HBI
Brittany and Nathaniel's Story
From Susie Muller, Nurse Manager
I became the nurse manager at Foothills Pregnancy Resource Center a little over two years ago. My background was almost six years in Labor and Delivery and Mother/Baby Care Unit at Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina.
I can still remember the day that my very first client came into the office. This client, Brittany, came in for a pregnancy test. She was 19 and in a relationship with her boyfriend, Daniel. Her pregnancy test came back positive. I asked her how she felt about that and she immediately burst into tears and said that she hadn’t told anyone as she was scared she would be kicked out of her home. I felt the pressure to be that person that she needed in that moment, but with zero experience, I knew that I might fall short. I listened to her fears and told her that we would walk through this together.
The first thing I shared with her is that I have seven daughters of my own. If one of them came to me and said, “I am pregnant” my immediate reaction would be disappointment. Moms have dreams of their daughters meeting the right man, walking down the aisle in a white dress, being able to clearly make the decision that this is the man with who she wants to spend the rest of life without the pressure of a baby clouding the decision. It would have taken me time as a mother to process all that.
One thing I know for certain, though, is that I love my daughters and I would love my grandchild. I encouraged her to truly think about how her mom might feel and give her the time she needed.
I asked her if she had any other support and having none, I reassured her that Foothills Pregnancy Resource Center was there for that exact reason. We come alongside young women and men to support them in any way they need.
Brittany and I discussed her pregnancy options; abortion was not an option and she was not interested in adoption. I assured her that if she chose to carry, we would help with resources, parenting classes, mentoring, and any other ways we could.
Women need to know all their options so that they can make an informed decision. We prayed together and she told me she felt a huge burden lifted.
Ultimately, Brittany’s mother received the news well and supported her the best she could. Mother to her little boy Nathanial, Brittany is a part-time student, working and expecting her second child with Daniel.
Since that first visit, she has come back to volunteer her time for Foothills Pregnancy Resource Center and shares her story to encourage others who may be in a similar situation.
Elisa and Lissy's Story
Let me begin by introducing myself, Elisa, as a strong, independent woman who is not one to ask for help. But when I relocated to a new city as a single parent of a new infant, I started to feel overwhelmed. I reached out for help after realizing that raising a baby while also trying to complete school was a bit more than I could manage on my own at that given moment in my life. I was surprised when I was referred to Blue Water Pregnancy Care Center. Although I was no longer pregnant, I was informed that they might still be able to assist with my needs.
My initial feelings of anxiety upon walking through the doors of the center quickly vanished as I took in the calm and inviting environment. The staff and volunteers assisting me with my concerns exhibited nothing but sincere kindness, compassion and professionalism. My various interactions with staff made it evident to me that they had a true passion and dedication to their mission.
I was offered to participate in their Earn While You Learn program. This offers individuals a chance to engage in prenatal classes, parenting classes, bible study, and/or educational DVDs in exchange for baby bucks to purchase a wide variety of baby items such as formula, diapers, car seats, strollers, etc. In addition to the knowledge and spiritual growth I have been able to obtain through participation in the program, I have earned an abundance of supplies for my daughter. Because of the assistance I have received from the center, I did not have to utilize other resources for childcare, and have managed to attend school full-time from home while raising my daughter.
I am just one of countless women and men who have been helped in some way by the Blue Water Pregnancy Care Center. For those women and/or couples who are feeling scared as they are faced with the challenges ahead, the center can be a source of immeasurable support and comfort. A wide array of support services include the following: free pregnancy testing, free limited ultrasounds, physical, emotional and spiritual support, information on pregnancy and abortion alternatives, confidential peer counseling… and so much more!
When I think back to a year ago and the doubts I had about attending my first appointment at the center, I feel nothing but encouraged. I have attended the center on a weekly basis. And not for what I had initially started there for! I go to learn, grow spiritually, continue healthy established relationships, and to be an encouragement for other attendees. The Blue Water Pregnancy Care Center has impacted my life on so many positive levels. The staff and volunteers have such a warm, welcoming love for life. I will be forever grateful for each and every one of them.
Brittany and Noah's Story
I am 22 years old and March of 2016 my entire life was flipped upside down. At the time, I was taking pre-pharmacy classes, finishing up my junior year. I was still involved with a guy I dated for 2 years. We had broken up a while back, but I still “loved” him and continued hanging out with him and sleeping with him, in hopes that maybe one day he would want me back (he didn’t).
I was with my ex-boyfriend when I took the pregnancy test. Seeing that test read “Pregnant 1-2 weeks” was the beginning of a huge change in my life. I immediately showed him the test and we both began to cry. All these mixed emotions and thoughts start flooding my head “I am only 21 years old. I am still in school. I still have a life that I want to finish before having a child.”
I’m going to be honest; my first response was to get an abortion. I would go in, it would be a quick procedure and I’ll never have to think about this pregnancy. The ex was relieved with my decision and began looking up clinics nearby for more information. Throughout that day I thought more about my decision, contemplating between having an abortion or not. I did research on abortion and the mental effects of having an abortion. The “famous” PlannedParenthood.org definition of abortion using vacuum aspiration is “dilating the uterus, and using a small, hand-held suction device or suction machine to take the pregnancy tissue out of your uterus.” My own definition of this is killing your child. There’s no way to sugar coat it; an abortion is a procedure where you terminate the life of your child. If I did this, it would not be a quick fix. This is a life changing procedure that would haunt me for the rest of my life.
I went to my ex later that week and told him about my change in decision. He tried changing my mind with the typical concerns people have with an unexpected pregnancy. “Our life will be over if you have this baby. We’re still in school. A baby isn’t a part of our plan right now.” I stayed firm with my decision. God doesn’t make mistakes and I knew there was some reason God decided to get me pregnant before I was ready. My ex finally suggested going to a pregnancy center to explore our options. The next week we went to Hand of Hope pregnancy center.
All the staff members are committed to helping women, as well as their unborn babies. Right when I walked in I felt a sense of relief. These women were here to help me make the best decision for me. One of the counselors sat down and talked to us about the pregnancy. One of the first things they did was showed me a bible verse from Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” They assured me that this baby was not a mistake. God had planned this baby to come during this period of my life. God had even made plans for the growing baby inside me. God loved me so much that he gave me the amazing gift of a child. He trusted me to be a mother to this baby, whether I planned to be a mother or not.
After talking with the counselor, we went into a room to get an ultrasound. The ultrasound screen showed a tiny grey area which was my baby. The biggest thing I noticed during this was that inside my baby was a strong heartbeat, flickering on the screen. I was only 6 weeks pregnant at the time. Yes, my baby not yet looked like a baby on the ultrasound screen, but there was strong heartbeat, that you could easily see, flickering on the screen. That heartbeat of life that God gave me and trusted me to take care of, love, and eventually raise. I saw true love for the first time on that ultrasound screen.
The last day of exams, right before I went home for the summer, the ex and I sat down with his mother. I will never forget one of the last things she said to me “If you choose to keep this baby, just know that will be the most selfish thing to do.” Starting to already fall in love with this growing baby, I was heartbroken.
Communication between my ex and me ended that day. Reality set in that I’m going to be a single mom. My child may never know who his dad is. But I knew that with my parents support, my son Noah would have the necessities and I could give him a good life.
Three weeks before his due date, on November 24, 2016, Thanksgiving Day, my beautiful, 7 pound 10 oz. healthy, baby boy arrived. At 3:24 pm, I met my true love. An innocent human being that I had created and had the honor of bringing into the world. I wouldn’t change my decision for anything.
This boy has changed my life. Having this baby was the best thing that ever happened to me. My child has pushed me to be the best mom I can be. He has pushed me to go back to school in order to give him the best life possible. My plans in attending pharmacy school went as planned. I am currently in pharmacy school now, with my precious baby turning a year-old next month.
I hope my story helps other women out there that may be in the situation I was in. You may feel alone and scared. Remember that God doesn’t make mistakes. A baby is a gift that shouldn’t be taken for granted.
Giselle – Saved by a Second Choice
By the time Giselle entered the world in early December, she arrived fully equipped with her own protective detail of three older brothers. They’re old enough to know their sister is a precious addition to their family, but they’re years away from understanding just how priceless she is.
What Giselle’s brothers will learn in time was that their mother, Samantha, was abandoned by Giselle’s father and turned to a chemical abortion pill because she felt it was her only way forward.
But regret set in almost as soon as Samantha had taken the first of two chemical abortion pills—which ends a baby’s life in utero ahead of the second and final pill to induce labor. Samantha changed her mind and reached out to the Abortion Pill Rescue helpline (1-877-558-0333).
Through the helpline, Samantha was connected to one of 450 professional healthcare providers in the nationwide Abortion Pill Rescue network. These providers are trained in a life-saving protocol that starts with an emergency injection of progesterone used since the 1950s to prevent miscarriages. It is highly effective.
Samantha’s daughter, Giselle, was born Dec. 1, 2017—an event celebrated all month by the pregnancy center in Massachusetts, where Samantha had learned about the life-saving option before going in for her abortion appointment.
“For those who have been following along with the story of Sam, and the miracle of Abortion Pill Reversal, we are so excited to introduce her little girl, Giselle,” the pregnancy center posted in early December. “Born Friday, December 1st at 2:00 p.m. 6lb 3oz, 18 3/4 in. Both mom and baby are in perfect health and doing wonderfully. And her 3 older brothers are completely smitten with their new sister!”
Heartbeat took a bold step in bringing APR into our life-saving network. It is a powerful and effective tool in bringing a second choice to moms and babies!
Saving Tig's Life . . . Again.
Misdy found herself in a situation where the only “practical solution” pointed to an abortion. She had six kids, a troubled marriage, and had just started a new job to help make ends meet. The news of a pregnancy was overwhelming and she justified taking the abortion pill.
As soon as Misdy took the first dose of the abortion pill regimen, she knew she had made a horrible mistake.
“The drive home, I was just sick about what I just did and the thought that I was actually killing a baby with a heartbeat inside me. I went home and just cried and cried and knew I needed to seek help.”
With God’s provision, she found the Abortion Pill Rescue Network and was able to make a second choice to save her pregnancy.
And God saved Tig.
God uses these moments when the world seems to fall around you to help enlighten you to the fact that the only “practical solution” isn’t practical at all! Just as God used his angels to encourage Mary in her time of need and sent her to her cousin Elizabeth for additional support through her pregnancy, so too, He uses the Abortion Pill Rescue Network and pregnancy help centers to encourage women like Misdy.
“I know that Tig was sent here to me for a reason. He is the light and the best baby ever! He puts a smile on my face every single day.”
Through Heartbeat’s Abortion Pill Rescue Network, Misdy was able to save the life of her baby boy, Tig, after first making the choice to take the abortion pill.
And, yet, the fight was not over.
At her 19 week prenatal appointment, Misdy learned that her child had Trisomy 21—Down syndrome, the most common chromosomal condition in the United States. As doctors shared this news with her, one doctor in particular encouraged Misdy to go back down the dark path she had already roamedand attempt to abort her child a second time.
You see, in today’s culture, value for the sick has diminished to such a degree that recommendations to abort are fairly common among medical providers around the world. Studies show that somewhere between 67 and 90 percent of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted. In countries like Iceland, that figure is close to 100 percent.
These precious children should not be disregarded as glitches in our world, but rather celebrated for the life of joy they bring to it!
When Misdy’s doctor suggested an abortion, she broke down and cried.
“My first thought was, ‘You don't know how hard it's been to stay pregnant,’” she wrote. “How could I even think of doing it now? He was a baby with hands and feet and a heartbeat that I got to see once a week on ultrasound.”
Again, Misdy would be justified by her doctors for making an abortion decision. It would be the “practical solution.”
But again, Misdy chose to fight for her son’s life.
Misdy was given a second chance at pregnancy through the Abortion Pill Rescue Network and now understood that God has a plan for each and every one of His children. While every “practical solution” pointed her to an abortion, Misdy knew that she had a life inside her and that her child’s life has purpose.
So Misdy chose life… TWICE!
“It was hard to hear that there was something wrong with my baby,” she wrote. “No mother ever wants to hear there is something wrong. BUT what I have come to understand (is) that there is nothing wrong with my baby. He is perfect and he brings such joy to my home.”
Though life is not always easy, Misdy has never regretted fighting for Tig, just as God will never stop fighting for each one of His children.
Pregnancy Help Appreciation Week Videos
. . . . .
Bernadette Tasy, Alliance Defending Freedom
Amy Ford, Embrace Grace
Jeanne Mancini
Kristan Watson, Students for Life
Robyn Chambers - Focus on the Family
Bernadette Tasy - Alliance Defending Freedom
Melissa Ohden - Abortion Survivors Network
Eric Scheidler - Pro-Life Action League
Jeanne Mancini - March for Life
Sarah Gabel Seifert - EveryLife
Kristan Hawkins - Students for Life
. . . . .
Like these? Check out videos from past Pregnancy Help Appreciation Weeks. You are loved. And the work you do is admired.
And don't forget to check out the deals of the day and share the love on social media!
Podcast Resources
Thank you for listening to the Pregnancy Help Podcast—Another way Heartbeat International connects you to the Pregnancy Help Community. Subscribe today!
Here you will find resources mentioned within the various podcasts.
What is the Abortion Pill Rescue Network? (10/09/2018)
The Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN) gives women a second chance to choose life for her baby. With more than 500 lives saved since 2012, it is important for pregnancy centers to understand what it is and how it works. Join Heartbeat International Medical Specialist and APR Coordinator Christa Brown, BSN, RN, as she walks us through the process to provide a better understanding.
Additional Resources:
- Episode Notes
- AbortionPillReversal.com
- Pregnancy Help Organizations: Join the Abortion Pill Rescue Network
- Medical Professionals: Join our Medical Network
Pregnancy Center Life Launch Grant (09/24/2018)
Maternity Homes and the Pregnancy Center Service Report (09/14/2018)
Using the Pregnancy Center Services to Connect with Politicians (09/12/2018)
- Episode Notes
- Pregnancy Center Service Report
- Babies Go to Congress
- Webinar: Public Speaking Anxiety
- (Affiliates Only) Guidelines for Political Activities of Not-for-Profit Organizations
- (Affiliates Only) Community Impact Report Example
5 Action Items Following Pregnancy Center Service Report (09/11/2018)
- Download Kirk's recommended 10 Takeaways for use with your community.
- Pregnancy Center Service Report
Trauma Informed Care (series began 08/20/2018)
For news within the Pregnancy Help Community as it happens, subscribe to both PregnancyHelpNews.com and the Pregnancy Help Podcast.
International Women’s Hope Center - Ghana
The mission of the International Women’s Hope Center (IWHC) is to care for the well-being and education of women particularly those experiencing unexpected pregnancy through medical education and support services. IWHC can provide help for the complete person-body, soul, and spirit.
The International Women’s Hope Centre is a community-based facility designed to meet women’s health needs as well as touch their hearts. We exist for girls and women who find themselves in unexpected pregnancies.
Our commitment is to help our clients understand their options, so they can make a critical decision armed with truthful information about their health, their children, and their future. We offer an array of medical, educational and support services, which are always free and confidential.
IWCH also offers youth-development programs that teach responsibility and character.
We utilize Relationship Under Construction (RUC) curriculum which teaches youth the blueprint for strong future families. This program addresses character development, goal setting, how to recognize healthy and unhealthy relationships, and dating violence while exploring the issues of fatherhood, motherhood and healthy family formation.
In the last year, we have reached more than 2000 students and young people in rural areas With RUC program. We have also served about 56 girls facing an unplanned pregnancy.
Client Testimony
My name is Juliet Kolanbik. I am 20 years old final year student of Bolgatanga Senior High School in the Upper East Region of Ghana offering Business as a course. I come from the village from Bumbruku a village in the Northern Region and hail from a family of eight siblings. I got pregnant in my final year at the senior high school and delivered a baby girl on the 29thof April 2018 whiles writing my final exams. My parents are not able to support me due to having many children so I have to find ways to support myself by getting with a man who promised to help me to adjust to life in the Senior High School hence but he left when I got pregnant.
I have no one to help me so someone introduced me to the International Women’s Hope Center (IWHC) for assistance. The center supported me emotionally, and with maternity, clothes and baby clothes and baby personal care items. IWCH also counseled me and encouraged me. I thank IWCH for helping me and my baby.
All financial gifts received designated for our approved “alliance” affiliates will be forwarded to them in a reasonable timeframe (usually upon exceeding $250US). Heartbeat International deducts $30 plus 3% from the transfer, to help defray internal cost for money transfers, currency conversion, clerical costs, bank fees and any processing fees that might be charged. Should any funds be unable to be forwarded – primarily related to the recipient - they may be re-allocated for similar international work.
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L.O.V.E. Approach - A simple, memorable, life-saving guide that is used in pregnancy help centers every day, but can be used anywhere by everyone.
10 Things - You can help make abortion unwanted today and unthinkable for future generations by what you say and do!
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Life-Saving Abortion Pill Reversal Network, Hotline, Change Hands
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday | April 12, 2018
Contact: Jay Hobbs, Director of Communications and Marketing
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For the past 10-plus years, Dr. George Delgado has served as the face of the Abortion Pill Reversal Network, which has helped over 450 mothers rescue their babies from an in-progress chemical abortion.
Starting Thursday afternoon, however, the network’s 24-7 helpline and provider group is changing hands to Heartbeat International, it was announced at the final day of Heartbeat International’s 2018 Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif.
Over 450 mothers have successfully rescued their babies—including 100 who are currently still expecting—with the life-saving Abortion Pill Reversal treatment since 2007.
“Nothing is more of an alternative to abortion than Abortion Pill Reversal,” Heartbeat International president Jor-El Godsey said. “Abortion Pill Reversal is an absolute lifeline to the very woman who needs our help most. No woman should need to finish an abortion she regrets—especially when there may be time to save her child’s life.”
In 2007, Delgado and another physician, Dr. Matthew Harrison, both utilized an FDA-approved remedy for preventing miscarriages to help women stop a chemical abortion, commonly known as the abortion pill or RU-486.
Applied up to 72 hours after a woman takes mifepristone—designed to kill a baby ahead of the second, labor-inducing pill in a chemical abortion—Abortion Pill Reversal gives a woman one last chance to choose life in a procedure that now accounts for as many as 40 percent of abortions throughout the U.S.
Under Delgado’s leadership, the network has grown to over 400 medical practitioners, while over 3,000 women have contacted its round-the-clock helpline to speak with a licensed nurse about rescuing her child.
Until the transition Thursday, Delgado had overseen the network and call center, while heading up the research that has given rise to Abortion Pill Reversal as part of his San Diego-based family practice, Culture of Family Life Services.
Now, Delgado—who released a peer-reviewed study showing as much as a 68 percent success rate a week ago—will turn his attention to further researching the medical intervention.
Meanwhile, Heartbeat International is bringing aboard the network of medical providers—more than 50 of which are pregnancy centers—as well as the licensed nurse helpline staff who will answer calls initially fielded by Heartbeat International’s 24-7 helpline, Option Line.
Answering well over 1,000 calls, live chats, emails and text messages per day, Option Line (1-800-712-HELP, OptionLine.org) recently reached its three millionth contact since launching in 2012.
“Abortion Pill Reversal has the potential to reach many more women and save many more lives,” Delgado said. “Our goal has always been to grow Abortion Pill Reversal, and by the grace of God, we’ve found a partner in Heartbeat International. We know there are many more women who need this treatment when they change their minds, and we’re confident this transition will help more mothers find that help.”
Though over 450 mothers say they have stopped their own chemical abortion and rescued their babies through Abortion Pill Reversal—and despite a growing amount of scientific evidence and agreement from abortion advocates that it is a sound medical treatment—many abortion extremists oppose Abortion Pill Reversal on ideological grounds.
In a move that effectively robs a woman of the right to try and save her child, abortion advocates have tried unsuccessfully to seize bureaucratic levers to keep nurses from learning more about the life-saving treatment.
The constant opposition falls on deaf ears for mothers like Katrina, however. As she faced an unexpected pregnancy in her senior year of college, Katrina’s boyfriend repeatedly threatened to he would kill himself if she didn’t end their child’s life through abortion.
Reluctantly, Katrina allowed her boyfriend to drive her to an abortion business, where she took a mifepristone pill, designed to kill her baby. Miraculously, her family intervened and begged her to seek help at the pregnancy help medical clinic right next door to the abortion business.
Using Abortion Pill Reversal, Katrina was able to save her son Gabriel’s life. He turns a year old this May.
“Abortion Pill Reversal empowers a woman to choose life for herself and her baby,” Godsey said. “Every mother deserves the right to protect her own child, no matter what choices she’s made in the past. We are honored to take Abortion Pill Reversal into its next season of saving lives by putting choice back into a mother’s hands.”
About Heartbeat International
Heartbeat International is the first network of pro-life pregnancy help organizations founded in the U.S. (1971), and the largest network in the world. With 2,500 affiliated pregnancy help locations—including pregnancy help medical clinics (with ultrasound), resource centers, maternity homes, and adoption agencies—Heartbeat serves on all six inhabited continents to provide alternatives to abortion.
Heartbeat President Responds to Malicious Attack from HBO's John Oliver on Pro-Life Centers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday | April 9, 2018
Contact: Jay Hobbs, Director of Communications and Marketing
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a televised segment that has gained widespread media attention and approval since first airing Sunday night, HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver took aim at the 2,752 locally funded pro-life pregnancy help centers and ultrasound-equipped medical clinics serving women with free help in unexpected pregnancies.
Oliver spent over 20 minutes of his show slandering pregnancy centers that offer alternatives to abortions. Among his profanity-laced tirade, Oliver accused pregnancy centers of operating deceptively by choosing locations near abortion businesses and by choosing names insufficently descriptive to meet Oliver's standards.
Heartbeat International president Jor-El Godsey responded with the following comment:
It is unfortunate, though unsurprising, when abortion extremists slander the good work of pro-life pregnancy help centers. These vital, community-funded centers exist only to empower a woman to make the healthiest choice for everyone involved in an unexpected pregnancy. To some, the only legitimate action in an unexpected pregnancy is to end the child’s life through abortion, but women deserve better than abortion.
Women deserve true choice. No mother should ever feel so alone or pressured that she feels she has no choice other than abortion.
Rather than attacking Christian pro-life individuals and groups who offer women alternatives to abortion, perhaps abortion backers would do better to police their own industry, which profits from a woman’s despair by ending her child’s life through abortion.
Oliver becomes the latest comedian to devote a significant amount of airtime to lash out against pregnancy centers. In 2015, Patton Oswalt appeared on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, where the duo depicted pregnancy centers as "the ultimate hustle." That segment ended with one mother, a noted abortion activist named Cherrise Scott, saying she wished she had aborted her now 15-year-old son who she chose to carry to term after visiting a pregnancy center.
Starting last summer, Lizz Winstead -- a co-creator of Comedy Central's The Daily Show -- launched an anti-pregnancy center crusade where she and a small group of abortion advocates harass local pregnancy centers online and in person.
With as many as 99 percent of pregnancy center clients reporting a positive experience, none of the campaigns have gained traction, particularly among pregnancy center clients, who primarily hear about centers through word of mouth.
U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst to Speak at Heartbeat International's 2018 Babies Go to Congress
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday | Jan. 15
Contact: Jay Hobbs, Director of Communications and Marketing
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — As four mothers and their babies visit Capitol Hill to tell lawmakers how pregnancy centers changed their lives for the better Thursday, Jan. 18, they’ll also have the opportunity to hear directly from U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, at Heartbeat International’s 16th Babies Go to Congress.
A Republican from Iowa, Sen. Ernst spoke at the 2016 and 2017 March for Life and is a key sponsor of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act—which ends most abortions at 20 weeks and beyond and is expected to go before the Senate the week of this year’s March for Life, Jan. 19.
Each of the four mothers participating in Babies Go to Congress overcame significant challenges to choose life in the midst of an unexpected pregnancy, thanks to the help of a locally funded and operated pregnancy center affiliated with Heartbeat International.
“We are honored to welcome Sen. Ernst to this year’s Babies Go to Congress,” Jor-El Godsey, Heartbeat International president, said. “Like pregnancy help leaders and volunteers at the local level, Sen. Ernst puts her pro-life beliefs into compassionate action. Every woman deserves the compassionate help and hope she needs to make the healthiest choice for everyone involved in an unexpected pregnancy.”
Tweet This: @joniernst to headline event #PlannedParenthood could never pull off. #prolife #whywemarch @HeartbeatIntl
An event abortion industry leader Planned Parenthood would never dream of pulling off, Babies Go to Congress has brought 155 mothers and their children into congressional offices since Heartbeat International took its initial group to the nation’s Capitol in 2009. Overall, mothers with their children in tow have visited 315 congressional offices representing 25 states.
This year’s group is made up of mothers and children from North Carolina, Ohio, Missouri and Florida. One of the mothers, Kelsey Hedges from Missouri, refused abortion when the father of her twin girls pressured her to end their lives in the womb.
Thursday, Jan. 18, Hedges and her 15-month-old daughters will tell their story to the Senate offices of Republican Roy Blunt and Democrat Claire McCaskill, as well as the House offices of Republicans Blaine Luetkemeyer and Jason Smith.
“I was in love from the moment I laid eyes on both of them,” Hedges writes. “They are such a blessing to my life, and bring so much joy to myself and the rest of my family. I thank God often for my girls and for Pregnancy Resource Center of Rolla who saved me and my pregnancy.”
Click here to learn more about the 2018 Babies Go to Congress participants and follow their journey to Capitol Hill.
Heartbeat International President Responds to Abortion Lobby-Backed "Investigation"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday | January 12, 2018
Contact: Jay Hobbs, Director of Communications and Marketing
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — A new effort to undermine and oppose pro-life pregnancy centers offering women a chance to choose life over abortion is now underway, and this time, it’s a former Planned Parenthood vice president calling the shots.
Launched in the beginning of January, “Equity Forward” identifies itself on its online “About Us” page as, a project aiming, “to ensure transparency and accountability among anti-reproductive health groups and individuals who are actively working to deny women access to services.”
Later in its “About Us” page, the group says it “exists to create a window into what opponents of reproductive health care are doing, operationally and tactically, in order to expose malfeasance, fraud, unethical practices, and false information to hold them accountable.”
Led by Mary Alice Carter, a former interim VP for communications at Planned Parenthood, Equity Forward was approvingly profiled by TheHill.com Friday. The group has already kicked off its initial investigation meant to smear the nation’s 2,700 locally funded pregnancy centers that offer peer counseling, ultrasounds, material aid and post-abortive help offered at no cost.
"Rather than going on a wild goose chase against pro-life pregnancy help, abortion activists would do far better to investigate their own industry,” Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International—which serves over 2,400 pregnancy help organizations around the world—said. “Pregnancy centers are good for women and their children. It is abortion businesses—not pregnancy centers—that routinely physically harm their patients, profit off a woman’s desperation and break the law to maximize their bottom line.
“No woman has ever died or been harmed in a pregnancy center, and sadly, we can’t say the same about abortion businesses.”
Chasing the Wild Goose
Monday evening, a licensed private investigator named Jane Ebert called and left a message on the personal cell phone of a former pregnancy center employee who now works full-time with a national pro-life group.
In her message, obtained by Pregnancy Help News, Ebert said she was working on an investigation on behalf of Equity Forward.
The message caught the former pregnancy center staffer off-guard, so she did a little digging into Equity Forward. She also reached out to her former colleagues at the pregnancy center and confirmed that Ebert hadn’t contacted any of them.
Ebert also contacted a former pregnancy center employee in another state the same day, Heartbeat International's Pregnancy Help News learned Friday afternoon.
As of Friday, Ebert had not returned a call or email from Pregnancy Help News.
Read more (here) at Heartbeat International's Pregnancy Help News.