Be'ad Chaim
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Director Sandy Shoshani leads Be'ad Chaim (Hebrew for “Pro-Life”), which was established in 1988 in Israel. Be'ad Chaim's mission is to open the eyes of women and men to an alternative to abortion so that they will choose life, with an ultimate goal to end abortion on demand in Israel. Be'ad Chaim’s offices span throughout Israel and provide education, counseling, and tangible provision for needy mothers. Its services include: “Project Moses,” a sponsorship program to provide mothers with baby items for a full year, “Gardens of Life,” a place of healing for those who have lost a child, counseling, education, clothing, and Post Abortion Syndrome (PAS) Support groups.
ProVida
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Headed by President Alicia Latorre, ProVida (Spanish Federation of Pro Life Associations) originated from the first Pro Life Association of Spain in 1977. It has been a recognized and registered organization since 1981. ProVida promotes respect for all human life from conception until natural death through its services, which include: personalized assistance to single mothers, free medical and psychological care for women faced with an unplanned pregnancy, food and housing aid, educational courses, organization of conferences, seminars, and congresses, and collaboration in socio-cultural, scientific and public awareness events to promote a culture of life.
2019 Caribbean Pregnancy Help Leaders’ Summit
2019 Caribbean Pregnancy Help Leaders’ Summit
Bridgetown, Barbados | June 6-8, 2019
Pregnancy help heroes are championing life every day across the Caribbean landscape. The venues for such life-affirming efforts vary from telephone to email to hotline to online to actual office space. The daily, compassionate outreach to women and men dealing with an unexpected pregnancy is affected by, but far removed from the political wrangling. Those called to this work are facing great challenges in answering the call to champion, save, and defend life. We invite all pregnancy help workers, and especially leaders, to gather together to share information and understanding as well as to gain insight from others.
The 2019 Caribbean Pregnancy Help Leaders' Summit wil be held at Courtyard Marriot, Bridgetown, Barbados, The Garrison Historic Area, Hastings. Christ Church, Bridgetown BB15156 Barbados.
Who Should Attend?
Anyone involved in life-affirming pregnancy help–direct service to women facing an unexpected pregnancy–is welcome.
Along with plenary sessions that will inspire and inform, there will be breakout discussion groups on vital topics that challenge all pregnancy help efforts – leadership, fundraising and the use of technology to more effectively reach clients. These breakouts will be participatory in nature; as you plan which ones to attend, please come prepared to share your knowledge and experience as well. Breakouts will be facilitated discussions with interaction among attendees.
English will be the primary language for plenary sessions and breakout facilitation.
A special grant is available which will cover registration, summit materials, hotel stay for both nights and Summit meals for the first two attendees from your organization (double occupancy only). This is limited on a first come, first serve availability. This is a first come, first serve opportunity only while there are rooms. Preference is given to current Heartbeat International affiliates.
The cost for additional attendees is $669 (USD) per person, which includes registration, all registration materials, hotel stay (2 nights), 3 Summit meals and coffee breaks.
Heartbeat International, the largest pregnancy help network in the world with affiliates on every populated continent, is pleased to sponsor this Caribbean-focused Summit in recognition of the importance of growing relationships among all pregnancy help leaders. Pregnancy help leaders can find more about Heartbeat at www.heartbeatservices.org.
If you would like to stay additional nights at the hotel before or after the Summit, you will be financially responsible. You may book those additional nights with the hotel directly by clicking here.
International Website & Training Scholarship Opportunity
Thank you for your interest in applying for this scholarship opportunity.
Successful applicants for this opportunity will receive a customized website, two years of domain hosting and updates, and training for speaking with clients, answering questions about abortion, and fundraising.
Requirements for this opportunity include affiliation with CAM/Heartbeat International; working with our website designers; taking the training, and semi annual reports; commitment to raise funds for succeeding years for annual cost of website maintenance ($240 USD).
Click here to apply online now or click here to download a paper form.
European Summit - Engaging the Media
When a media request comes into your organization's inbox, how do you respond?
As an organization, you should have a media plan in place in order to guide you in both nurturing new media relationships and having a rapid response plan for times of negative press. Join Heartbeat International and Alliance Defending Freedom International as we discuss how to engage the media.
Date: 22 October 2020
Time: 12:45-16:15 GMT+2
Where: At Your Computer (details will be sent upon registration)
Presented by: Heartbeat International and Alliance Defending Freedom International
This forum is exclusive for Heartbeat International affiliates. There is no cost to attend, but you must register as space is limited.
If you are not a Heartbeat Affiliate and are interested in learning more about joining Heartbeat International's Pregnancy Help Network, click here.
European Forum - Presenters
Andreas Thonhauser serves as director of external relations for ADF International, where he is responsible for building the organization’s media presence, forming alliances with key influencers and supporters. He acts as communications liaison with ADF International’s distinguished team of allied attorneys and organizational partners, managing all aspects of public relations and development Thonhauser has spoken at institutions like the UN, the EU Parliament, and international conferences and provided comment on topics like the persecution of religious minorities, parental rights, and freedom of education for international media outlets, including both popular news publications as well as scholarly journals. He regularly provides trainings in communication strategy, leadership, reputation and social media management. Thonhauser earned an MBA from the WU Executive Academy and a Master’s degree in German Philology/Anglistics and Americanistics from the University of Vienna. Prior to joining ADF International in 2015, Thonhauser worked for a European publishing house where he focused on strategy and business development.
Pastor Woody was raised on a dairy farm in Brunswick, Maine as a Quaker. While stationed in Germany with the Air Force, he was introduced to the Gospel in a personal way, and trusted Christ in 1978. He has now pastored two churches; both of them in Germany, and both of them ministering primarily to the American military community.
Since 1997, he has been involved with the ministry of the Kaiserslautern Crisis Pregnancy Center as a board member. In order to minister to a wider community, the center was renamed Heartbeat Crisis Pregnancy Center and was moved to the city of Ramstein, where Pastor Woody has been privileged to serve as board chairman since 2008.
Ellen Foell, Esq. has been with Heartbeat International since 2012 serving first as legal counsel and now as the International Specialist. She supports the leadership team in providing research and advice on pro-life trends and issues affecting Heartbeat International and its affiliates. Her work also involves general business, organizational and nonprofit issues, as well as interfacing with other pro-life organizations and attorneys who desire to assist pro-life organizations.
Ellen is a 1982 graduate from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. She has lived overseas as a missionary in Thailand, has practiced as a law clerk, associate in a law firm, and as an associate corporate counsel. She left law firm practice to begin her work in the pro-life movement in 1989 as a defense attorney for pro-life activists. She and her husband, Phil, have four children, Deborah, Anna, Sam and Paul. Her passion is teaching the Bible and working with international students on the Ohio State campus.
Jor-El Godsey serves as President of Heartbeat International, the largest affiliation network of pregnancy help organizations in the world. Jor-El leads a staff dedicated to equipping, empowering, and encouraging the thousands of leaders serving in Heartbeat affiliated life-affirming pregnancy help centers, maternity homes, and adoption services, in the U.S. and on every inhabited continent. Jor-El oversees Heartbeat’s core mission to reach and rescue lives at-risk for abortion through far-reaching programs that include Option Line and Abortion Pill Rescue Network
Considering an International Affiliation with Heartbeat International?
Thank you for your interest in affiliating with Heartbeat International. By joining Heartbeat, you join the largest pregnancy help network in the world with more than 2,800 organizations in over 60 countries.
Affiliation for international organizations is just $70.00, and we are happy to offer you a complimentary affiliation for the first year. Whether you are a first time affiliate, or a second or fifth time affiliate you may email efoell@heartbeatinternational.
Upon affiliating, please contact username@
Your affiliation provides you with a 20% discount on all resources found in the Store as well as online courses offered in the Heartbeat Academy.
We offer leadership and development resources, in addition to a variety of other key training materials pertinent to your work. We also help to fund the regional organizations that offer direct training and assistance to individual life-affirming organizations.
>> Click here to Affiliate <<
Thank you again for your heart to serve, to reach and rescue women and their children. It is my pleasure to serve you.
Recommended Affiliate Resources Recommended to All Pregnancy Help Organizations
- View benefits of affiliation
- Our Commitment of Care and Competence
- Heartbeat’s Center Defense Toolkit
- Raising the Standard free course for affiliates
- Identifying Fake Clients
- Defending Your Online Reputation
- Free Publications
- Complimentary materials
- Free eNewslettersincluding articles such as Dealing with COVID Fatigue
- Heartbeat Academy
Courage at the 2022 European Pregnancy Help Leaders Summit
by Andrea Trudden, Vice President of Communications & Marketing
Heartbeat International
Walking through busy streets. Sleeping at a hotel with music playing in the hall. The 2022 European Pregnancy Help Leaders Summit was a very different environment from the sirens and chaos the Save a Life pregnancy help team left in Ukraine.
Alina was 39 weeks pregnant when the war started. Now, her very life was at risk and the reality that her husband could be sent to fight in the war increased the stress.
A pregnancy center director of the Zaporizhzhia Save a Life location, she knows the pressures when faced with an unexpected pregnancy. Add a war to the typical pressures a woman has in that delicate moment of her life, and Alina knew that pregnancy centers in Ukraine would be needed during wartime. And so, her work continued after being displaced from her home in Zaporizhzhia.
In the midst of the war sirens and vibrations from the blasts, Alina gave birth to her son, Mark, in a make-shift bomb shelter. It was humbling, and a great reminder of the beauty of life. This little baby boy brought a light of joy in a moment of darkness.
With her new baby, her two-year-old daughter, and husband, Alina moved West toward safety. Here, she sought out a pregnancy center to continue serving women who sought pregnancy help. Her newborn baby by her side, Alina started meeting with women — some local, some displaced from the southeastern and eastern parts of the country — to provide compassionate care and a listening ear as they discussed their futures.
She humbly told us, “Please don’t think I’m a hero. I’m not a hero. And I’m not brave because I wanted to leave. I wanted to run for the sake of my children, but I would rather die than to disobey what God has called me to, which is to stay.”
Similarly, Alla, the national director, manages seven pregnancy centers throughout Ukraine. A widow with a sixteen year old and an eleven year old at home, Alla channels her hope and energy into the centers. Under her leadership, Save a Life centers have expanded across the nation.
She acknowledges that the loss of her husband to cancer when her children were young helped motivate her to get involved with pregnancy centers to be a pillar of support for women. Today, her children help by volunteering their time at the pregnancy centers as well, bringing them together in the work to save lives.
Nadia travels between Ukraine and the United States to help raise awareness for Save a Life. In August, they hosted their annual conference in spite of the war. With more than 100 in attendance, this was an encouragement that God is at work in Ukraine through pregnancy help.
Understanding the risk of travel at this time in Ukraine, these three women joined 17 other countries at Heartbeat International’s European Pregnancy Help Summit in Bucharest, Romania. At the summit, they were able to share their experience both in living in a war zone and in serving in a war zone. As many of the European nations are serving Ukrainian refugee women, the insight Nadia, Alla, and Alina provided was timely and meaningful.
This team of women was an example of courage and strength, once again showing the world that women are capable of being mothers and accomplishing the work they are called to.
Heartbeat speaks at the United Nations on the importance of the Geneva Consensus Declaration
Heartbeat International joined the Center for Family and Human Rights, Asociacion La Familia Importa, The Global Center for Human Rights, and The Institute for Women’s Health in a panel at the United Nations during the sixty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women on “How Embracing the Geneva Consensus Declaration Advances the Well-being of Families, Women and Girls.”
International Program Specialist, Ellen Foell, had the opportunity to speak at the #CSW67 side event on March 10, 2023, at the United Nations to support the Geneva Consensus Declaration and share how pregnancy help worldwide provides women with care and support, helping them and their families thrive so that no woman feels abortion is her only option. Heartbeat joined life-affirming organizations in support of the GCD.
More...
Apply to be an International Sister Center (U.S.)
What It Means to Be a Sister Center
Being a Sister Center will allow you the opportunity to participate in monthly calls with an international counterpart. These calls can be used to:
- pray for one another
- garner a fuller understanding of pregnancy help throughout the world
- share ideas as to how to connect with clients and potential clients
The Sister Center program is not intended as a fundraiser.
Apply to be an International Sister Center
What It Means to Be a Sister Center
Being a Sister Center will allow you the opportunity to participate in monthly calls with an international counterpart. These calls can be used to:
- pray for one another
- garner a fuller understanding of pregnancy help throughout the world
- share ideas as to how to connect with clients and potential clients
The Sister Center program is not intended as a fundraiser.
My Love/Hate Relationship With Instagram
by Ellen Foell, International Program Specialist of Heartbeat International
I have a confession to make: I am a baby boomer, born in 1957. That means I still use Facebook. I laugh at Facebook Reels and TikToks that my children send me but cannot create one. I use LinkedIn to get articles for free but usually do not respond when someone wants to connect. I text and I do not write in all caps—REALLY! Finally, being a boomer, I have an Instagram account—like 2 billion other people—but I don’t post regularly. In 2022, the typical Instagram user spent around 12 hours per month using the platform’s app, up from an average of 11.2 hours per month in 2021. I think I am maximizing my use of Instagram when I “like” or “heart” a post. End of confession.
I am aware of the power of Instagram, and that is probably why I have a love/hate relationship with the platform. I have issues with anything that has that much influence over people because I think of all the unsuspecting people who may have a regular, but uncritical, “diet” of what Instagram has to offer.
On the other hand, it is a great way to reach people; and that is why I started an Instagram account: to be where my children are. They are no longer on Facebook; they do not read my long emails detailing every aspect of daily life, and I think they only communicate on the phone because they know how Neanderthal I am. If I could carry a cave wall, I would totally send my children pictographs. So, if rule #1 of marketing is that we need to be where our clients are, then Instagram seems to be the place.
Instagram has 2 billion active users, making it one of the most popular social networks. That is a lot of people. Only TikTok, WhatsApp, and Facebook have more users.
According to a page on HubSpot dedicated to marketing on Instagram, “Instagram’s primary advantage over other social media platforms is its visual nature. If you have a business that benefits from the design of your product or if you have a service that has a visibly noticeable end result, Instagram is the best platform to showcase that content.
Video, imagery, and illustration are all great content fits for this social media platform, but your marketing strategy will ultimately determine what type of content to publish and how often to post it. Establishing a strategy before diving right into a new social media platform, no matter how well it works for everyone else’s business, will keep you focused on your goals and — most importantly — your audience.”
If the pregnancy help movement wants to reach young women, we cannot ignore the breadth and depth of reach Instagram has. If you look at Instagram's worldwide audience, you’ll find that Instagram users are almost equally split between males (51.6%) and females (48.4%). Worldwide, the largest group of females were those ages 25-34, making up 16.4%.
According to the Pew Research Center, “In the 46 states that reported data to the CDC in 2020, the majority of women who had abortions (57%) were in their 20s, while about three-in-ten (31%) were in their 30s. Teens ages 13 to 19 accounted for 8% of those who had abortions, while women in their 40s accounted for 4%.” Thus, 88% of women having abortions are in their 20’s and 30’s. And statistically, a lot of them are on Instagram.
I shop at almost the same places every week. When my children were small, I even went to the same checkout line if the cashier was friendly to my children. It wasn’t just that I liked the brand, I liked the prices, and I really liked the people. It is not that different from Instagram. According to Forbes, “Of those Instagram users who follow businesses, 26% typically visit business profiles every day. Another 27% visit business profiles every week.” Repeat customers are good customers. They come back, they remember, and they spread the word. A good Instagram account can reach loyal customers and they will spread the word for you.
Best of all, because I love a bargain, Instagram is free. It’s true: I do not like the time-vaporizer that it can be as a user, but looking at it from the other side of the screen, isn’t that what we want? To have young women consuming Instagram posts, remembering the source, and spreading the word?
Finally, Instagram can be used to let your donors, or potential donors, know what you are doing to change the world and culture to be more life-affirming, even those not looking for your organization. In 2022, Social Media Today reported that “Instagram says that many users have requested more direct ways to support charities, while it also consulted with several organizations on the project to ensure that it was taking the best approach to amplify relevant movements.”
We have a relevant movement. What you do matters. Let people know so they can support you.
You can use Instagram to reach not only clients but donors. It is an effective way to reach women with a carefully crafted message of life and reach donors with a well-articulated appeal. In other words, Instagram helps to market not just your brand but your message, and it can serve as a powerful fundraising tool.
I urge you to engage with potential clients where they are—right now—who are on Instagram. If you agree, please “like” and share this article.
Wars and Rumors of Wars: Elusive Peace
by Ellen Foell, International Specialist of Heartbeat International
“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” - Matthew 24:6-8
In early October 2023, Hamas attacked Israel on the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In September 2023, both Serbia and Kosovo moved troops to their borders in a standoff. In February 2022, the Russian Federation attacked Ukraine.
Wars and rumors of wars. And that is not all.
Did you know that according to the Geneva Academy1 (which classifies all situations of armed violence that amount to an armed conflict under international humanitarian law), there are currently more than 110 armed conflicts around the world? Some of these conflicts make the headlines while others do not. Some of them started recently, while others have lasted for more than 50 years. Here is a map showing the locations of current armed conflicts.2
One does not need to study the map for very long to see that the geographic locations where armed conflict is occurring far outnumber the nations where there is some semblance of peace.
Of course, as soon as any war or conflict erupts, leaders start to talk about “calm heads,” and pursuing peace; they begin to argue about who started it, but mostly, their loudest cry and call is for peace—even though hardly anyone dares to talk about what that would look like. It is the cry not only from those engaged in the war but from those who lead powerful nations, and those who have influence. Throughout history, and in the context of hundreds of previous conflicts and wars, great leaders in the world and history have spoken about world peace: Alexander the Great, Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Helen Keller, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Men and women—black and white—of every generation has had its spokespersons for peace. Everyone wants peace.
As a “world community,” prizes are even given to those who advocate for peace as if the advocacy for peace had a magic dotted line to actual peace. It doesn’t. And even if we think it does, the prophet Jeremiah wrote:
“From the least to the greatest,
all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
all practice deceit.
They dress the wound of my people
as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
when there is no peace.”
– Jeremiah 6:14
The phrase “peace, peace,” when there is no peace is found in Jeremiah 6:14 and Jeremiah 8:11. It is also found in Ezekiel 13:10 and 16. In all four places, it has the same meaning in the same historical context: a cry for peace for a nation, for a people, amid conflict and oppression.
We want peace, and we cry for peace. As we look at the nations at war, the ethnic and regional conflicts, that are occurring right now in our world, of course, we pray for peace. But let us not kid ourselves. Jesus said we would hear of "wars and rumors of wars."Not only that, but Jesus told His disciples, “In the world, you will have tribulation.” (John 16:33)
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” - Matthew 10:34
“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!” - Luke 12:49
Is this the same Jesus who said, “Peace I leave with you…” no fewer than three times to the disciples after he rose from the dead? The same Jesus who oftentimes told someone whose life he had just irreversibly and gloriously changed, “Go in peace.” Including, the woman He healed from the issue of blood (Luke 8:48), the woman who anointed His feet with her tears (Luke 7:50), and the royal official whose son was healed (John 4:50).
Jesus was called the Prince of Peace. He could make winds stop, still the waves, calm the raging Gerasene and quiet the accusations of the religious leaders. Jesus said to the disciples and to those He healed, several times, “Peace I leave with you,” “Go in peace,” “Be at peace with one another,” and “My peace I leave with you.” In the famous opening to His great sermon, known as the Beatitudes, Jesus taught, “Blessed [happy] are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9).
Well, which was it? Did Jesus come to bring peace or division, calm or conflict, serenity or a sword? What if He came to bring both?
We know that Jesus also said in John 14:27 the most enigmatic thing of all: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Christ's "peace" here refers to a hope and reassurance that goes beyond what a fallen world can offer (Philippians 4:7). It is permanent, guaranteed, and eternal (Hebrews 6:18–19). Our vice president of Ministry Services, Tracie Shellhouse, shares an encouraging word about peace for each one of us. In Christ alone, we can have peace.
The Prophet Micah at 4:3, articulated his hope for a world where nations would no longer engage in warfare; where people would live in safety and unity, sitting under their own vine and fig tree with none to make them afraid. Micah, along with Isaiah and other prominent prophets, consistently emphasized the importance of justice, righteousness, and the pursuit of peace as integral components of a harmonious society. This underlines the idea that true peace was not just the absence of conflict but the presence of justice and righteousness in the world. We strive for peace, but we also know that the day when the lion lies down with the lamb is not for this side of eternity.
We have short video updates about the war in Israel from Sandy Shoshani, National Director of Be’ad Chaim, and Nadia Gordynsky, President of Save a Life, International, with a network of centers across Ukraine. Her testimony of what is happening in the Ukraine assures us God is on the throne and His work endures and grows despite conflict and war.
Friends and allies, we grieve the death and destruction caused by ongoing wars and conflict, but not as the world does. Our fully redeemed and truest hope is not in this world, and our hope is not in this present life. Nonetheless, let us pray and work for the peace of Jerusalem, the peace in Kiev, and the peace in every area of the world where conflict and unrest continue, until the shalom of the Prince of Peace is manifest.
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Sources
- https://geneva-academy.ch/galleries/today-s-armed-conflicts (accessed 10/31/23).
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_armed_conflicts (accessed 10/31/23).
