by Virginia Cline

Advancing Pro-Child Policies

As the federal government mandates insurance coverage for contraceptives, including abortion-causing drugs, and promulgates additional rules for implementing Obamacare, Americans may be forced to pay for the heinous practice of abortion. Heartbeat International was on Capitol Hill recently leading moms who want to advance pro-child policies at the national level.

These moms are former clients of Heartbeat’s pregnancy help organizations who, when given the help they needed, each chose life for her child.

Central planners or those opposed to women having children in unstable economic situations, embrace abortion and abortifacients as a way of limiting the non-taxpaying population in a nationalized healthcare program.  Often referred to as “family planning,” abortion is abhorrent to the majority of Americans. When hard working taxpayers are forced to pay for abortion, most will face a moral dilemma as distressing as being asked to assist in aborting a child.

While the most pro-abortion administration in the history of the United States promotes taxpayer sponsored abortion and mandates anti-child policies, because it’s cheaper to not have children, Heartbeat has a heightened responsibility to clarify for U.S. lawmakers the importance of alternatives to abortion. In fact, the only way to ensure that a woman is not coerced or forced into aborting her baby is to make sure there are always nonprofit pregnancy help organizations and that women know how to find them.

For more than 40 years, Heartbeat’s pregnancy help network has been providing emotional support and practical resources to women who have faced untimely pregnancies. On July 19, pregnancy center clients who refused to sacrifice their children, often despite pressure to abort, joined Heartbeat International President Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D. in our nation’s capital to publicly proclaim their gratitude for the life-saving work of pregnancy centers.

These women are thrilled to have an opportunity to tell their stories to national leaders. Courageous moms like Jessica Gore, who was excited to bring her eight-year-old daughter to meet her elected officials, testified to the fact that pregnancy help organizations provide a life-changing experience.

“I went to the sonogram appointment at Burleson Pregnancy Aid Center even though I had already been to Planned Parenthood and thought that abortion was right for me,” said Jessica from Burleson, Texas. “But when I looked at the sonogram screen, I knew that I had been lied to. What I saw on the screen was not a ‘piece of tissue’ like Planned Parenthood had told me. The tiny flicker of light, a heartbeat, was my child. I was instantly in love.”

“I would have been lost without the guidance of the Pregnancy Aid Center,” said Jessica. “Through their programs I learned how to care for my infant daughter. I would not be the person I am today if it hadn’t been for the caring people of the Burleson Pregnancy Aid Center and the experiences I’ve had there. Without them, my daughter would not be alive and I cannot imagine my life without her.”

Shelly Louis, of Durant, Oklahoma, is another mom who took the opportunity to let congress know that pregnancy help centers are good for women.

“Unmarried, financially insecure, and six weeks pregnant with my third child…abortion was a very real option for me,” said Shelly. “Since I was receiving no assistance from the baby’s father and he was encouraging me to terminate the pregnancy, I chose to seek an abortion.”

But Shelly quickly discovered she couldn’t go through with it. After an emotional breakdown, a teacher told her about the Pregnancy Center of Bryan County.

“Only because of their encouragement and compassion was I able to think clearly about my options and make the right choice to protect the life of my unborn child. My arrangements to visit the abortion clinic were cancelled and Kiree’s life was saved,” said Shelly.

“The support of the Pregnancy Center did not stop there. During my entire pregnancy, I attended weekly lessons, which taught me numerous things about the prenatal process and how to care for Kiree after she was born. By attending these lessons, I earned Mommy Money, which I used to ‘purchase’ clothes, shoes, blankets, diapers, and wipes in the on-site Mommy Market,” said Shelly.

Like these courageous moms, voters need to remind policy makers that abortion is not healthcare.

Forcing pro-life citizens to pay for abortions, or abortion-causing drugs, goes against our American tradition. It was Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States, who said, “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.”

You can call for the repeal of Obamacare by contacting your elected officials over the phone, in a letter, or in an email. If your representative supports taxpayer funded abortion, you can vote them out of office on November 6^th.

Please join with us in encouraging elected officials to advance pro-child policies that begin with promoting the life-saving work of pregnancy help organizations so that Heartbeat International’s compassionate network can empower even more women to welcome the next generation.

To find your nearest pregnancy help organization, simply visit Heartbeat’s OptionLine.org.

The Supreme Court decision, National Federation of Independent Businesses et al v. Sevelius, Sec of Health and Human Services, upholds the constitutionality of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare). 

Don’t be discouraged! This will not stop or slow down Heartbeat, Option Line, and our affiliated pregnancy help ministries that save babies, help women and families, and create a culture of life at the grassroots level, 365 days a year.

Pro-life efforts must be directed to repealing this law and to stopping the promotion of abortion and all other so-called “reproductive health care” that are part of the law and implementation rules coming from this administration. We are now led by the most pro-abortion President and Cabinet members (especially Secretary of Health and Human Services) that we have ever had in the history of our country. The fact is that we have the right to elect new leaders and change existing laws.

Now is the time to get more involved, speak up, and turn out the vote.

Heartbeat International will be doing everything possible within our capability as a non-profit, charitable and religious organization to get people registered to vote and to help everyone know what is at stake and where candidates stand. The November 6 election is crucial and your participation is vital if we hope to turn our country back toward the core values on which we were founded:

•    Liberty (especially freedom of religion) and
•    Life, endowed by our Creator

If we must live with laws or regulations that deeply violate our consciences, civil disobedience and its consequences may be our only alternative.

Our hope is in the Lord. Let us pray and fast for God’s forgiveness for the sin of abortion and for His grace and protection for us as pro-life citizens, for our leaders, and for our country.

Yours in Christ,

Margaret H. Hartshorn, Ph.D., President

Four ways to get involved:

• Sign up here for Action Alerts and we will provide more information on what you can do and how to do it.
• Read the official decision for National Federation of Independent Business Et Al. V. Sebelius, Secretary Of Health And Human Services.
• Take the "Civics 101" webinar.
• Vote for repeal on November 6, 2012.

Even though little Emma Grace was conceived by teens – regularly a death sentence under the rule of Roe v. Wade – her parents, with the help of the Pregnancy Care Center, welcomed her, with all her inherent value, into their newly formed family.  Ahna and Garrett Roney were seventeen and eighteen when they chose to marry and to make a family with the infant they welcomed.

The Roney’s story about Heartbeat International’s affiliate in Springfield, MO is a testament to how practical help and emotional support for a young couple can turn a difficult time into a much-welcomed blessing.

This is just one of the examples of the life-saving work of Heartbeat International’s compassionate network of care highlighted in “A Passion to Serve: How Pregnancy Resource Centers Empower Women, Help Families, and Strengthen Communities,” the updated report from Family Research Council (FRC).

You are invited to join this very special webcast!

This report shines a light on the positive contributions of pregnancy centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies and pregnancy help medical clinics. These faith-based nonprofits brighten a woman’s future with the support she needs to bring new life into the world.

While tracing the history of concern and care for pregnant women, this report focuses on the positive ways pregnancy support organizations are strengthening their communities. It describes the impact of the pregnancy help movement by detailing, through statistical summaries and case studies, the extraordinary ways centers are meeting the needs of women, youth, and families.

Pregnancy centers served over 2.3 million people with pregnancy assistance, abstinence counseling and education, community outreach programs and referrals, and public health linkages. A conservative estimate of community cost savings for these serves during 2010 is over $100 million, according to the FRC report.

The report also includes endorsements from public figures like this one from U.S. Rep. Daniel Lipinski, (D, IL-3):

“The success rates and national expansion of these pregnancy care centers are a testament to their invaluable work in the lives of communities and individuals over the years. These networks provide services that are often unavailable elsewhere to expectant mothers.”

The pregnancy help network is one of the greatest volunteer service movements in the history of our country with around 71,000 volunteers performing an estimated 5,705,000 uncompensated hours of work in 2010.

Click here to download your copy of Passion to Serve.

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