The Heartbeat International Response to openDemocracy's Claims

Timeline | Claims | Quotes

If you've seen openDemocracy's coverage of Heartbeat International, you may be wondering how Heartbeat would respond. The reality is, this is not the first media attack we've faced, and we've found that transparency is our best defense against these kinds of unfounded attacks. 

To that end, our president, Jor-El Godsey, responded in an open letter to our affiliates and supporters in response attack to this egregious attack . 

We've seen indication that openDemocracy plans to continue targeting our affiliates around the world going forward, and so we want you, our brothers and sisters in life and goodwill, to know the facts to be best prepared in contending with any future baseless attacks.

Regarding the group's claims, the reality is we received such little notice from them and so little detail as to what they planned to release, that it was impossible for us to look into the claims immediately. As they subsequently sent additional information, we have been able to clarify the claims, or at least what we believe to be the basis for these claims, given the limited amount of information provided.

Outright falsehoods aside, one problem with their purported investigative research into Heartbeat's affiliate centers is that many times they simply point to a region, and the claims have otherwise not been clear about what information was stated by whom, where and when. This approach, dubious at best, compromises the validity of the claims at the outset.

Most of the claims regarding the centers are rehashed from the false claims we've addressed for years in the United States. While this group and others may not like the science, it exists, and is our foundation for the information we give to women. 

Regarding the claims pertaining to Heartbeat's webinars, to be frank, this group is highly misrepresenting and/or cherry-picking information from the webinars without including any of the citations supplied that support our training. Essentially, they do not care that there are scientific studies that validate links between abortion and depression; abortion and cancer; and the negative effects abortion has on men.

Timeline

  • Nov. 2018: We launched PregnancyCenterTruth.com to combat the lies and validate the good work of pregnancy centers for such a time as this
  • Feb. 7, 2020: We learn of openDemocracy’s intention
  • Feb. 10, 2020: Key Heartbeat Staff provided openDemocracy the information below with expectation that it would be included in their reporting
  • Feb. 10, 2020: Heartbeat notifies all joint affiliate partners
  • Feb. 10, 2020: openDemocracy publishes hit piece against Heartbeat pregnancy centers titled "Exclusive: Trump-linked religious ‘extremists’ target women with disinformation worldwide”
  • Feb. 11, 2020: Heartbeat issues response
  • Feb. 11, 2020: openDemocracy launches a "Tracking the Backlash" campaign to smear pro-life, Christian pregnancy centers worldwide
  • Feb. 11, 2020: openDemocracy publishes “Revealed: US-linked anti-abortion centres ‘violating the law’ in South Africa”
  • Feb. 12, 2020: openDemocracy publishes “How openDemocracy is tracking anti-abortion misinformation around the world”
  • Feb. 12, 2020: openDemocracy publishes “European lawmakers demand action on anti-abortion misinformation”
  • Feb. 12, 2020: openDemocracy publishes “Revealed: US-linked anti-abortion centres ‘lie’ and ‘scare women’ across Latin America”
  • Feb. 13, 2020: Heartbeat emails all supporters and affiliates: Open letter denouncing Big Abortion attacks
  • Feb. 13, 2020: Pregnancy Help News publishes Jor-El’s letter
  • Feb. 17, 2020: openDemocracy publishes “‘You could die and turn your husband gay’. How I learned to talk women out of legal abortions”
  • Feb. 19, 2020: openDemocracy is interviewed on the BBC Women’s Hour
  • Feb. 24, 2020: openDemocracy publishes "Croatian MPs from nine political parties call for inquiry into 'crisis pregnancy centres'"
  • Feb. 24, 2020: openDemocracy publishes "Top Ugandadn health official condemns US-linked 'pregnancy crisis centres' for opposing contraception"
  • Mar. 9, 2020: openDemocracy publishes "Inside Italian public hospitals, I saw how a US-linked anti-abortion network is 'humiliating' women"

On this page, we provide a much more comprehensive view into each claim. We have reviewed the webinars they purchased, and were able to identify what they have chosen to misrepresent.  The intentionally left out citations and context are included below. 

Claims

An openDemocracy reporter listened to two of our webinars: Talking About Abortion: An Overview, and Abortion: the Basics (This one compliments another that the reporter did not view, and, in order to ensure transparency,we are happy to share access with you if you would like). 

The Talking About Abortion Overview training is designed to aid staff/volunteers in sharing important information about procedures and risks that empower the client to make an informed decision. It is not intended that staff/volunteers share all of the information with each client, but by educating staff and volunteers we ensure that they are equipped to discuss all risks, considerations, and concerns with clients.

To this end, as the training begins, the instructor states:

"With love and truth, our goal is to help the client understand abortion more fully, so that she can truly make an informed decision." 

The subsequent information shared in the training is detailed information about procedures, risks, complications, and considerations we believe women should be aware of in order to make an informed decision.

In the Abortion: the Basics, our presenter ends with the following:

"Our job is...to share accurate information with clients from a place of love and care...We let the women know the potential risks and consequences that abortion can have on their lives. Our clients have the right to choose an abortion, but they also have the right to know more fully what may be at stake in their decision." 

In regard to all the claims, at this time, we do not plan to put out multiple defense messages to refute each accusation they make. Instead, we plan to focus on the good work our pregnancy centers are doing throughout the world and the impact they have in their communities. We will continue to invest in our centers so they can be as effective as possible in creating a culture that provides compassionate help and support to women in need. In short, we’re more concerned about doing the work we’ve been called into and supporting our affiliates than combatting the unfounded and clearly biased accusations by openDemocracy.

However, we are happy to answer questions regarding their claims for our affiliates, supporters, and others who may be concerned. 

Claims that Heartbeat erroneously teaches that abortion increases women’s risks of abusing their children

  • In Heartbeat’s training materials, many potential side effects connected with abortion are listed, including anger as a side effect directed at husbands/boyfriends, citing a California Survey of Medicaid Patients.
  • Child abuse/neglect is listed as an associated risk. Actual narration describes it as one "Domino effect of drug and alcohol abuse"
  • "Because of the things we've already been talking about following abortion...all of this, these are all factors that are closely associated with child abuse. A greater incidence of child neglect or abuse with children that they have outside of the pregnancy that was aborted their other children are more neglectful of them or abusing them."
  • This is taken from a study by the Elliot Institute - Here's their footnote on the risk: 20. Benedict, et al., "Maternal Perinatal Risk Factors and Child Abuse," Child Abuse and Neglect, 9:217-224 (1985); P.G. Ney, "Relationship between Abortion and Child Abuse," Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 24:610-620, 1979; Reardon, Aborted Women - Silent No More (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1987), 129-30, describes a case of woman who beat her three year old son to death shortly after an abortion which triggered a "psychotic episode" of grief, guilt, and misplaced anger.

Suggestions that Heartbeat teaches abortion can ‘turn’ a woman’s partner gay

Misleading advertising, including some Heartbeat affiliates that present themselves online as pro-choice support groups – or abortion providers

  • There is nothing in either training accessed that indicate these claims. Our trainings on the topic highlight the importance of being honest in our advertising and ensuring online marketers working on behalf of centers are operating ethically. That being said, they could characterize any training on using keywords like "abortion information" as misleading.
  • Here again, they are misunderstanding/misrepresenting what Heartbeat is: We are a non-profit federation of faith-based pregnancy resource centers, medical clinics, maternity homes and non-profit adoption agencies. Heartbeat’s affiliates must adhere to basic principles that affirm alternatives to abortion and ensure non-discrimination, but all other matters of policy and management remain under the direction of the centers’ local leadership, allowing for autonomy. 
  • We are not a franchise model as they indicate in a few of their articles.

Staff at some Heartbeat affiliates offering ultrasounds without medical qualifications 

  • Our training emphasizes adherence to applicable laws and defers to the medical director as the authority for any individual organization.In addition, we have recommendations for finding a medical director and what steps need to be taken to provide high-quality, effective medical care.
  • From our Commitment of Care and Competence: Medical services are provided in accordance with all applicable laws, and in accordance with pertinent medical standards, under the supervision and direction of a licensed physician.   

Other applicable resources our centers have access to regarding abortion risks:

Quotes

The following quotes from key Heartbeat staff members were, for the most part, not included in openDemocracy's reports. When the below quotations were used by openDemocracy, they were attrbuted not to the individuals below, but to a "Heartbeat spokesperson," and were not used in their entirety.

Ellen Foell, Esq., International Specialist for Heartbeat International:

Heartbeat International stands firmly by “Our Commitment of Care and Competence" (CCC), while training continuously on it and promoting its use throughout the world, because we know that every woman deserves love and support during an unexpected pregnancy. No woman should feel alone, coerced, or so hopeless that she ends her child’s life through abortion. 

Since we work with pregnancy help organizations in more than 60 countries worldwide, we know that each country has its own abortion laws and cultural norms. 

The truth stands, no matter where you are in the world, that abortion ends the life of a developing human baby. While residents of different countries may communicate it in different ways, that is the definition of abortion.

And while different countries have their cultures and varied ways of communicating, the fact remains that abortion carries risks to women.

Cindi Boston-Bilotta, Heartbeat International Vice President:

We stand by all of our training resources designed for the pregnancy help community. “With love and truth, our goal is to help the client understand abortion more fully, so that she can truly make an informed decision,” as the presenter clearly stated at the beginning of our training cited in your report.

Women should have access to comprehensive information regarding all risks associated with any given medical procedure, no matter what that procedure might be. This is absolutely crucial to ensuring informed consent. Pregnancy centers look to scientific studies about the short and long-term effects of abortion in order to ensure that clients are empowered with facts before making a life-altering decision. (See "Additional References" document attached.)

Prior attempts to allege that pregnancy centers are remiss in the area of truth in advertising have been unsuccessful, with the pregnancy centers affirmed time and again by the courts. Heartbeat will vigorously defend the good work of our pregnancy centers and our commitment of care.

Betty McDowell, LSW, Heartbeat International Vice President:

Every woman has a right to know all the information before making an abortion decision. Denying women awareness of the emotional, psychological and physical risks that abortion can cause would be neglectful and dangerous.

Science has proven time and again that there are psychological and emotional risks for women involved with abortion, and for those providing care to women, it would be irresponsible to withhold this information.

Thank you for your patience while we reviewed openDemocracy’s claims and our training. We continue to stand behind our training and our affiliates. We hope that you continue to do the same.

You can find additional information about the good work of pregnancy help organizations at PregnancyHelpNews.com and at PregnancyCenterTruth.com. 

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