We understand the challenges of marketing pro-life pregnancy help in today’s world.

Abortion is often portrayed as a quick and easy solution for an unexpected pregnancy—a message reinforced through magazines, television, and music. But behind that narrative, many women feel rushed or pressured into decisions that can lead to a lifetime of regret.

Every woman deserves time, support, and access to compassionate care so that no one feels abortion is her only option.

That’s why Heartbeat International developed a Gen Y & Z-focused Option Line campaign—to meet women where they are and combat Big Abortion’s monopoly on the conversation. Our goal is simple: reach her and connect her to life-affirming pregnancy help.

This campaign is designed to engage women facing unexpected pregnancies and guide them directly to Option Line. From there, they’re connected to their local pregnancy help organization—like yours—where they’ll receive the care and resources they need to make an empowered choice.

To better connect with women from a variety of backgrounds and circumstances, we created three unique video personas based on real Option Line callers. With millions of views already, this campaign is reaching women across the country—and leading them to your doors.

As a Heartbeat affiliate, you have access to these professionally produced videos at no cost. We encourage you to share them on your social media platforms and embed them on your website. By doing so, you’re not just spreading hope—you’re creating a direct bridge between women seeking help and the compassionate care your center is ready to provide.

We wanted to extend an opportunity for you to join in this effort to bring hopeful messages about options, resources, and the value of a child to key influencers. Our hope is to expand into new markets and new mediums, because we know:

• The average woman is uninformed about life-affirming pregnancy options when abortion shopping
• We can help prepare her influencers with critical language that supports her and encourages life decisions
• We need to combat the increased selling of abortion by Big Media
• Potential Reach = Nearly 100M for each Cable-TV commercial and digital campaign

Opposition Strategy

The overturning of Roe was a fantastic victory for the pro-life movement, a turning point in the fight to protect life. Many of us were excited to turn our focus to our states to pass legislation protecting preborn babies. However, we are now seeing a concerning trend where pro-abortion activists are attempting to accomplish locally what they failed to do federally, place the "right" to abortion into the constitution.

These efforts began in abortion-friendly states like California and Vermont in 2021, but now, traditionally pro-life states are being targeted. Ohio is one of the first, with Issue 1 on the ballot for November 2023, and there could be up to six state initiatives of this kind in 2024.

By amending state constitutions, pro-abortion groups can bypass pro-life majority state legislatures that would never support removing all protections for women and allowing abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. Using ballot initiatives, they can write incredibly broad language that is misleading to voters. Big Abortion hides behind the ambiguity and statements of "reproductive freedom" in an attempt to obscure the true impacts of the amendments.

In Ohio, for example, the amendment states that:

"Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions..."

The authors intentionally use the term "individual" to ensure that the amendment applies to minors and will remove all laws regarding parental notification.

The proposed amendment also states:

"Abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability. But in no case may such an abortion be prohibited if in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician it is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health."

While this may at first seem like Ohio would be able to pass a law prohibiting abortions after viability, the addition of the word "health" allows the physician to perform an abortion for essentially any reason. They could easily claim that the abortion was necessary for the betterment of her mental health. (The full text of the proposed amendment can be found here.)

Another issue with this strategy is that the process of reversing constitutional amendments is difficult and highly costly. In 2022, the campaigns for and against Michigan's Proposal 3, the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, spent over 68 million dollars. The pro-abortion groups won after spending almost 48 million dollars, and the pro-life advocates spent just over 21 million. Campaigns of this magnitude cannot be run year after year, and pro-abortion groups understand this. They know if they can pass one amendment, it will likely prevent that state from restricting abortion in any way for many years to come, and the pro-life majority legislatures can do nothing to change that.

Constitutional amendments are an extreme way to change laws in a state. In fact, many states do not allow for these citizen-initiated constitutional amendments. Of the 50 states, there are only 18 in which citizens can gather signatures to place an amendment onto the ballot. Many of these states require only a 50% +1 majority for these amendments to pass, while others require the ballot measure to receive at least 60%. With this in mind, pro-abortion activists are targeting otherwise pro-life states like Missouri, South Dakota, and Ohio, because they believe they can get a simple majority of voters to go along with their ambiguous amendments.

To overcome these attacks on life, it is important that we fully understand the new battleground that has developed post-Roe. The fight has shifted back to each individual state, but we must also keep in mind the bigger picture and understand what attacks are on the horizon. Big Abortion is not satisfied with just ensuring California and New York are sanctuaries for abortion; they want every state to enshrine abortion as a "right" in their constitution. Because of this, we must also continue our work of pushing back against the lies that tell women they are not capable of being a mother. Whether you live in a Life State or an Abortion State, you are uniquely positioned to speak the truth and champion life!

For Immediate Release

August 28, 2023
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New way to connect parents to those who can help them navigate their unique circumstance

COLUMBUS, OH - Prenatal Diagnosis Initiative (PDI), a working group of pregnancy support organizations, has launched its PrenatalDiagnosis.org website. This resource serves parents facing a prenatal diagnosis and gives them access to accurate information on prenatal genetic screening and diagnostic testing, support resources, various prenatal diagnoses, and pregnancy options. Contributors to the website include Heartbeat International and Option Line, Charlotte Lozier Institute, Her PLAN, Be Not Afraid, and String of Pearls. 

The website also links users to Heartbeat International’s 24/7 pregnancy-related helpline, Option Line, that connects parents facing a diagnosis to a Parent Care Coordinator (PCC) in their region. PCCs are trained to provide trauma-informed care to parents throughout the rest of their pregnancy and for one year following birth. This care includes help navigating medical options, advocating for their baby, developing a plan for birth and newborn care, offering grief support, and more.

PDI recognizes that parents who have received a prenatal diagnosis are facing unexpected challenges and they deserve care and support as they contemplate the next steps for themselves, their baby, and the rest of their family. The website was born out of a desire to provide medically accurate, trauma-informed information to parents or family members who may be searching after receiving a positive screening or diagnostic test result. Option Line and its connection to a PCC will help meet the needs of those parents with compassionate care and support.

 “After fourteen years of supporting parents carrying to term following a prenatal diagnosis, our organization recognized the need to develop a professional training program that was trauma-informed, research-based, parent-centered, and life affirming.  We feel blessed to support other organizations in the development of services which address the crisis of a prenatal diagnosis with comprehensive support, and we are very happy with the feedback we are getting from those who have completed the Be Not Afraid Parent Care Coordinator Training,” said Tracy Winsor, Be Not Afraid Co-Founder and Parent Program Director.

 “Upon receiving a positive prenatal test result, parents deserve to receive the best information available regarding carrying their child to term and an offer of support in walking the journey. I've seen firsthand the positive impact for children, families, and communities.” - Gary Thome, Heartbeat International board member and PDI founding member

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 Prenatal Diagnosis Initiative is a collaboration of Heartbeat International, Option Line, Charlotte Lozier Institute, Her PLAN, Be Not Afraid, and String of Pearls. Learn more at PrenatalDiagnosis.org