Magalia Frazier
Having a baby changes everything—physically, mentally, emotionally and financially. Even though having a baby is challenging, it has its rewards too.
After you’ve had a rough day at work, for example, and you come home or pick your child up from school, their excitement at seeing you is the best feeling in the world. Or, when you child is ill and under the weather, all they really want is to be near you as a parent and have you nurse them back to health.
As a parent, it’s a pleasure to watch your child learn to put into practice an everyday activity you’ve taught them that will be useful to them the rest of their lives.
I’m enjoying every bit of this roller-coaster ride with my 4-year-old daughter. But, our journey together hasn’t always been gumdrops above the chimney tops. I’m taking the good with the bad, and I have Elizabeth’s New Life Center to thank for that.
I’ve come a long way—far from the verbally abusive relationship with my daughter’s father, far from the dependence on government assistance to take care of my child and myself.
It all began when I found out I was pregnant. I was terrified and didn’t know where to turn or what to do next. Both of us come from strict families with strong moral and religious beliefs, so we were both afraid of what they would say once it came out that we were pregnant.
So, we Googled places nearby to make sure that the home pregnancy test was correct. That’s when we found Elizabeth’s New Life Center in Dayton, Ohio. We scheduled an appointment where they verified that we were indeed pregnant. We received an ultrasound and heard her heartbeat—it was so strong and fast-paced.
I couldn’t believe I had a little person living in my body I was suddenly responsible to care for. I started to cry, knowing that as a mother at the age of 22, I would not have to explain this to my own mother.
I was in college full-time, working part-time. Things were going great until this happened. What would my mom think of me? What about the rest of the family? I knew I’d brought shame upon my mother and myself.
With all these thoughts running through my head, the only thing I could think of was to keep it a secret and see about an abortion. I Googled abortion clinics and found the clinic in Kettering, Ohio. We drove to the clinic together. As I spoke to the receptionist, she told me what to expect, including the fact I’d have to pay a $200 down payment, with the remainder due the day of the procedure.
After my boyfriend and I paid the down payment for the abortion, I had one more question for the receptionist: “What do you do with the babies after the procedure?”
“We throw the fetus in the trash,” came the reply.
In that moment, I remember thinking how inhumane that sounded. Whether or not I felt ready to raise a child, I knew my baby was not going in the trash. Even the thought made me sick to my stomach.
Our appointment was scheduled for a week later. Even though I did my best to hide my pregnancy from my mother, she knew something was wrong. A mother always knows her child. When I told her I was pregnant and that I had already scheduled an abortion, she said, “You cannot abort my grandchild!”
On the day of the procedure, I felt sick to my stomach, my knees were buckling and I could barely stand. I called the facility to see if I could cancel the appointment and get my down payment back, but the receptionist told me I couldn’t.
I had had a change of heart. Something had come over me. Plus, I wanted my money back to help take care of my baby—the baby I was going to now raise.
Almost immediately, I began searching for baby names and dreaming of the sex of my baby. When we found out we were having a daughter, I was excited and nervous at the same time—because I know girls can tend to be a bit much at times—but I was ready for all the loops I would endure with her.
Now that I had experienced this change of heart, I remembered Elizabeth’s New Life Center offered parenting classes to help me prepare for my baby’s arrival. I called and spoke with Meg at the center and signed up for classes right away. I went every week, whether my boyfriend came or not.
Nothing was going to keep me from providing from my child—not her father or anyone else. As my body started to change, I was excited to read up on the different weeks and stages of her gestational growth. I never missed a prenatal vitamin or a doctor’s visit. I was so proud to be a mom.
The staff at Elizabeth’s New Life Center and myself grew close. They called to check in on me and steered me to programs in our community that would benefit us. I received clothes, baby formula, socks, wipes, a car seat with a matching stroller, pacifiers, baby powder, baby shampoo, wash clothes and more.
On the day I gave birth, I called the nurse on duty at Elizabeth’s New Life Center almost 30 times. I had started labor and I was scared. The nurse helped to walk me through the early stages of labor, and never once grew impatient or irritated with me—even though I kept calling back.
When I went to the hospital later that day, to give birth to my daughter, Meg came to the hospital to meet my daughter. She brought along an Easter Bunny onesie with a matching hat and a card, and asked me if there was anything she could help me with.
Once my baby came, the relationship between her father and I broke down quickly. He became verbally abusive and had fits of anger where he would break things in our house that my friends and family had given us.
It has been hard to accept that I would need to raise my daughter as a single parent, but the support I’ve received from Elizabeth’s New Life Center has helped so much. I don’t know where I would be if I didn’t have them in my life.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday | December 12, 2016
Contact: Jay Hobbs, Director of Communications and Marketing
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COLUMBUS, OHIO – In what it hails as the most powerful pro-life event on Capitol Hill, Heartbeat International is bringing seven mothers—and their children—to Washington, D.C. this January to tell elected officials how they chose life with the help of a community-funded pregnancy center.
The event, “Babies Go to Congress,” takes place Jan. 26, the morning prior to the annual March for Life, and is Heartbeat International’s 15th such visit to the nation’s capitol since 2009. In the previous trips, 113 mothers and their children have visited a total of 265 offices—including those of both Democrats and Republicans.
In each visit, a mother who has rejected abortion with the help of a pregnancy help organization has the opportunity to tell her story, alongside both her child and the staff from the center that helped her choose life.
“This is one event Planned Parenthood could never dream of pulling off,” Heartbeat International president Jor-El Godsey said. “Pregnancy help centers empower women to make the healthiest choice for everyone involved in an unexpected pregnancy. This is a powerful platform for us to both show and tell the truth that pregnancy help centers are good for America.”
The group this year is made up of two mothers from Ohio, as well as one each from North Carolina, Missouri, Arizona, Texas and Wyoming. Though six of the mothers are bringing with them children 4 years old and younger, one mother—Nikki Pinkley from Branson, Mo.—is bringing her 14-year-old daughter to the event.
Together, Nikki and her daughter, Alexis, illustrate the positive life-long impact of that nation’s 2,600 pregnancy help centers.
Nikki was raised in the church and had recently graduated high school when she found out she was pregnant. Finding help at Options Pregnancy Clinic in Branson, she not only chose life for Alexis, but the staff at Options encouraged her to keep pursuing her education and career goals.
Today, Nikki is a closing in on a decade as a licensed professional counselor and is working on her doctoral degree in psychology.
“My hope is that every young woman facing an unplanned pregnancy will find the help she needs to face the challenges of being a single mom,” Nikki, who later married, said. “It’s not easy, but I am living proof that the future is what you make of it. Sometimes you just need someone to believe in you. I found the help I needed, plus a lot of inspiration at Options Pregnancy Clinic.”
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 2,100 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.
Pregnancy Help Appreciation Week was designed by Heartbeat International to honor those working within the pregnancy help movement. Through their work, women and men receive the compassionate support they need when facing a life-changing decision. They walk alongside families throughout the pregnancy and beyond, blessing them with pregnancy tests, emotional support, ultrasounds, parenting classes, and so much more at no cost.
From volunteers to executive directors, nurses to receptionists, each person working in a pregnancy help organization has been gifted with the passion to advance the culture of LIFE! And for that, we thank you!
This year's Pregnancy Help Appreciation Week is November 10-14, 2025.
If you haven't heard of Pregnancy Help Appreciation Week before, you should expect special deals, thank-you messages, and extra prayers this week.
Plus! We'll be holding a drawing at the end of the week where one lucky winner will get a fun gift basket from us at Heartbeat!
. . . . .
Click on each image to view the full-sized version. Then, save it to your device and share on Facebook, Instagram, or tweet and show your love for the pregnancy help movement using the hashtag #ThankAPregnancyCenter
. . . . .
We're bringing back all the week's deals for one last hurrah! Plus, there are a few Free Resources to check out. After today, you won't see deals like this again until *next* November.
Let's recap—today only you get...
$5 Monday Deals:
Changing Clients- Shifting Focus (housing)
Discussing the Adoption Option in a Post-Roe America
Onboarding Board Members for Successful Service
Postpartum Depression
Protecting Minors from Trans On Demand Interventions
Sex Trafficking & Abortion
The Truth About Backstreet Abortion
$2 Tuesday Deals:
Opioids and Pregnancy
How to Identify and Use a Media "Hit" Piece
Surviving Christmas: Healing Resident Trauma During the Holidays
Speaking at Churches in a Post-Roe World
Healthy Boundaries in Ministry
Abortion's Long-Term Negative Impact on Men
Healing from Medication Abortion Trauma
Special Considerations of Healing from Diagnosis Abortions
50% off Wednesday Deals:
Identifying Fake Client
Advancement Bootcamp
How to Identifying and Assist Victims of Human Trafficking
75% off Thursday Deal:
From an archive of our Conference recordings of the past 5 years, get the bundle on a topic of your choice for 75% off.
*PLUS*
Free Resources
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Heartbeat International’s leadership and staff have checked in on our affiliate network, both to offer these vital partners help through our H.A.L.O. fund—which meets Heartbeat-affiliated organizations damaged by natural disasters with needed funds to replace training materials—and to let you know how you can be supporting these friends in prayer.
If you would like to contribute to Heartbeat International’s H.A.L.O. fund, you can do so at www.HeartbeatServices.org/fund-halo. You can also give directly to the pregnancy help organizations below by starting a fundraiser page at www.YouSaveBabies.org.
Crossroads Pregnancy Resource Center – Thibodaux, Louisiana
Though Crossroads’ location was not damaged in the floods, the daughter of Executive Director Michele Beary was in the middle of moving into her college residence at Louisiana State in Baton Rouge when the storm hit. Her car was lost in the flood, but she was unharmed.
“The scope of the disaster is unreal and heartbreaking,” Michele, who formerly lived in Ascension Parish—which was badly damaged in the storm—tells us. “Please let everyone know how much their prayers for us are appreciated. God bless.”
The Women’s Help Center – Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Barbara Thomas, founder of the Family Values Resource Institute, which runs The Women’s Help Center, tells us one of her team members has sustained damage to their home over the past week.
Pregnancy Help Center – Slidell, Louisiana
Thankfully, this center was unaffected by the storms. When Heartbeat International called to check in on these friends, they were in the process of deciding how they could actively support any life-saving that was affected by the disaster.
Women’s Life Ministries Pregnancy Center – Amite, Louisiana
Though spared from major flooding damage, this outreach reports having lost some of their office equipment in a lightning strike. Because the center is located in a high place, it is fast becoming a key location for flood relief in the community. CEO Teresa Ragusa tells us her organization is busy receiving supplies to help distribute to clients and neighbors.
Iberia Pregnancy Center – New Iberia, Louisiana
Iberia Pregnancy Center’s staff reports that, though their street was flooded and flood waters came almost up to their doors, the center itself was untouched. Praise God for this wonderful protection, and please pray for clients and neighbors who have lost homes and property.
The following pregnancy help locations were also undamaged by the flood, though leaders at the centers did ask us to pray for their clients:
Hope Restored for Life (Houma, Louisiana), Community Center for Life (Gretna, Louisiana), Women's New Life Center (Metairie and Baton Rouge, Louisiana), Northlake Crisis Pregnancy Center (Covington, Louisiana)
If you would like to contribute to Heartbeat International’s H.A.L.O. fund, you can do so at www.HeartbeatServices.org/fund-halo. You can also give directly to the pregnancy help organizations below by starting a fundraiser page at www.YouSaveBabies.org.
UPDATE: Care Pregnancy Clinic in Baton Rouge Reports Severe Damage
Dorothy Wallis, president and CEO of Caring to Love Ministries—which runs an unaffiliated pregnancy help center, reports having sustained an estimated $425,000 in damages to its building.
Although the rebuilding effort will take several months at the absolute minimum, Dorothy tells us a local abortion clinic was unaffected by the flood and Care Pregnancy Clinic continues to receive calls from abortion-vulnerable women.
Knowing the opportunism of the abortion industry that offered free morning-after pills in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and free abortions to New Yorkers in the days following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Dorothy knows there is no time to lose in reaching women with life-saving help.
Dorothy is asking for an RV (loan or donation) her organization can to set up as a mobile ultrasound unit as soon as possible.
To find out how you can help Dorothy and Care Pregnancy Clinic, click here.
Do you know of more pregnancy help organizations affected by the recent floods? Let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
We are so excited to be able to connect with you! Heartbeat International is dedicated to reach and rescue as many lives as possible, around the world, through an effective network of life-affirming pregnancy help, to renew communities for LIFE.
With more than 2,500 locations in the U.S. plus 50 other nations, Heartbeat reaches well over 1 million clients every year with life-saving pregnancy help.
(That’s not including our 24/7 contact center, Option Line (1-800-712-HELP, www.OptionLine.org), which has reached nearly 3 million women desperately searching for help since we first answered the call in 2003!)
You can play a vital role in this life-saving mission by learning more about Heartbeat International and our partners all over the world.
We'd love for you to learn more about linking arms with us in this vital work. Please watch a short video message below to help you get a feel for Heartbeat and our mission, and you can always go to www.HeartbeatInternational.org to learn more on your own!
Watch a special message from Heartbeat Vice President, Cindi Boston!
Meet the Heartbeat International Leadership Team | Explore Heartbeat's Financial Accountability | Discover Success Stories |
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Our Vision: A world in which every child will be welcome.
Our Goal: To protect the person inside the mother's womb, to turn the hearts of parents to children, to reduce the demand for abortion in our society, relying on the Word of God and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, to practice mercy, to convey truth, turning fears into confidence and confusion into the hope for the future.
Client Testimony: Baby Eva says:
“When I saw the light, it was hard for me to breathe. Something squeezed my chest, my lungs did not fully open. They put me under an oxygen pillow. Sometimes I heard my mother's voice, but more often strangers in white coats and masks. But soon everything changed, and I ended up only with my mother. It was very hot, stuffy, but my mother was there, and I felt more cheerful. I am very glad that new people are chirping around me, it's funny to watch and sniff them. I do not like clothes at all and am suspicious of water. Some familiar woman appeared, who consoles my mother all the time, sometimes they pray together, they envelops me in a kind of cloud. We also drove far away together, it was a pleasure. It's still interesting to live, although a little scary. Mom notices that I always want to see where, who is doing what, and does not allow me to be ignored. Mom thinks that I am afraid that I will not be forgotten. And it is true. The feeling that I might be unnecessary to anyone and the fear that they want to get rid of me. I am Eva and I am already 2.5 months old"
No one has ever heard the voice of a baby inside the womb, we do not know for sure what he feels and what he understands. His feelings, knowledge and voice in his heartbeat. The maternity center is determined to listen to this signal of life and pave the way for it.
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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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday | April 19, 2016
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 – Local pro-life pregnancy help organizations have a new way to grow the support of their community, with the launch of YouSaveBabies.com, a web platform that connects donors with the life-saving work of pregnancy centers, pregnancy medical clinics, maternity homes and nonprofit adoption agencies.
Launched by Heartbeat International, the world’s largest network of pregnancy help, YouSaveBabies enables groups and individuals to promote and raise funds for the life-saving outreach of their choice.
Ideas for starting a fundraiser—which can be promoted via social media channels—include races and other personal goals, birthdays, in memory of loved ones, or as a way to coalesce the support of local church groups around a local pregnancy center. Starting a fundraiser is as simple as selecting an organization and filling out a brief fundraising form. All donations—less credit card transaction fees—go directly to the organization of choice.
“We’re confident YouSaveBabies will play a vital role in what Heartbeat International is most committed to doing—advancing life-affirming pregnancy help at the local level,” Heartbeat International president Jor-El Godsey said. “Pregnancy help organizations are rescuing lives and helping to build strong families every single day. Donors and other supporters are invigorated to see that, and YouSaveBabies is a great way for them to connect.”
The giving platform utilizes FundEasy, web software by Ministry Sync that has helped faith-based nonprofits raise over $35 million since its rollout in 2010. Individual pregnancy help organizations can choose to embed a YouSaveBabies giving badge on their donor websites to raise awareness for newly unveiled platform.
Heartbeat International affiliates in the U.S. and those available through Heartbeat International’s 24-7 contact center Option Line (1-800-712-HELP, OptionLine.org) are automatically listed in the YouSaveBabies network, which includes over 2,000 pregnancy help locations.
“This is a great step forward for our friends on the local level, and it’s another way we can work together to build a culture where no woman ever feels so alone or coerced that she feels abortion is her only choice,” Godsey said. “Pregnancy help provides compassionate support and real choice, and these life-saving organizations have a new friend in YouSaveBabies.”
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 2,000 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.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday | February 23, 2016
Contact: Jay Hobbs, Director of Communications and Marketing
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
COLUMBUS, OH - Less than two months into the calendar year, 2016 is shaping up to be a major marker in Heartbeat International’s history. The network is welcoming its 2,000th affiliated pregnancy help organization and celebrating the 13th anniversary of its 24-7 pregnancy helpline, Option Line.
Called into existence by local pregnancy centers in 1971 as the first-ever network of pregnancy help, Heartbeat International’s 2,000th affiliate is First Choice Pregnancy Center, a medical center offering free ultrasound scanning, STI testing, pregnancy testing and more in Weatherford, Oklahoma, home of Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
The center’s executive director, Kathy Gibson, whose journey to pro-life work began shortly after she experienced an abortion, attended Heartbeat International’s Pregnancy Help Institute in Dec. 2015, along with her executive assistant.
“In 20 years in this work, I have never experienced anything like it,” Gibson said of the Institute. “From there, joining Heartbeat International was a no-brainer. I feel like Heartbeat is in touch with who we are and where we are, and we love the personal touch that Heartbeat offers.”
Option Line (1-800-712-HELP; OptionLine.org) represents one of the central visions of Heartbeat International’s founding generation—comprised of pro-life ob-gyns and an unsung hero of the Holocaust—of a hotline connecting callers with help near them.
Since answering its first call in 2003, Option Line has responded to over 2.35 million contacts, including phone calls, live chats, texts and emails. The helpline answered over 243,000 contacts—650 every day—in 2015. Option Line also increased its web traffic in 2015 by launching a new iteration of OptionLine.org, and has expanded its capability of connecting contacts directly to local pregnancy help to over 500 locations.
Overall, Option Line refers to 2,250 pregnancy help organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada.
“It’s incredible to think of the children who are becoming teenagers this year who may never have been if not for Option Line,” Bri Laycock, director of operations for Option Line, said. “We are convinced now more than ever that local pregnancy help is what makes the difference between life and abortion for so many mothers. That’s why our energies have always been—and will always remain—focused on connecting callers and website visitors to pregnancy help people near them.”
At 2,000 affiliate locations worldwide, including a presence on every inhabited continent, Heartbeat International continues to be the largest network of pregnancy help.
Hosting its 45th Annual Conference March 29-31 in Atlanta, Heartbeat International announced a leadership transition in early January, as Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., the organization’s president of 22 years, took on new responsibilities as Chairman of the Board, promoting longtime vice president Jor-El Godsey as only the second president in the 45-year history of the network.
It is just after 8am, and I sit at my desk with a hot cup of coffee waiting for the phone to ring. I’ve just logged in, and she is my first call of the day.
I clear my throat, pick up the phone, and say “Hi, this is the helpline, how can I help you?”
The anxious voice of a young woman responds, “My teacher told me about your number, she said that you might be able to help me. I just found out I’m pregnant, and I don’t want to have an abortion, but I don’t feel like I’m stable enough to raise a child.”
We hear this often “I don’t want to have an abortion, but…” It can be followed by almost any reason: my boyfriend doesn’t want to be a father yet, I don’t have enough money to raise a child, I’m afraid of what my friends will think of me, I’m afraid I won’t be able to finish my education, I don’t know anything about how to take care of a baby. Whatever the reason, these callers already know in their hearts what they really want; that is, to provide their child with the best life possible.
They are loving mothers who simply need affirmation that they are capable of overcoming whatever challenging circumstances they face by choosing life for their children. They are the reason we do what we do.
In the split second I have to consider the best way to encourage this young woman, her words resound in my mind “I don’t want to have an abortion...”
“Well, I’m so glad you called us today. I want you to know that there IS help available for women in your situation! Our local pregnancy help centers can offer a number of free services to help throughout the pregnancy, such as: parenting classes, material aid, community referrals, and mentoring. They can help you become the kind of mother you clearly want to be. Let me find a center nearby, what is your zip code?”
I can hear the relief in her voice as she tells me the zip code, and I locate a pregnancy center nearby that I know will offer the tangible, face-to-face support she needs to face her unique set of challenges.
“Thank you SO much!” I can tell she is smiling now. I offer one last word of encouragement,
“They will have a trained counselor available to help you sort through your pregnancy options if you are still unsure about what you want to do, but most importantly, I want you to know that there IS support available and you don’t have to do this alone. I wish you, and your little one, the very best!”
She giggles as she expresses heartfelt gratitude again, and we say goodbye.
We need your generous support to keep Option running each month.
For just $4 a call or $1,500 a day, you can ensure Option Line will be available 24/7 to reach and rescue lives from abortion.
Thank you for all you do to reach and rescue lives around the clock, every day!
South and Central American International Partners
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Centro de Ayuda para la Mujer Latinoamericana |
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Bahamas GodParent Center |