Pregnancy Help Network - South Africa

Since 2000 Pregnancy Help Network has been affirming life through developing and equipping an effective network of 70 pregnancy help centers in South Africa to reach women and families facing an unexpected or crisis pregnancy.

We provide assessments and guidance to emerging pregnancy help NPO’s and mentor existing organizations through networking and workshops that teach train and develop South Africans to be a nation that affirms and values life.

We source, develop, and provide a wide range of training material, brochures, booklets, books, and equipment to enhance our service delivery.

An annual conference introduces pregnancy centers to the latest trends and developments in the field of women, children, and family care.

Our range of training includes personal and leadership development and various counseling skills to equip and empower pregnancy care centers to assist families affected by a crisis pregnancy.

Client Testimony:

I had three clients who changed their minds about abortion after counseling. Once was a student who was convinced that she cannot keep her baby and that her parents would not accept her pregnancy. After our counseling, she talked with her mother and both parents responded differently than she had expected. (Counsellor from Options Care Centre...George...South Africa)

Pregnancy Help Network convenes an annual conference that facilitates networking opportunities with centers in SA which help each center to learn what has been tried and is working and where we can make improvements in our own centers. Through Pregnancy Help Network we also have access to resources and training from other organizations and countries that they partner with. These ‘’tools of our trade’’ are a huge benefit for our centers in terms of helping a client to consider a life-affirming solution to her crisis pregnancy. (Pregnancy Resource Centre...Amanzimtoti...South Africa)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday | March 10, 2015
Contact: Jay Hobbs, Director of Communications and Marketing
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Tweet This: "We exist to empower a woman with true choice. That's why @naral attacks us." @PeggyHartshorn

COLUMBUS, OHIO – Responding to a report released Monday by abortion advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice America, Heartbeat International President Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., pointed to what she calls the fundamental difference between “true” and “false” reproductive health.

NARAL’s report, “Crisis Pregnancy Centers Lie: The Insidious Threat To Reproductive Freedom,” represents several years of opposition to the 2,500 pregnancy help organizations operating independently in the United States, most of whom are fully funded by local and private donors.

In its 24 pages, NARAL’s report features 107 citations. However, 92 of those (86 percent total) come from its state and local chapters, and eight more are from Planned Parenthood’s research arm, The Guttmacher Institute.

“The sole purpose of every pregnancy help organization is to provide the love and support every woman deserves in an unexpected pregnancy,” Hartshorn said. “We exist to empower a woman to make the healthiest choice for all involved. That is why NARAL attacks us with these false and flimsy allegations.”

Hartshorn, who attended the Diocesan Family and Life Congress in Manilla over the past weekend and trained Heartbeat International joint affiliation partners serving throughout the Philippines, pointed to the good work of pregnancy help organizations, both in the U.S. and all over the world.

She is author of Heartbeat International’s top-selling volunteer training resource, The LOVE Approach—first published in 1994—which teaches a truly woman-centered approach.

“No woman should ever feel so alone, coerced, or hopeless that she ends her child’s life through abortion,” Hartshorn said. “That’s why, in every corner of the globe, Heartbeat International affiliates and others provide all the facts about pregnancy—including the baby’s development and the many serious physical and psychological dangers of abortion.”

“This report is an attack on the truth and true reproductive freedom. Only a fully informed choice can be a true choice.”

Tweet This: "This report is an attack on true reproductive freedom." @PeggyHartshorn

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday | Feb. 23, 2015
Contact: Jay Hobbs, Director of Communications and Marketing
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Tweet This: Father of #prolife movement created legacy of life, family, true reproductive healthcare

COLUMBUS, OHIO – Responding to news of the death of Dr. John C. Willke, a key pioneer in the pro-life movement, Heartbeat International President Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., has issued the following statement:

“We are all saddened to hear of the loss of Dr. Jack Willke, who many call the father of the pro-life movement,” Hartshorn said. “When I became president of Heartbeat International in 1993, we became colleagues as leaders of national and international organizations, but before that, he was a dear friend and a mentor to me.”

[Click here to see video of Heartbeat International President Peggy Hartshorn's comments on Dr. Willke's passing.]

Willke, 89, died Friday, Feb. 21, at his home, according to a press release from Life Issues Institute, an organization he and his late wife, Barbara, founded in 1991.

The Willke family’s work in the pro-life arena began in the 1960s, when the couple started producing and distributing slides and brochures detailing the facts about fetal development and abortion procedures. Dr. Willke served two terms (1980-83, 1984-91) as president of the National Right to Life Committee.

His 1985 book, “Abortion Questions & Answers: Love Them Both,” helped shape the national pro-life movement’s dialogue to what Heartbeat International has called a “woman-centered approach.” Heartbeat International honored Dr. Willke with its “Servant Leader Award” in 2003.

“We owe so much to those early medical leaders, who knew that true healthcare for women involved respect not only for the woman, but her unborn child. What a tremendous example they have been—and are—as we continue to carry on their legacy.”

Hartshorn, whose career in the pro-life field began as president of the Columbus, Ohio, chapter of Right to Life, worked closely with Dr. and Mrs. Willke when both were involved with the organization. It was Willke’s brochure and slides, “Life or Death” that served as Hartshorn’s initial introduction into pro-life work.

Hartshorn appeared in “Dr. Willke, A Pro-Life Legacy to Last a Lifetime,” a documentary on Dr. Willke’s life and legacy produced by Life Issues Institutes in Jan., 2015.

“I remember so many things about Dr. Willke, and one of those things is the example of family that he embodied. He and his late wife, Barbara, were together in this movement, and I believe that is such an important thing as we commit ourselves long-term to stand for life and a culture of life. We need the help and support of families in this movement.”

About Heartbeat International
Heartbeat International is the first network of pro-life pregnancy help organizations founded in the U.S. (1971), and now the largest and most expansive network in the world. With nearly 2,000 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. For more information, see www.HeartbeatInternational.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday | Feb. 10, 2015
Contact: Jay Hobbs, Director of Communications and Marketing
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

COLUMBUS, OHIO – Heartbeat International, the world’s largest and most expansive network of pregnancy help centers, medical clinics, maternity homes and non-profit adoption agencies, has released its 2014 Annual Report, which reviews the organization’s 43rd year of life-affirming work.

Highlighting the group’s list of 2014 achievements, its 24/7, 365 pregnancy helpline, Option Line®, answered its two millionth contact since it launched in 2003. After answering initial questions via phone, text, live chat or email, Option Line consultants seek to route a caller directly to his or her local pregnancy help organization to find in-person help during a difficult or unexpected pregnancy.

Tweet This: Heartbeat's Option Line answered its two millionth contact in 2014.

The contact center answers over 17,000 contacts every month from the U.S. and Canada, and now has Spanish-speaking consultants available 72 percent of every 24-hour cycle, with a 2015 goal to make Spanish-speaking consultants available 24 hours per day.

“A 24/7 pregnancy helpline has been at the very center of our life-saving vision since the day Heartbeat International was first formed,” President Peggy Harthsorn, PhD., who has served as president since 1993, said. “To see this vision become reality—and to think of the millions of lives directly rescued and impacted by Option Line—is truly satisfying and speaks volumes to the power of God and the faithfulness of our supporters over the decades.”

Hartshorn, who was recognized by Students for Life as a 2015 Defender of Life in late January, also highlighted Heartbeat International’s role in furthering the work of SOS Vita, a pregnancy helpline operated by Italian affiliate partner Movimento per la Vita, with technological upgrades and training in Heartbeat International’s Talking About Abortion resource.

Included in the 2014 milestones, Heartbeat International welcomed its first-ever affiliate in mainland China. The organization’s founding executive director, whose name is withheld for security reasons, was presented with a check for $10,000 at the 2014 Heartbeat International Annual Conference, with all funds coming by way of contribution from the network’s 1,800 affiliate organizations on every inhabited continent.

Heartbeat International’s 2014 Annual Report can be viewed in its entirety here.