Maybe you didn’t know it, but there could be political vacancies right within your local community that need your pro-life leadership. Based in your neighborhood, the most local level of political office is that of precinct captain.

A precinct captain (also referred to as a central committee member or a precinct chairperson) acts as a liaison between a specific political party and the voters of a local precinct. Precinct captains are elected by their neighbors, and generally serve as volunteers, though in some cases they receive a small stipend from their respective political party.

A precinct captain serves his or her community by:

• Facilitating voter registration and absentee ballot access
• Leading “Get Out the Vote” outreach efforts
• Assisting with voters’ transportation to the polls
• Distributing party literature
• Promoting his or her respective political organization

The pro-life movement needs precinct captains!

As an informed voter, concerned with pro-life values, here’s what you can do to get involved in the political process in your own community:

1. Educate your precinct captain. Start by finding out who your precinct captain is, then educate him or her about pro-life issues on a regular basis. You can search online to obtain a list of your county’s precinct captains by entering your political party, along with your county and state.
2. Become a precinct captain. Perhaps your precinct’s leadership position is currently vacant, or your current precinct captain isn’t seeking reelection. This could be your chance to get involved in bringing about needed change by your grassroots involvement.
3. Encourage your pro-life friends to become precinct captains. As you take a more active role in your local community’s political landscape, encourage your pro-life friends to join you. 

To find out how you can impact future elections through your local precinct captain position, watch this simple, straightforward presentation: http://instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=30560385.

By Amy Scheuring, Executive Director, Women’s Choice Network

The recent barrage of news coverage following Susan B. Komen for the Cure’s proposed defunding of Planned Parenthood, as well as the Roman Catholic Church’s response to President Obama’s proposed healthcare mandate have many wondering: What’s wrong with contraceptives?

For over 50 years, we’ve heard that pills, injections, devices, and hormones will prevent “unwanted” pregnancy, protect women’s health and stop everything from AIDS to acne, creating a happy, healthy, and sexually fulfilled generation of men and women.  

After more than 40 years of government-subsidized contraceptives, why shouldn’t we welcome additional healthcare packages that require an assortment of miracle drugs and preventative hormones to be offered by every employer? Part of the answer lies in the stunning facts about the collective failure of these products to deliver on their promises:

• According to Planned Parenthood’s Guttmacher Institute, 53% of women obtaining an abortion were using birth control when they got pregnant.  
• At the Women’s Choice Network Centers, almost 65% of our pregnant clients were using birth control when they got pregnant.
• Hormonal birth control methods do not prevent STIs or AIDS, and condoms are virtually useless against many viral forms of STIs, such as Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).
• Teens using birth control pills and injectables feel safer, leading them to engage in sex more frequently than peers who are not using birth control.
• One highly touted study indicates that 99% of sexually active women ages 15-44 have used at least one form of birth control, but the fact remains that half the pregnancies in the U.S. are still “unintended.”

As we consider whether our future health care should include contraceptives, let’s remember that many who suffer because of a previous abortion or STI have relied on their false promises. The pursuit of true sexual intimacy—joyfully building a family and strengthening a lifetime commitment—has been replaced by a false notion that, given the proper health care, we can control or eliminate the inconvenient “outcomes” of sex.  

So, what’s wrong with contraceptives? Before we even enter into the moral, economic, or social arguments, the answer is clear: They simply don’t work as promised.

While contraceptives entrench themselves as the gateway drug to abortion, birth control proponents are still stuck in the mid-20th century, clinging to the hopeless assertions that if we just spend more, educate earlier and use birth control “better,” the desired outcomes will one day kick in.

After four decades of government-funded birth control, and all our best efforts to create a world where sex has no consequences, are we any better off? You decide.

The gospel of life in China is taking root. Lofty prayers are being answered!

Because of the nature and scope of this effort, Heartbeat International is releasing Executive Director of Global Advancement John Ensor to begin a new labor, called PassionLife Ministries.  Though independent of Heartbeat, PassionLife will seek to work collaboratively with us in our life-saving mission when it officially launches Oct. 1, 2012.

PassionLife is a global missions initiative created to spread the gospel of life and expand the pregnancy help movement in especially difficult places and among people plagued by abortion, infanticide and gendercide. PassionLife will seek to use God’s Word to open the eyes of the Chinese people to the beauty of human life and the ugly truth of abortion.

All of us at Heartbeat are excited to be a part of what the Lord is doing as He expands His work in especially needy areas like China. When God's people respond with a desire to start a pregnancy help organization, Heartbeat’s goal is to provide leadership training and support to assist in equipping those that have been called.
John has played an integral part in our movement for nearly 20 years, first as founder and president of a Heartbeat affiliate in Boston, then as a key member of the Heartbeat International Board. He served as a Heartbeat staff member for the past six years before being called to devote his time to bringing God's life-saving message to China.

It is our honor to help launch this new organization, and we greatly anticipate working closely with Chinese leaders who emerge, helping them plan and implement pregnancy help organizations in their own communities.

Please join us as we continue to pray for John's work, and for PassionLife.

May the Lord continue to bless this great and heroic outreach!

Spreading the good news... Pregnancy help is doing great work

Heartbeat is constantly trying to get the word out about the excellent work of pregnancy help organizations around the world. Whether it's consistently sharing recent news about pregnancy help organizations over at PregnancyHelpNews.com or sharing the real story of pregnancy centers in a world where the media is biased against them at PregnancyCenterTruth.com, we are committed to making sure that the pregnancy help movement has a voice in the public conversation.

Over at Pregnancy Help News, we share daily news, opinion, and commentary related to the pregnancy help movement and it's place in the larger pro-life movement. You can even sign up for a weekly email update of what's going on in the movement to be delivered to your inbox every Monday. Or... share a story about something new or interesting happening at your center. In other words, we want to share what you may need to know and tell your story here!

Pregnancy Center Truth is built to combat the lies told by Big Abortion about the pregnancy help movement. There, anyone can see the reality laid out clearly with studies to back up claims and sharable quick stats built for social media. It's just one way we defend the reputation of pregnancy centers around the world.

Commending the pregnancy help movement... Babies Go to Congress

Every year, Heartbeat International brings moms and their children to Washington, D.C. to remind our congressmen and women that pregnancy help centers are good for America. Babies Go to Congress, held every year close to the March for Life, shows our elected officials at the federal level the amazing way lives change with the help of grassroots organizations like yours. There's no replacement for the flesh-and-blood testimonial of a mother holding her child to show lawmakers that pregnancy centers are good for america.

A key piece of information Heartbeat International always hopes to underscore through the event is the privately funded, non-profit status of pregnancy help organizations. Unlike most meetings congressional offices hold with their constituents, there is never any request for public funds as part of the event, a fact that also stands in stark contrast to highly profitable, publicly funded abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood.

Since beginning the program in 2009, over 100 women and children representing over 50 centers have visited over 200 congressional offices.

Your center can benefit from participating in Babies Go to Congress this January. Click here for more information and take this opportunity to share during a truly historic moment in our nation's history!

Defending the life-savers... Heartbeat has your back

Over the years, pregnancy centers have been under attack by abortion advocates from Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and many others. Heartbeat International is there to both officially refute the unfounded claims (through news coverage at PregnancyHelpNews.com), and to pass along needed information to affiliates through emails, conference calls, live or recorded webinars, and more. 

So wether it's a protest from "The Handmaids", a "glitter bomb" in the mail, or a campaign of false reviews on your organization online, Heartbeat International is always there to help affiliates respond appropriately. 

Learn more about Heartbeat's work of defending the pregnancy help movement here. (Note: Must be a Heartbeat affiliate to access)

By Kimela Hardy, MA, RT(R), RDMS

Available literature states the fetal heart beat begins its lifelong work at approximately six weeks, and depending on the sonographer’s skills, ultrasound system, and maternal body habitus, the heart beating may be visualized at this time. There are several factors that can be used to not only see this little miracle at work, but also improve general images.

Back to the Basics of Ultrasound

Before a specific organ, for example the fetal heart, image can be improved on, first obtain the best image possible. To begin any ultrasound study, but especially in Obstetrical scanning, the correct manufacturer’s Preset must be selected. Presets are essentially a “recipe” set for the ultrasound system. These parameters may include depth, gain, frequency, and focus among other factors. Using the OB Preset sets the Thermal Index (TI) and Mechanical Index (MI) which are generally lower for obstetric ultrasound examinations. In general, the TI and MI are not deliberately manipulated during routine ultrasound examinations.

Which Knobs Can Improve Your Picture?

Once the Preset is selected, consider the overall gain in the image on the monitor.  Is it all black, all white, or a combination with many grays?  Adjust the overall gain, often a large dial easily accessible, so it is easiest to identify the landmarks and in general is appealing to one’s eye and interpretation.  This may differ somewhat with each sonographer, but not to an extreme.

The importance of correctly interpreting the landmarks cannot be over stressed, know the anatomy well.

Be sure the size of your image, or depth, allow demonstration of the area of interest.  On some machines, this is either a dial knob or toggle switch labeled Depth, Size, or a combination of these. There is a scale on either side of the image that registers this depth in either centimeters or millimeters, and changes as the dial/toggle is adjusted.

Most transducers/probes are multi-herz, which means they offer more than one frequency, usually 2, 4, and 6 MHz.  Once the landmarks have been identified and the overall gain is satisfactory, try each frequency with a simple adjustment and determine which provides the best penetration and resolution.  

Remember:

• The lower the frequency, the higher the penetration but lower the resolution.
• The higher the frequency, the less the penetration but the better the resolution.

This means images of a patient with Large Maternal Body Habitus (LMBH) most often improves with the lowest frequency, and our smaller, more athletic patients can use the higher frequency for better resolution images. The frequency is often displayed at the top of the image where the TI and MI are located.

The optimal area of the ultrasound beam is the focus, demonstrated by a triangle or karat along the depth scale. Place this at the area of interest at the correct depth.  On some systems, the focus makes a significant difference in clarity, but in other systems, there does not appear to be much change.

After the above have been set to optimize the image, the slide pods or TGC/STC can be used to fine tune the image even more.  These are a step alteration in the gain, with the slides on the top affecting the top of the image and vice versa. Most often the “slope” is a gradual downward slope to the right.

Manufacturers frequently have specific image enhancing features under proprietary names which reduce haze, clutter, and artifacts allowing for improved clarity of images. These harmonic features may allow for increased penetration without details lost. Simply turning this feature on and determining its benefit (or not) is required.

Looking at the Heart

Once the optimal image has been achieved by using the features discussed above, there are additional tips to see that small fetal heart.
Some systems have a Field of View (FOV) which has the effect of “coning down” and creating a smaller field visible and increases image clarification.  This is the consequence of taking only a portion of the available area to scan instead of the entire area seen prior to using this option.  Often, a pie-shaped icon is on the image top to illustrate and highlight the FOV area.

Using the Zoom option will increase the image size, which also can make it easier to visualize the fetal heart.  In addition, most of the Zoom also has a feature which allows the size of the area, or box, to be increased/decreased.  Another key to using a zoom option is to be certain the item of interest is directly in the center of the box.

When viewing the small fetal heart, another gain adjustment making the image brighter aids in recognizing the wave form during Motion-mode (M-mode). This gain is sometimes located by turning the M-mode dial.  The brighter the image, the more likely the wave form is visualized. Also, the wave form will be in direct relationship to the location of the heart in the 2 Dimensional (2 D) image.  For example, if the heart is in the center, the q, r, s, etc. waves will be in the center of the strip.  If the heart is at the bottom of the image, the wave form will be at the bottom of the strip.

Oftentimes, maternal respirations interfere with achieving a well demonstrated strip.  To overcome this, ask the patient/client to suspend breathing or hold her breath.  Be aware, if she takes in a deep breath, the fetal heart may move out of the image, and you will need to make the necessary adjustments.

All of these discussed options to improve ultrasound images pertain to both Transabdominal and Transvaginal imaging. However, it is reasonable to anticipate that Transvaginal images will be larger and therefore improve the ability to obtain a fetal heart rate.

Using these tips should increase the skill set and confidence for the nurse sonographer and show this little miracle to his or her maximum potential.  The tips prior to the “M-mode” can be used for general imaging as well.

By Connie Ambrecht RDMS, CMB

Heartbeat International has a heart for international ministry.  If you would like to join in the international ultrasound ministry, there are a couple of resources of which you should be aware: Hope Imaging Innovative Image Technology

Have you wondered how much impact ultrasound could have internationally?  What does it take?  Who is qualified to go?  Who would you train in those countries?

It almost sounds glamorous to travel to exotic places like Haiti and Ecuador or Ukraine and Romania.  Hope Imaging and its teams have been to all of these countries and more, taking life-affirming sonography training to physicians, midwives, and nurses in these foreign lands. 

If traveling internationally to address life issues doesn’t interest you, read no further.  Hope Imaging is all about the God possibilities, and exotic travel and intrigue are all part of His itinerary to get the job done well. 

You may already be interested and eagerly have your hand raised saying “Send me Lord, send me!” 

What does it take to go internationally? 

Flexibility, agenda-free thinking, funding, immunizations, peanut butter, and “just in case” medicines make international outreach travel all that you imagine and then some.  

• Flexibility, or maybe it should be FLEXIBILTY - It is so important to remain in that mode.  You will find it key to surviving.  Every country runs on its own time, schedule, and expectations.  A willingness to adjust is essential.
• Agenda-free, I can do that…or can I? - You may want to encourage that patients see the ultrasound screen; you may want to write on the printed image; and you may think you are there to share all you can. Feel free to change that thinking.  For one thing, they may not have all the equipment you are used to having.  God brought you there to learn.  Listen to Him.  
• Funding?  I have the money to buy my ticket, but I’ll not ask anyone else  - What?! And rob them of the opportunity to share in His work?  Remember you are the vessel, but He can bless many as you go and then share what He’s doing.  
• Immunizations are just part of it - Bugs, climates, diseases, many new things to ward off as a traveler - this is easy to check and get educated on.  
• Peanut butter goes a long way - It is one of God’s basic food groups.  Some on a spoon, a dried banana chip, or on a piece of bread; peanut butter is a great source of nutrition.
• “Just in case medicines” are a must have! - A bee sting, a bug bite, a stomach upset, a cut, etc.  Be prepared, all kinds of things can happen!

Who’s qualified to go? 

Those He’s called.  

Hope Imaging recommends taking a team; two registered sonographers, one prayer partner, and one intern.  The registered sonographers can rotate with the training and translation.  The prayer partner is one who can be trusted with difficult situations – team members, participants, safety, health, technical translations, clinic needs, medical needs…the prayer needs can be endless.  

An intern, as defined by Hope Imaging, is one of the following:

• the medical professional trained in limited sonography,
• the medical student interested in missions, or
• the sonography student getting ready to join the work force.  

Any of these members can be combined.  For example, a registered nurse/sonographer might also serve as prayer partner, or a registered sonographer may be prayer warrior.  You get the idea; it’s that flexible thing again!

Who do we teach internationally?  
The simple answer is primarily physicians. Physicians are quick learners so keep that in mind as you walk them through the steps to a good image.  Be patient and work with them.  Remember, they want to learn.  That machine has been sitting idle for too long.  Let’s get it in use!
The reality is, however, that we teach everyone we cross paths with.  

I hope the idea of considering an international, life-affirming imaging trip is of interest to you.  For more information, please contact Kama Tate Gregory, CEO, Hope Imaging at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and/or visit HopeImaging.org to discover where the team is headed next and find out how you might serve.

Our teams need people with a heart for international missions, who are flexible, and who are willing to raise their hand and say, “Send me Lord, send me!”

Connie Ambrecht serves as International Team Coordinator as well as Team Leader for Hope Imaging.  She and her husband have been involved with Hope Imaging since its birth in 2005.

In the U.S. the politics of abortion has involved every aspect of government – executive, legislative and judicial branches; state houses and city halls; Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court; even school boards and health officials. After all of the political wrangling of the past four decades the issue is still far from settled.

Yet, the girl who walks into our care isn’t thinking about the “right” determined by seven justices in 1973. She isn’t considering the legal definition of personhood that would apply to her unborn child. She’s focused on a choice that she will carry the consequences of for the rest of her life. The politics are not even remotely a primary concern.

Kind-hearted, compassionate, pregnancy help folks often similarly eschew the politics and the public arena to focus their energies on this non-political client. They are not expecting to change a law at the nation’s capital, but instead are intent upon touching the life (lives) sitting in their counseling room. And while the inconclusive debates rage in far away capitols, the clear result of a baby being born shows the everyday effectiveness of our compassionate efforts.

Yet, the politics of abortion has spilled over into direct legislative attacks on pregnancy centers, and now abortions will be funded through state and national healthcare. For many it has been easy to avoid the politics and focus on the clients. Unfortunately, the politics has come now to us. Nathan Burd, former Public Policy staffer at Heartbeat, said it this way, “You may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you.”

Worse yet, limiting ourselves to only championing non-political compassion service efforts to reduce abortion is to gravely miss the reality that politicians are intent on increasing abortion through the legislative process. Even amidst the recent move of a majority of the populous to self-identify as “pro-life,” abortion is no longer just a “right” that is allowed by a Supreme Court decision, but it has become a healthcare option that must be funded and supported by everyone.

What we want less of, we tax. What we want more of, we subsidize.

Subsidies for abortion are set to increase at exponential levels in the U.S. through new health care laws.  The recent Supreme Court decision clarifies that a tax will be levied against those who fail to buy insurance that must cover abortifacients.  (Not even religious organizations are exempt.)

This must motivate our pregnancy help movement to get even more involved with political process. It is hypocritical for the interventionist to miss an opportunity for prevention.

Intervening with compassion will always be our primary calling. Yet missing the opportunity for prevention by influencing politics is to virtually guarantee that we will only have an increasing number of people in our counseling rooms who need our intervention. True compassion is doing both – intervening with those who are in the valley of decision and preventing others from ever needing our intervention.

Can we be non-political? Perhaps it is possible at an organizational level where we purposefully avoid certain “political” activities due to our tax status or for public relations positioning.   But it seems less and less possible in this era for each of us individually where politics is not only coming to our door but poised to dramatically increase the number of clients that we might serve.

by Rindy Brooks, Heartbeats of Licking County, Newark, Ohio

Our staff retreat in late July focused around 2 Timothy 4:1 – 8 and the need to fulfill our ministry.  It is the last recorded letter of Paul as he knew his time of departure was near and he needed to share certain things with Timothy as he passed the torch of ministry. 

The study was so timely and personal for us.  We had just lost the “Paul” of our pregnancy center. A special lady named Merridy Hoover.  She is the reason I and so many are here at Heartbeats of Licking County today. She rescued the center from demise in 1989 and built a solid foundation of faith that we firmly stand on today.  Her vision and servant leadership even serves you in Heartbeat affiliates around the world every day. 

The prototype for the manual “Talking About Abortion” was written by her – she called it the “10-Point Health and Safety Check List”.  She tested it, we trained  and used it in our center and found out this “women-centered” approach worked to engage abortion-minded women on the phone to help and care for them. So she called Heartbeat's president, Peggy Hartshorn, and told her this method was working and that it needed to be published by Heartbeat International and distributed. 

It was published and still is distributed by Heartbeat.  Option Line actually uses this format 24/7 to reach women in crisis. The list of impactful projects Merridy shepherded could continue, but more insightful is to share how she lived up to the end to encourage us to carry on the torch of ministry. 

A greeting card came to the center a week after her funeral.  It was from her. 

We tearfully opened it together at the retreat and what we received from her was our charge.  A miracle to us from God, it was the perfect object lesson to illustrate these verses. Merridy “Our Paul” had retired 12 years prior but her prayers and encouragement were steadfast, especially to me, her “Timothy”.  I have ably served 12 years as Executive Director and yet for the first time, I felt strangely on my own.  And now, in her own hand, written 2 months prior to her passing she says to me, to the staff, and now to you in ministry every day: 

“To my beloved sisters and brothers in Christ, His work in you is so beautiful- keep shining with the light of His presence!  Keep shining.  I am so proud of you all.  God’s hand is on your ministry and service to Him. 

Love and Blessings, Merridy.” 

So let us remember to encourage and teach those “Timothys” in our midst.  To clearly charge them and remind them of the suffering and sacrifice in serving Jesus and yet the gladness and joy found in fulfilling our work received from the Lord.    I want to be able to pass the torch of ministry and say as in 2 Tim 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.   Until then, we must carry our torches high and keep shining.  

(Staff Retreat material part of Beth Moore’s  3-part DVD series with listening guide “Fulfill Your Ministry!” available from Living Proof Ministries)

I have always been a planner, and the birth of my first child was no exception. I had been married for 7 years, graduated college, and had a high paying job in the IT industry.  We had remodeled a bedroom into the perfect nursery, and purchased pretty much every piece of baby equipment sold – we were ready!

After our son was born we felt so fulfilled by our little family that we weren’t really sure if we would have more children. Then 3 years ago, I was laid off from my job.  It was also the start of the recession that hit the housing industry hard and my husband’s remodeling business was suffering as well. As a result of the layoff, we not only lost income, but also our health insurance.

It was at this point that we decided we definitely were not going to have any more children.  We would not be able to afford it, and we had no medical care. So we sold the crib, gave away the baby clothes we had saved just in case, and instead spent the next years focused on trying to survive a very tough economy.

Last spring, our son was about to turn five and I had plans to enroll in a master’s program in the fall to help me pursue a new career - and I found out I was pregnant. At first I was in denial thinking this isn’t possible, this can’t be right.

Then the denial turned to anxiety.  How we could possibly afford a new baby?  With no insurance, the hospital bills alone could bankrupt us. I worried about how difficult it would be to go back to school with a newborn and felt dread about “starting over” again; waking up in the middle of the night, hanging diapers, hauling around a stroller. It all seemed overwhelming.

Without a doctor, I didn’t even know where to begin, but I was able to receive a free ultrasound at our local pregnancy help center to determine how far along I was in the pregnancy.

Then she said, “You are pregnant with twins.”  I just burst into tears!

The anxiety I felt before the ultrasound turned into complete panic. We couldn’t afford one baby, how could we possibly afford two?

I panicked over what it would be like to carry twins – the chance of medical complications, or having to be on bed rest, perhaps for months. I worried about the likelihood of twins begin born premature and everything that would mean – from extended hospital stays, to astronomical medical bills, to the possibility that a premature birth could lead to a baby with special needs.

I worried about everything.  Our house wasn’t big enough, my car wasn’t big enough, I couldn’t possibly go back to school with two newborns. How could we afford cribs, highchairs, car seats, everything times two!  Not to mention the cost of diapers alone? There was no way we could have two babies.  Without health insurance, it felt irresponsible to do so. I was unsure if we would be able to provide for them, and I knew we could not afford medical care for them.

I was so overwhelmed; my body was shaking, and seeing my distress the volunteer asked if she could pray for me. Then another volunteer came in, and another, and they formed a circle of prayer, and thanked God for the blessings of the babies. But, it did not feel like a blessing to me. It felt like an impossible situation with only one solution.

But I believe it was their prayers led me to the StandUpGirl.com website and what I read convinced me that it was possible and there was another alternative to abortion.

The stories that impacted me the most were from unmarried, teenage girls who hadn’t completed their education.  Here I was: 35 years old, college educated, happily married.  If these young girls could do it, we could too! I realized that we had to make this work; we had to make a new plan - one that included the lives of our two babies!

On Dec. 12th of 2011, I gave birth to identical twin boys; both very healthy and weighing over 7lbs each.  They are a blessing.

StandUpGirl.com and our local pregnancy help center played such an important role in the decision making regarding my pregnancy and I cannot emphasize enough how important I think it is for StandUpGirl.com to list and make available access to the local pregnancy help organization on their home page.

StandUpGirl.com shows us that we can stand up and say “no” to abortion, and the pregnancy help centers provide on the ground support in our own neighborhoods.

At one point it seemed impossible to imagine having twins in our life, but thanks to all the young women who shared their stories on StandUpGirl.com, I could never image our lives without them.

By Angela, devoted mom of 3!

About 19 of every 20 18-29 year olds own a cell phone. For those who have yet to finish high school, it’s seven of every 10. An April 2011 Pew Research Study, “Trends in Mobile Phone Usage,” finds that cell-phone ownership is high among all ethnic groups and even among income levels.

We are truly living in a digital age where information is readily available at the tip of our fingers, as well as the fingers of those who might need our services. A follow-up study by Pew* shows that among 18-29 year-olds, half who have cell-phones have smart-phones and regularly access the internet with them. This means potential clients have the opportunity to access and receive information wherever they are. They have the ability to receive a large range of information in a very short time. With the use of QR codes, social media, mass transit booths, billboards, and digital posters, the value of having a mobile-ready website is becoming more and more evident.

Is your client website smart-phone friendly?

Clearly mobile devices are rapidly becoming the dominant digital format versus desk bound machines. Your website is often your primary marketing tool to reach prospective clients in your community. With technology at the ready for them to search for you, will you be ready to connect with them? Conventional wisdom says that if the person searching for you on the internet can’t find you (quickly), to them, you don’t exist.

In the digital marketing world, effectiveness is measured in seconds, or even fractions of seconds. If your website, in standard form, takes more than a few seconds to download, it may be discarded for a quicker source. Once downloaded, is the information easily navigated? Again, the culture of information at the ready leaves little time to impact the seeker with positive information to make a good connection.

Reasons for a mobile version of your website:

• Interactivity is one of the many ways that Pregnancy Help Centers (PHCs) can reach their demographic. Interactivity on out of home advertising campaigns allows a PHC to make an emotional connection with the client in a public space.
• **According to studies, in three years, mobile will take over desktop internet usage and one half of all local searches will be performed on a mobile device.
• Most people connect while commuting or traveling. However, when they find that sites that they normally access on their PCs at home are not mobile compatible, they might end up switching to a site which provides similar services and is mobile compatible as well. This is what your ministry wants to avoid. The last thing anyone wants is for someone seeking abortion information to go to a site that has a mobile version and is providing abortions at the ready.
• Having a mobile-friendly website also aids in SEO as it helps improve rankings on mobile friendly search engines such as Google or Yahoo.

What are people using their smart-phones/tablets for?

***Smart device owners are taking full advantage of the technology at their fingertips and are spending their time out of home accessing the internet. It would appear that all smart device users, especially younger groups (18-34), have a hunger for information and a need to be entertained. Accessing the internet (80%) and using social networks (67%) are among the top functions used on smart devices.

Younger audiences are more open to interaction. They instinctively understand the relationship between branding and themselves, thus, making them willing participants in the brand/consumer relationship.

Mobile expectations for 2012:

• Smartphone users will reach 106.7 million in 2012, up 18.4% from 2011.
• In 2012, 94% of smart-phones users will be mobile internet users.
• All mobile phone users will reach 242.6 million in 2012, up 2.3% from 2011.
• Smartphone shoppers will reach 68.6 million in 2012.
• Smartphone buyers will reach 36.4 million in 2012.
• 88.1% of US internet users ages 14+ will browse or research products/services online in 2012.

What Does This Mean To You?

Be sure your website is mobile-friendly. This takes some effort by your web design friends, but clearly the trend suggests it is well worth it. The research suggests this will very soon be the number one way your website is accessed. Option Line is mobile friendly for the very purpose of being available to our target demographic. Your website should be also.

The Extend Web Services team now has all its website templates available in a mobile-friendly format. If you’d like to learn more about mobile (and regular) website development for your center, please contact Dionne Ramos West at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

*Pew Research Center, 7/11/2011, http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2011/PIP_Smartphones.pdf.
**CBS.CBS Outdoor Media on the Move. Web 2012. http://www.interactiveeurope.com.
***Bosomworth, Danyl. “Statistics on Mobile Usage and Adoption to Inform your Mobile Marketing Strategy.” Smart Insights. Web 2012.  http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/.