Mid-term election season. The idea may strike more placid acceptance than the inspiring, engaging sense of civic involvement of a presidential election year.

But, as champions of life with our citizenship in two worlds, even a mid-term election should call us to attention, action, and mobilization on behalf of our fellow countrymen—both born and pre-born.

This is why we make it a priority to vote our beliefs, off-year or not. We realize lives, futures, and legacies are at stake in our communities, states, and nation. These elected officials represent not only you, but your organization's staff, volunteers, donors... and clients.

In addition to your vote, your elected representatives need to know the truth. Each of them needs to hear from you and your clients—their constituents—the truth that Pregnancy Help Organizations are Good for America.

[Click here for Top 5 Benefits of Babies Go to Congress]

When a pregnancy help organization succeeds, lives are saved. That's an undeniable reality. A beautiful reality. A miracle. Something your elected representative needs to know.

That's the goal of Heartbeat's Babies Go to Congress, taking place January 20-22, 2015. It's your opportunity to sit down with your elected officials and not only tell the story of your organization's life-saving work, but—side-by-side with a client and her baby—to show the story of rescue that happens every day in organizations like yours.

Since 2009, a total of 109 women and children from over 50 organizations in 22 states have visited 222 congressional offices.

The babies are at it again January 20-22, 2015. Click here to find out how you and your organization can get involved.

Fresh from Washington D.C.

by Peggy Hartshorn, Heartbeat International, President
(from Take Heart Volume 2, Issue 2)

I’m excited to share with you our encouraging news “fresh from Washington, D.C.”! I spent almost a week in our nation’s capital for meetings with national pro-life leaders, for the annual March for Life, and for our Babies Go To Congress™ (BGTC) event. What a magnificent week! Click here for a quick picture album of our March for Life team.

First, our BGTC was full of glory. We took several Heartbeat affiliates and their clients with babies – five Heartbeat teams totaling 27 people – to meet with to key Congressional representatives in 23 offices. We delivered the message that “pregnancy centers are good for America.” And our mothers were able to tell their stories as well and present to their elected officials a copy of the powerful report A Passion to Serve, A Vision for Life (researched by Family Research Council with the help of Heartbeat and other organizations in our movement). Walking the halls of Congress with our affiliates, mothers, and babies, was an honor and blessing for me personally.

Ripples, turning into currents, as a result of this trip will be many! Here are excerpts from a thank you letter to Heartbeat from just one of our mothers who came with her husband and baby:

“I wanted to thank you and Heartbeat International for the love and commitment to healthy babies and families you showed to me and every lady in attendance (and the thousands of others that benefit from all that Heartbeat does). I personally praise God for you!

Anthony and I experienced so much while in Washington, DC, I am still processing/taking all of it in… I am a counseling student and I will be obtaining my School Counselor Certification. After my professors heard of my pending trip and involvement in BGTC, they advised me to submit a proposal to present at this year's Illinois School Counselor Association Annual Conference… School Counselors in Chicago need to be able to "Connect the Dots" and know about community resources that their students may need.

I must share that before coming to Washington, DC I was not 100% committed to the pro-life movement. Although I do not believe in abortion and would never advise or financially back someone in their decision to get an abortion, I just was not comfortable in completely taking that right away from women either. However, I was challenged to really think about not only what I believe but WHO I believe in.”

I would estimate that about 350,000-400,000 people came to Washington for the March this year, probably the largest in recent history. Perhaps 50 percent of the Marchers were young people. A Washington Post columnist went to the March thinking he would see a “quaint” gathering with a hopeless cause. He admitted his surprise when he found otherwise! An excellent column by Cal Thomas (January 27), highlights the youth pro-life movement, and mentions TWICE the role of our pregnancy centers: “Thousands of pregnancy centers are winning a new generation to their views.”

I hope that each of you will experience in 2010 the personal “refreshment” I experienced during this intensely pro-pregnancy center week, feeling the Hand of God at work in the halls of Congress and at the March for Life. Clearly, our united labor, gifts, prayers, and strategic initiatives are winning our fellow Americans over to the truth and goodness of our Cause.

Learn more about BGTC at HeartbeatInternational.org.

Return to Take Heart Volume 2, Issue 2.

In the teeth of a bitterly cold week in Washington, D.C., Heartbeat International brought along eight moms and eight babies to deliver a single message to their elected representatives.

Their message? Pregnancy help centers are good for America!

This year’s entourage was the largest contingent Heartbeat has ever brought to the nation’s capitol, bringing the total number of moms and babies to over 100 throughout our 12 trips since we initiated Babies Go to Congress® in 2009.

While a look at big numbers like these (plus the more than 200 congressional offices we’ve visited!) certainly provides a breath-taking view of God’s goodness, no number quite drives the point home like… Two.

That’s because, every day in the pregnancy help centers, medical clinics, maternity homes, and non-profit adoption agencies Heartbeat International serves, the lives of women and their unborn children are being rescued, protected, and preserved… Two lives at a time.

Take Diana and Jaycee, for example. Single and 19, Diana felt as if her “whole world stopped” as the pregnancy test read Positive.

Afraid to tell her family and desperate to find a way out, abortion was a real option for Diana’s mind as she typed in the words, “pregnant and scared” into her Google search engine. What she found was a nearby Heartbeat affiliate pregnancy center whose after-hours phone number routed automatically to Option Line®, Heartbeat’s 24/7 pregnancy helpline (800-712-HELP).

Patiently listening to Diana’s story, the caring voice on the other end of the line helped schedule an appointment for the following week at the pregnancy help center.

In Diana’s words:

I went into (the center) knowing there were other options like an abortion and thinking that was my only way out. My thoughts of having a baby were overshadowed with unanswered questions and I felt like I had hit a dead end.

That day now four years behind her, Diana was all smiles as she shared her story with her Rhode Island congressional offices in Washington.
Of course, she didn’t come alone, as she was joined by her 3-year-old son, Jaycee, whose life was both spared and nurtured because Diana found the emotional support and practical resources she desperately needed through Option Line and Heartbeat’s network of life-saving local partners.

Like Diana, every woman facing an unexpected or difficult pregnancy desperately needs the emotional support and practical resources that only pregnancy help organizations provide.

Over 100 moms and babies thank you… Two at a time.

by Jay Hobbs, Communications Assistant

>> Click Here to Discover Lives Saved through the Abortion Pill Rescue Network <<

Each story below represents a woman's experience with one of our pregnancy help organizations. One by one, these women overcame challenges through the help of the pregnancy help movement. Receiving support and care, and in some cases, even a roof over their heads, they know the value of pregnancy centers and maternity homes because their lives were changed by their service. And now, they share their personal stories so that no woman feels so alone she feels abortion is her only option. These families champion life!

Autumn	Brittni	Mackenzie	Mary	Nadya
Janai	Kelsey	Magalia	Jacqueline	Whitney
Halie	Kailee	Savannah	Lourdes	Mapi
Zayda	Nikki	Kahlia	Acacia	Marcella
Paula	Jessica G.	Shelly	Tasha	Sarah
Ahna and Garrett	April	Teka	Faith	Khalilah
Michelle	Kynnedi	Laura L.	Diana	Elisa
Chelsea	Victoria	Matennah	Michelle M.	Brittany
April H.	Emily B.	Laura	Brittany and Nathaniel	Kylie
Ruth	Danielle	Evalynn	Kayla	Kendra
Anahi

Spreading the good news... Pregnancy help is doing great work

Heartbeat is constantly trying to get the word out about the excellent work of pregnancy help organizations around the world. Whether it's consistently sharing recent news about pregnancy help organizations over at PregnancyHelpNews.com or sharing the real story of pregnancy centers in a world where the media is biased against them at PregnancyCenterTruth.com, we are committed to making sure that the pregnancy help movement has a voice in the public conversation.

Over at Pregnancy Help News, we share daily news, opinion, and commentary related to the pregnancy help movement and it's place in the larger pro-life movement. You can even sign up for a weekly email update of what's going on in the movement to be delivered to your inbox every Monday. Or... share a story about something new or interesting happening at your center. In other words, we want to share what you may need to know and tell your story here!

Pregnancy Center Truth is built to combat the lies told by Big Abortion about the pregnancy help movement. There, anyone can see the reality laid out clearly with studies to back up claims and sharable quick stats built for social media. It's just one way we defend the reputation of pregnancy centers around the world.

Commending the pregnancy help movement... Babies Go to Congress

Every year, Heartbeat International brings moms and their children to Washington, D.C. to remind our congressmen and women that pregnancy help centers are good for America. Babies Go to Congress, held every year close to the March for Life, shows our elected officials at the federal level the amazing way lives change with the help of grassroots organizations like yours. There's no replacement for the flesh-and-blood testimonial of a mother holding her child to show lawmakers that pregnancy centers are good for america.

A key piece of information Heartbeat International always hopes to underscore through the event is the privately funded, non-profit status of pregnancy help organizations. Unlike most meetings congressional offices hold with their constituents, there is never any request for public funds as part of the event, a fact that also stands in stark contrast to highly profitable, publicly funded abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood.

Since beginning the program in 2009, over 100 women and children representing over 50 centers have visited over 200 congressional offices.

Your center can benefit from participating in Babies Go to Congress this January. Click here for more information and take this opportunity to share during a truly historic moment in our nation's history!

Defending the life-savers... Heartbeat has your back

Over the years, pregnancy centers have been under attack by abortion advocates from Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and many others. Heartbeat International is there to both officially refute the unfounded claims (through news coverage at PregnancyHelpNews.com), and to pass along needed information to affiliates through emails, conference calls, live or recorded webinars, and more. 

So wether it's a protest from "The Handmaids", a "glitter bomb" in the mail, or a campaign of false reviews on your organization online, Heartbeat International is always there to help affiliates respond appropriately. 

Learn more about Heartbeat's work of defending the pregnancy help movement here. (Note: Must be a Heartbeat affiliate to access)

Heartbeat’s Babies Go to Congress® puts a face on the very divisive issue of abortion, or, more precisely, what to do with an unexpected child. This July, Heartbeat International brought its tenth group of moms and babies to our nation’s capital at a critical time to speak life to power.

Once again, God equipped those whom He called to Heartbeat’s Babies Go to Congress. We had four affiliates participating from California, Indiana, Oklahoma and Texas, bringing four moms, two infants, and two children. Dividing into teams, we held 14 congressional meetings in one day.

July’s Capitol Hill adventure brings our total number of participants to 150 since Heartbeat’s Babies Go to Congress began in January 2009.  That includes 34 affiliates from 23 states along with 86 moms and babies. We have held nearly 200 congressional meetings.

Those in attendance were thrilled with this Heartbeat event describing it as “a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

The moms involved did a fantastic job of explaining how pregnancy help organization staff and volunteers cleared away obstacles so they could welcome a new little life. Each mom, in her own engaging way, explained to her elected officials that even though there was pressure to abort her baby, the pregnancy help network made it possible to embrace motherhood.

One of the things that made this event unique is that we had a mom representing the Choctaw Nation.

Shelly Louis of Durant, Okla., not only had the opportunity to meet with her representative, but was very well received by U.S. Representative Cole, who happens to be the only Native American congressman. Shelly also met with both of her U.S. senators. Senator Coburn even took her aside and, with his hand placed affectionately on her shoulder, thanked her for choosing life for little Kiree.

Additional highlights included a meeting with Congresswoman Bachmann who shares our passion for life. Congresswoman Hartzler shared a wonderfully touching adoption story with our group. She also encouraged everyone to keep up the good work.

While the most pro-abortion administration in U.S. history promotes taxpayer sponsored abortion and mandates anti-child policies – because childlessness is cheaper – every pro-life American has a heightened responsibility to clarify the importance of providing alternatives to abortion.

Through Heartbeat’s Babies Go to Congress, we provide this opportunity for moms to let policy makers know that pregnancy help centers are good for America. It is our goal that U.S. lawmakers from every state understand that alternatives to abortion prevent coerced abortions.

Click here to find out how you can be considered for our next trip to Washington D.C. January 23-24, 2013.