072
communities around the world.
So, in the joy of Christmas, we shine a bright light
on just three examples of how our Heartbeat wreath
of affiliates is renewing communities for Life.
Tens of thousands of students have committed to abstinence
in the past year through Heartbeat affiliates like First String
Abstinence Education in Ohio. In turn, these students
influence their circle of friends, parents, brothers,
and sisters bringing new meaning to uncountable lives.
Thousands of lives of mothers and babies are being saved
and enriched as Heartbeat reaches out. For example, Abigail
Women’s Clinic in Illinois plans a mobile clinic. The vehicle
can be parked across the street from abortion clinics, giving
women in unplanned pregnancies positive alternatives.
Families are growing stronger through Heartbeat affiliates.
LivingWell in California is helping men learn to be fathers and
healing the heartbreak of sexual exploitation through DAD-U.
In our mission to reach, rescue, and renew, Heartbeat
is the framework that weaves our affiliates together. We guide
the pregnancy centers in organizing their limited resources
of people and budgets. We protect the pregnancy centers
from harsh legal and political winds. We assist the pregnancy
centers in reaching and healing the women, children, and
families in their communities.
Reaching far beyond the lives of those who are rescued,
our affiliates’ very existence creates a way for other
individuals, groups, agencies, and churches to be a part of the
life-giving renewal.
Only God Himself could name every heart that has been
touched by the beauty of this wreath. This includes not only
those who have been rescued but also those who are serving to
reach others with this message of hope and help. And fruit
bears seeds. So, each of the fruits on the Heartbeat wreath
bears the seeds of love for untold thousands of lives.
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Heartbeat Strategic Partnership Grows by 59%
Heartbeat Strategic Partners are like-minded people who
invest in Heartbeat at the level of $1,000 or more annually.
Encouragement and financial pledges from Heartbeat friends
have been strong from the very start in 1993. Now, the
Partnership connects donors even more closely to Heartbeat.
The Partnership also gives Heartbeat a way to recognize the
exceptional commitment that our donors make to save babies,
mothers, and families. Initiated in June 2007, the Partnership
has grown by 59% already!
We invite you to celebrate the Season of Our Lord’s Birth
by becoming a Strategic Partner. This gift is especially
meaningful when offered in honor of a loved one. For details,
please contact Lindsay Brown, Heartbeat Development Director,
at 1 (888) 550-7577.
You Are in Our Prayers...
 Heartbeat LifeSavers’ names are inscribed on our Christmas Scroll as part of Heartbeat’s Tree of Life. Please look for photos in our 2007 Christmas letter. We at Heartbeat remember your joys and cares and commit them to the Good Lord regularly -- and especially at Christmastime.
Please continue to send us your prayer requests to 665 E. Dublin-Granville Rd., Ste. 440, Columbus, OH 43229-3245 or by email at prayers@HeartbeatInternational.org.
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New Board Members Help Heartbeat Make Abortion Unthinkable
Dr. Tony and Ceil Levatino point to Heartbeat as the brightest star in the pro-life movement. |
“I am humbled beyond words that our Savior willingly went to the cross for me,” describes both Tony to Ceil’s heartfelt belief.
Dr. Tony and Ceil Levatino are committed
to exploding the myths rampant in our sexsaturated
culture. Tony is an obstetrician/gynecologist
and Ceil, a registered nurse.
Tony,
in medical practice for over 30 years, also serves
on Heartbeat’s Medical Advisory Board.
Tony has helped turn the tide of abortion
through his Congressional testimonies. His
medically accurate drawings of a partial-birth
abortion, created with artist Tanja Butler,
opened lawmakers’ eyes during Congressional
hearings that led to a ban on partial-birth
abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld that
ban recently.
The future looks bright says Tony, thanks to
the work of Heartbeat, our affiliates, and other
pro-lifers. “Today, PRCs outnumber abortion
clinics. Many abortionists are tired of killing.”
The Levatinos speak on behalf of life around
the world, especially to young audiences. Notes
Ceil, “Kids today are more and more pro-life.
They know they could have been aborted.”
Heartbeat welcomes the Levatinos to the
Heartbeat Board.
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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
©2007 Heartbeat International, Inc. All rights reserved. |
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