by Jaimy Craemer-Adjei, LPN, Heartbeat Medical Specialist

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

What does it mean to bear one another’s burdens?

In the Pregnancy Center it can be a daily unconscious ritual to bear another’s burden, and in the attitude of Christ, it is part of our calling. In that “routine” moment when a woman pours her heart out to you behind closed doors, you are bearing the burdens of Christ. You are following the commands of Christ as you offer a listening ear and kind words. You may be the only friendly face this woman sees in her life right now, even though you are a stranger.

But isn’t that part of who we are? Strangers in this world – with a higher calling?

And what exactly is the law of Christ that we are to fulfill? In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that the two greatest commandments are, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength…”  and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31). As we put Christ first in our lives and love Him with everything we have, we can then turn and love our neighbors – our clients – the women coming to us with one of the biggest burdens in their lives – an unexpected pregnancy. But here she is, in your consulting room, and you are the one taking on her burdens in that crucial moment of her life.

As nurses we take on so many things. Our families, our profession, our education, our church – and life can get overwhelming. Jesus says in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  The problems in not just our lives, but the problems in the life of the pregnant, devastated woman sitting across from us, can be overwhelming at times.

But it is not our responsibility to bear these burdens forever.

We are told to come to Jesus with our burdens, and He will give us rest. It’s that simple. Give it to Jesus. The devastated woman who feels she simply cannot handle one more crisis… the unborn baby whose life hangs in the balance… everything that weighs us down at the end of the day… give it to Jesus.

Jeremiah 31:25 says, “For I have given rest to the weary, and joy to the sorrowing.”  He has given us rest and joy. Thank you Jesus for rest and joy! As we turn over the heavy loads we carry day in and day out, we will be able to rest in Him and have joy in our lives. What a privilege our Father in Heaven has given us to allow us to turn our sorrows and burdens over to Him.

As we play this unique role in life, as we touch the lives of so many, we have to be reminded to give it all to Jesus – it's all in His hands anyway. As you see your clients in distressing situations, remember to pray, and turn her problems (on your shoulders) over to Christ, and He will give you the rest you so desperately need.

God bless each and every Nurse doing the work of Christ, bearing the burdens of others, and making a difference in the born and unborn souls of this world. Happy Nurse’s Week!!!

Hooked
by Joe S. McIlhaney, Jr., MD and Freda McKissic Bush, MD

by Ducia Hamm LAS, Associate Director of Affiliate Services

Who of us has not heard these comments when addressing the subject of delaying sex until marriage with teens and adults alike...“You just don’t want me to have any fun!” “Everyone is doing it!” “We love each other so what does it matter if we’re married?”

Hooked is a must read for pregnancy help ministry staff, parents, those mentoring teens or young adults – truly for anyone interested in how our bodies were created by God to biologically form lasting, meaningful connections with each other.

Packed full of eye-opening, useful information, Hooked lays out, in easy to understand language, the recent research in the field of neuroscience confirming the adage that our brains are the largest and most important sex/relationship organ humans have.

Because of new state-of-the-art technology, some startling discoveries have been made. We have known for a while the bonding effects that oxytocin has in a woman’s brain when it is released during sex but did you know that men release vasopressin which has a very similar bonding effect in a man’s brain?

Scientists are now able to measure when and how much of specific chemicals are released and the corresponding changes the human brain experiences when we engage in sexual activity.

One of the most important discoveries talked about in Hooked is crucial information needed for a culture so accepting of casual sex, “...there is evidence that when [the] sex/bonding/breaking-up cycle is repeated a few or many times – even when the bonding was short-lived – damage is done to the important, built-in ability to develop significant and meaningful connection to other human beings.” (Pg. 55)

As I read Hooked, Psalms 139:13-14 kept coming to mind – “For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well.”

We are indeed “remarkably and wonderfully made!” It is always exciting to see science corroborate what the Bible has always said – that sex is meant to be enjoyed to the fullest within the context of marriage between one man and one woman.

**One of the authors, Freda McKissic Bush, MD is a member of the Heartbeat International Medical Advisory Council, frequent presenter at the Heartbeat Annual Conference, Medical Director for Center for Pregnancy Choices in Mississippi and CEO of the Medical Institute for Sexual Health among many other activities and accomplishments.

The following article synopsis was provided by Julie Lynch McDonald PharmD, a member of Heartbeat International’s Medical Advisory Council. This may be helpful information for any client considering abortion due to the medications they are taking for psychiatric conditions.

Management of psychotropic drugs during pregnancy
BMJ (01/20/16) Chisolm, Margaret S.; Payne, Jennifer L.

Whether to maintain a woman's psychiatric drug regimen when she becomes pregnant is a delicate decision that must consider the benefits and risks to both mother and child. With little research exploring the safety of mood stabilizers and similar medications during pregnancy, the knee-jerk reaction for many years has been to suspend the prescriptions. A review of studies published between January 2000 and December 2014, however, reveals that most psychotropic drugs are relatively safe for use in expecting women. Moreover, the review authors conclude, any risk presented by continuing use of these medications during pregnancy is eclipsed by the risk associated with discontinuing them. A high proportion of women with conditions such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia relapse if they stop taking their prescriptions during the gestation period. That, in turn, can lead to unfavorable outcomes, including suicide and infanticide.

Read more here.

What is your response when a client or person questioning you wants proof of your claim that life begins and is complete at conception?

Can you prove the validity from medical literature?

This compilation of 41 quotes from Medical Textbooks proving human life begins at conception is an invaluable citation list to use when asked for references, for utilization in your center to train staff, for addressing clients and for documentation.

Click here for the compiled list!

Recognizing the great service your Medical Directors give to your centers, Heartbeat International also wants to support them in their mission. Please pass on the information below about a great opportunity to your Medical Director.

The AIUM American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine is presenting

Gynecologic and Early Obstetric Ultrasound---- Solving Problems With Imaging

Register today for Gynecologic and Early Obstetric Ultrasound---- Solving Problems With Imaging. This course is brimming with essential, illuminating sessions such as:

• Why Should Ultrasound Be First for Imaging of the Female Pelvis? An Overview
• Adnexal Masses: When to Call an Oncologic Surgeon
• Procedures for Evaluating the Uterine Cavity and Tubes With Ultrasound
• How and When to Do 3-Dimensional Ultrasound Examinations
• The Many Faces of Endometriosis
• The Pelvic Floor: How to Evaluate It and Findings

Join Course Chair Beryl Benacerraf, MD, FAIUM, AIUM president, and other esteemed faculty September 25-26, 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This course offers up to 11 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ (accepted by the ARDMS) or ARRT Category A Credits. Learn more here.

Thanks to the forward-thinking generosity of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), Heartbeat International affiliates can now access AAPLOG membership for the rest of 2015 at no cost.

The $75 value is free for Heartbeat International affiliates only, and it's just in time to take advantage of a printing discount for AAPLOG's new suite of brochures, which are geared to reach clients with information on pregnancy and the harmful effects of abortion.

Two members from each Heartbeat International affiliate can take advantage of the 2015 AAPLOG membership, which includes the following benefits:

• Free listing in AAPLOG's public "Find a Physician" search
• AAPLOG Membership certificate with annual renewal stickers, appropriate for framing and office display
• Online CME credit for numerous important lectures
• Speakers Bureau access, including PowerPoint presentations on various pro-life topics
• Discounts on our Patient Educational Brochures
• Free subscription to Issues in Law and Medicine
• Email updates
• Note: OB-GYNs who are members of AAPLOG are eligible to vote and serve on the AAPLOG Board of Directors.

To access your complimentary AAPLOG membership, click here and type "HEARTBEAT INTERNATIONAL" in the address field and select "Submit." Please do not submit payment if you are currently a Heartbeat International affiliate.

To find out more about ordering the brochures, including ordering free samples, click here. (Note: In order to keep your cost low, consider combining your order with a partner organization to take advantage of bulk pricing.)

See a sample of the flyers below:

Board Certified. Professional. Pro-life.

If he or she is, thank them! If not, please pass on the following information to them. AAPLOG is a tremendous support and resource for pro-life physicians who often face difficult challenges and opposition in today's liberal medical environment and culture, providing research papers, articles and updates on current topics, educational opportunities, networking, legal defense of the unborn, and more. The following information is taken from the AAPLOG website. Heartbeat International Affiliates join for free!

PHYSICIANS

Practicing in today's environment is incredibly challenging. We are with you. We exist to serve your need for accurate up to date information on prolife issues so that you will be able to answer with confidence the ethical challenges that you face on a daily basis. We provide a forum to network with likeminded colleagues from many different specialties. We are here to help make your job a little easier. Join us.

Our Mission is Clear:
You are not alone.

We are the largest organization of pro-life obstetricians and gynecologists in the world. We know what it is like to practice good medicine in a hostile academic environment. We understand the need for absolutely accurate and scientifically irrefutable information. We are committed to serving you.

We strive to provide you with a network of prolife physicians for mentoring and support and communication, and within that network to be able to mentor the next generation of pro-life physicians.

We want to make available to you the most accurate, up to date information on the effects of abortion on women, so that you will have an evidence-based response to the pressures to endorse abortion.

Check out our mission statement.

And Join us.

Evidence Based Education.

In the published medical literature, there is ample evidence of the effects of abortion on women. Abortion increases preterm birth in subsequent pregnancies, increases a woman's risk of suicide, substance abuse, major depression and all cause mortality, and increases a woman's risk of breast cancer if aborting a first pregnancy and delaying term pregnancy subsequently. Yet, many medical organizations are so politically invested in the abortion agenda that this information is not readily available to physicians or patients.

AAPLOG works to make available to physicians and patients the effects of abortion on women as evidenced in the peer-reviewed medical literature. The AAPLOG annual Matthew Bulfin Educational Meeting provides a forum for pro-life medical experts to discuss the latest and most important information on prolife topics, and has offered 8 credits of CME. These lectures are archived and available to members on the AAPLOG website.

Members can also avail themselves of prepared CME lectures on a variety of prolife topics, to equip members to be able to speak out professionally on a variety of topics including abortion complications, maternal mortality, abortion and preterm birth etc.

A Voice for the Silent

As Hippocratic Physicians, we are responsible to protect both the mother and her unborn child from fertilization until natural death. As Hippocratic Physicians we have a unique professional responsibility to publically speak for the weakest and most defenseless of the human race: the unborn child. AAPLOG takes that professional responsibility seriously.

As a non-profit educational organization, AAPLOG members participate in the public defense of human life from fertilization until natural death, by supplying accurate information from the peer-reviewed medical literature, especially in public forums where accurate information is often grossly lacking. AAPLOG is frequently called on by lawmakers and the media to give a professional pro-life perspective on current legislation, new research or breaking events.

A Defense for the Helpless.

The current laws in our nation do not defend the most helpless of human beings. AAPLOG works with many local, state and national legislators, legal organizations and policy makers in the United States who work to defend these tiniest of humans in law. AAPLOG members provide the professional pro-life expert opinions needed to defend these laws.

AAPLOG also networks with pro-life medical colleagues internationally to equip them to provide the evidence-based expert testimony required to defend human life.

A Message from Our Executive Director

Have you ever longed for colleagues who share a prolife worldview? You are not alone. We are pro-life ob-gyns and associates who are speaking out with a professional voice. And, we are making a difference. Come join us.
• OB/GYN
• Physicians and Para-Medical Persons
• Students & Residents
• Organizations
• Affiliates

Together we can effectively communicate the effects of abortion on women. We can communicate a professional second opinion which values life. And we can network together to bring that message to the medical, policy and pro-life community. Come join us.

Our Mission Statement

As members of AAPLOG we affirm:
1. That we, as physicians, are responsible for the care and well-being of both our pregnant woman patient and her unborn child.
2. That the unborn child is a human being from the time of fertilization.
3. That elective disruption/abortion of human life at any time from fertilization onward constitutes the willful destruction of an innocent human being, and that this procedure will have no place in our practice of the healing arts.
4. That we are committed to educate abortion-vulnerable patients, the general public, pregnancy center counselors, and our medical colleagues regarding the medical and psychological complications associated with induced abortion, as evidenced in the scientific literature.
5. That we are deeply concerned about the profound, adverse effects that elective abortion imposes, not just on the women, but also on the entire involved family, and on our society at large.

To learn more click here.
We invite you to Join us.

by Susan Dammann, RN, LAS, Medical Specialist

Does your center provide information about the possible side effects and risks of various birth control methods? If so, you may want to consider including the following information in your materials.

A Jan. 22 article published in Medscape News on January 22, 2015 discussed a study done in Denmark which found an association between hormonal contraceptives and an increased risk for glioma in younger women. The results were published in the print edition of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. The reported risk increases with the duration of use, the study showed. "A nearly two-fold increased risk of glioma [a common type of primary brain tumor] was observed among long-term users of hormonal contraceptives."

The researchers highlight the fact that progesterone exposure was associated with the highest increased risk for glioma in their study. While the study had many strengths, its weaknesses are being identified, but are not expected to alter the results significantly.

"Oral contraceptives are known to influence the risk for certain cancers, but few studies have examined any link to central nervous system tumors", said David Gaist, MD, from Odense University Hospital and the University of South Denmark. He added that although the findings of this study must be interpreted with care, "We feel it is an important contribution and we hope that our findings will spark further research on the relationship between female hormonal agents and glioma risk."

Looking for a great read?

Check out Called to Care: A Christian Worldview for Nursing by Judith Allen Shelly and Arlene B. Miller

As one Amazon review states, "Bar none, this is the best work of its kind on the market."

There is much to learn in this excellent work, which starts by surveying nursing's historical roots as Christianity's response to caring for God's people. What do you know about the real Florence Nightingale? Deaconesses as some of the first nurses? How the ministry of nursing guidelines developed from the Christian faith?

After this fascinating look at nursing's historical roots in Christianity, the book examines how the practice of nursing has been experiencing challenges to bypass Christian roots by scientific and business models of care, as well as the current rise of alternative spiritualities among nursing leaders.

The authors have given us a great resource for re-examining the biblical basis of our commitment to serve the suffering and needy as nurses.

Publisher's Description

Nursing keeps changing. The role of the nurse grew out of a Christian understanding of the human person as created in the image of God, and viewed the body as a living unity and the "temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 6:19). Contemporary nursing, however, is increasingly characterized by a diminished understanding of personhood. The impact on patient care has proven confusing and discouraging to many nurses. In the newly revised and expanded Called to Care: A Christian Worldview for Nursing, Judith Allen Shelly and Arlene B. Miller define nursing for today based on a historically and theologically grounded understanding of the nurse's call: Nursing is a ministry of compassionate care for the whole person, in response to God's grace toward a sinful world, which aims to foster optimum health (shalom) and bring comfort in suffering and death for anyone in need. Called to Care asserts that nursing is a vocation, giving nurses a framework for understanding their mission and living out their calling: service to God through caring for others.

Honored member of Heartbeat International's Medical Advisory Council

A great man with an amazing testimony

Meet Dr. Anthony Levatino, honored member of Heartbeat International's Medical Advisory Council, who was featured in World Magazine January 22, 2015. The article details his journey from abortionist to pro-life advocate, including opening a pregnancy center and being medical director for two pregnancy center medical clinics. To read his full story click here. We are glad to recognize Dr. Levatino as part of our Medical Advisory Council.

Tweet this! Meet Dr. Anthony Levatino, honored member of Heartbeat International's Medical Advisory Council

On the left, Dr. Levatino is pictured giving testimony before a congressional subcommittee in support of a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. To see his full testimony click here.