by Andrea Trudden, Vice President of Communications & Marketing

1. Have you been to Italy before? 

I had never been to Italy before this opportunity, but have had the pleasure of meeting our Italian friends here in the States several times at our training conferences. I also have had the privilege of participating in Movimento per la Vita's (MPV) training events virtually in the past.

2. How did this trip begin? 

It just so happened that the MPV Symposium occurred at the time of my anniversary, so my husband was able to join me and we got to familiarize ourselves with the beautiful countryside. Venice is everything you imagine it to be. There is beauty all around. From here, we joined new friends from other areas of the country to drive up into the mountains where the training would be held. Thankfully, one of our fellow travelers happened to be my translator for the week! Camilla was a God-send and has an incredible zest for pro-life work and reaching the youth with a message of hope and love.

3. How long were you in Italy?

With travel and training, we were in Italy for a week. 

4. What PHOs did you visit during your time in Italy?

The MPV Symposium brought in pregnancy center leaders from all over the country, which is quite vast. Ultimately, there were about 65 people present, representing dozens of pregnancy centers and maternity homes. 

5. What did your visit cover (curriculum, training, visits/meetings, etc.)?

The symposium was such a powerful event. Italians have a love for education, so this was a true example of that in-depth teaching. We covered three primary topics, with various subtopics within.

First, we discussed cultural changes in the world from both a physical standpoint as well as a psychological standpoint. The abortion pill use is expanding all over the world, and it is important to understand the impact it has on women, both physically and emotionally. 

Second, there was a clear generational gap that needed to be addressed. Many at the training have worked in the field for decades and have an amazing heart for the work. On the first night, however, we were asked how many in the room were under the age of 35. Four hands raised. (Mine was NOT included.) To come back to a culture that embraces life, we must reach the youth with a positive message about family and hope. For effective succession planning and true impact, we must have more involvement from the youth. MPV has a good youth program that sadly lessened with COVID-19. They are rebuilding and have grand plans for future expansion.

Sticking to culture, we unpacked the role of media today and how we can use it to positively share stories from pregnancy help. We must recognize that journalism has shifted over the last decade and has activated an aggressive media attack on the abortion issue. I had the opportunity to provide media training there alongside two professional reporters. There are ways to counter the narrative, but we must be intentional about putting stories out into the world. There was a theme of becoming good storytellers throughout the Symposium. 

Finally, I was able to provide an overview of the global landscape of pregnancy help. This brought us back to talking about the abortion pill and abortion pill reversal. We must be fully aware of the implications easy access to abortion has on society and adapt to this new landscape.

6. What was the biggest thing you learned from or about the organization(s) you visited? 

I was very impressed with the depth of MPV's work. They encompass all life issues. In fact, while we were on-site, a couple of the presenters went down the road to present at another conference that had a focus on combatting euthanasia. MPV is working to mobilize the youth, serve through pregnancy help, encourage pro-life laws, and create a culture that embraces life from natural life to natural death.

7. What was the biggest takeaway from your visit to Italy?

Italy truly has the best pizza! Plus, there is a desperate desire to change the culture to embrace life before it is too late. MPV is watching the world and doing everything it can to protect the country from falling into cultural darkness.

8. Why is it important for us to connect internationally and between organizations?

This opportunity was a great example of how we are truly better together. MPV is doing amazing things in Italy! As one of our joint affiliate networks, they tap into Heartbeat trainings often and have great influence in their network. Staying connected and sharing the current challenges and triumphs helps us strategize for tomorrow while bringing key concepts to others around the globe. This is such a mighty mission that we are all working toward, so the more we can work together, the better.

9. Is there anything else that stood out to you or affected you during your time there?
Was there anything that surprised you?

My translator, Camilla, introduced me to a six-year-old girl who was saved at her pregnancy center outside of Rome. The girl's parents are still together and they are actively involved in the work of MPV. Her mother is studying to become a magistrate and her father is a lawyer. Seeing how engaged he was at the Symposium and how she was cared for by all around, as though she was a niece to each person, showed love in action. While a completely different language and nation, the work is exactly the same. We are each called into this movement to share our skills to work toward a common mission of life. It was a great affirmation.

by Ellen Foell, International Program Specialist

I never dreamed I would be able to travel to India, let alone twice in one year. In Part 1 of this series, I shared about my first trip to (north) India. And last October I had the privilege to visit two of our Indian affiliates and participate in the India Pro-Life Summit, held in Mumbai.

I met Brother Godfrey Rajkumar and his wife Beatrice, directing Jeevan (Hindi for “Life”), in Bangalore. We had a lovely time together and I was given the opportunity to talk to around 14 university students who meet in their homes to share about the sanctity of life. In their apartment, they also host a few of the women in unplanned pregnancies, as well as have sewing and computer classes. Talk about a multi-purpose room! Brother Godfrey and Beatrice run the only pregnancy help center in Bangalore (that we know of). Bangalore is a city of about 14 million people.

From there I went to Coimbatore to meet with Simon and Johanna Durairaj who run Life for All. Coimbatore is in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Life for All recently opened a birthing center, and they run a home for the elderly as well as a daycare. The pro-life movement in India really has to minister seamlessly for the weakest in the population who are easy prey.

Finally, I traveled with Simon, Johanna, and their family back to Mumbai for the 10^th Pro-Life Summit. The Pro-Life Summit started nine years ago with about 15 people. Praise God for the growth of the movement which saw about 70 people attend! The Summit was well planned with talks to encourage, equip, and train. A huge shoutout to all the wonderful people I met there who embraced me so warmly with true Indian hospitality. There is nothing like a proper cup of Indian chai.

The India Pro-Life Summit continues to grow from the 15 or so who attended 9 years ago to the nearly 75 that attended this year. Like many of our international affiliates, the Indian pregnancy help movement is actually the pro-life movement. The people who attended the Summit are the same people who plan the marches, attend prayer walks and 40 Days for Life, plan client services, promote APR, raise funds, do research that hopefully influences legislation, and mobilize the culture toward life through social media—and they are pastors. They do everything—if not them, who else?

The pro-life movement in India is growing, but slowly. It is hard to keep up with the ever-increasing number of abortions in India; currently, approximately 42,000 abortions are performed per day with a total of about 15.6 million per year. Would you pray for the pregnancy help movement in India? Your Indian co-laborers are under-resourced, understaffed, and face tremendous opposition, governmentally and culturally. Like you, they are fueled by their love for life and love for the Giver of Life.

Political Map of India

Highlighted in yellow are the territories I visited:

by Nafisa Kennedy, Director of Option Line

On the evening of February 16th, 2006, I arrived at a quiet brick building in Columbus, OH. A few cars were in the parking lot as I walked toward the door. I took a nervous deep breath, carefully entered my entry code on a keypad, and wondered what my first shift on the Option Line hotline would be like. My colleagues, some of whom I met for the first time that day, welcomed me as if I were family (between calls, of course). I observed that same warmth and kindness as I heard them connecting with our callers that night. 

My first hotline shift was 6 hours long, and I still remember that I spoke with twenty-six people. My colleagues told me it was a quiet shift, but as a young professional with a heart for missions, I left with a heart bursting with gratitude for the opportunity to serve twenty-six souls in as many different cities! Not only was it incredible to speak life to them, but I knew that their next step would be a visit to a local pregnancy help center. What an honor to be part of a vast network of support which always leads back to the Lord our God! At the time, I was unaware of just how much God was already at work at Option Line, and I couldn’t have imagined all that He would do.

Later that year, we received an email from a mom who said she had called and spoken to someone by my name. When Sarah initially called she was considering abortion, but because of the support she found through Option Line and her local pregnancy help center, her email contained a photo of her (the mother) and her newborn child, absolutely beaming. She had not forgotten our late-night conversation, and she wanted to say thank you.

Up until 2012, all Option Line staff lived in the Columbus area and reported to the office for every shift. As a 24/7/365 operation, Option Line consultants would arrive and depart from our building at all hours of the day and night, in every season, too.  In 2012, we began testing remote work with our Columbus area team during the overnight and weekend hours. Thanks to innovative technology, and God’s leading, we hired our first fully remote team member in 2014, and this year more than 60% of our team is remote. We’ve even had our consultants answer calls while in Guatemala, London, and Mexico; advancement in technology can bring many unexpected blessings!

Some things never change though. We still have an incredibly dedicated team of people-loving servants. Just recently, one of our consultants went into labor during her hotline shift; she chose to serve other moms until the time was near and was holding her own baby within two hours of her last hotline call.

Another aspect of our service that has not changed is our approach to people: respect and empathy are integral to Option Line culture.

“My caller says she reached out a year ago and spoke to me. She remembers my voice. She was raped a year ago and reached out to our helpline. She reminded me how she felt alone and that she decided to tell her husband…they kept the baby! She said that God heard her cries and they got help at their local center. Her baby is now 10 months old!”
- Sylvia, Option Line consultant

Option Line was developed on a solid foundation by its early leaders within Heartbeat International. God has ordained every step forward, and we have seen His blessings through those serving, as well as the people we serve. While my first shift on the hotline resulted in twenty-six calls, it is not uncommon for a hotline consultant today to speak with over 100 people per shift. During that first year, we celebrated reaching a quarter million contacts; as of our 22nd birthday, we have reached 7 million. To God be the glory, forever!

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Click here to learn about Option Line's impact today and how we've expanded our modes (digital, emails, texts, chats, and calls) of making over 370,000 connections per year. 

Recently, a pregnancy help organization in India shared it's first Abortion Pill Reversal story! Watch the video to celebrate with us all that the Lord is doing in India:

Pictured and used with permission, Mom and her baby girl*

*For security purposes, do not post, forward, or share this information, or video, with others without specific permission.

by Ellen Foell, International Program Specialist

We all know that the demographic of childbearing-aged women are on their smartphones. In America, 90% of women own smartphones. In India, the number of women owning smartphones is lower than in the USA, at 64%. But even 64% is high. "Mobile technology in the form of the smartphone is widely used, particularly in pregnancy and they are an increasing and influential source of information."¹  That means we can reach these women and they can find us, find you and your hotline. Help, and a possible rescue from abortion, can reach a woman in the time it takes to find and dial a phone number. It takes less than a second, compared to typing in a search engine and reviewing results. That is the power of technology. That is the potential power of a helpline.

We are focusing this issue of Heartbeat Around the World on helplines, hotlines, and crisis lines around the world.

A hotline is usually a toll-free telephone service available to the public or to a group of people for some specific purpose. For us who serve in the pregnancy help movement, our "group of people" are moms in unplanned pregnancies and those who love them and our specific purpose is to reach them in their hour of crisis to connect them to people close by who can compassionately provide alternatives to abortion. Such a hotline was a "someday dream" for the founders of Heartbeat International. Today, you can read the story of how Option Line (powered by Heartbeat) connects with hundreds of thousands of women in crisis every year. Or, enjoy the photo and video of an Indian woman who reached out to Option Line and was connected back to the helpline in India. There is such power in connectivity. 

Around the world, there are hotlines in places as far apart as Romania, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, India, Canada, and countless other countries. Does your country have one? If so, we would love to know the number so we can add it to our Worldwide Directory. We want women to find you, reach you, and connect with help...faster than it takes to search and review results. 

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Source Cited

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S187151921300423X (accessed 3/12/25)