HBI
South Korea: Women's Hope Center
Korea’s abortion rate is estimated at 75 percent, driven by the international sex trade and intense cultural pressure to abort pregnancies outside of wedlock.
Women's Hope Center (WHC) exists to see every life valued from conception and every exploited woman in Korea free, healed and empowered.
We currently offer crisis pregnancy and post-abortion counseling nationwide via our online chat and in-person in 5 major cities, as well as educational seminars, long-term housing, and education and job training opportunities.
We are building a social enterprise to provide safe employment to our clients, and also hope to establish a “safe house” for sexually abused women.
Client Testimony:
This boy’s teen mom saw her baby's heartbeat on an ultrasound at 6 weeks. From then she began to run to save his life. She survived severe beatings before she found WHC, arriving only with the clothes on her back. Once her son was born her parents forced her to give him up for adoption but recently, miraculously, she was allowed to get him back though at the expense of being severed from her parents.
She chose her son.
She is staying at a short-term shelter close enough to her high school so she can complete her last semester of high school.
Thereafter, in December, they will be returning to the House of Peace (an apartment owned by WHC) for long-term care and support (for job training and potential employment in our future social business).
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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Pregnancy Care Center: A Place for Me
The mission of our Pregnancy Care Center is to affirm LIFE by providing confidential and non-judgmental assistance in a caring and supportive environment to all who are facing unexpected pregnancies.
To prevent abortions, child abandonment, and separation of children from their families in 2015 through our program The NEST we started to offer accommodation for pregnant women and moms with babies who do not have the needed support of their families or partner.
The NEST Maternity Home's mission is to minister Christ’s love and grace and provide different opportunities for pregnant women and their children in a safe and stable home environment, to empower them and educate them in many areas to help eliminate generational cycles of broken relationships, unplanned pregnancies, poverty and the need for community social services.
The NEST Maternity Home Building Project
Help us build a home for vulnerable moms and babies
The cost of the building project will be USD 450,000.00.
Thanks to our partners – individuals, and churches – USD 290,000.00 has been already raised!
We appreciate every donation!
Please join our adventure by donating now or by helping us in fundraising for the NEST Maternity Home building project in your church, organization, or company. We can send a more detailed building proposal at your request to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view 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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Centre Za Bebe
Where do we serve?
Belgrade, Serbia, and the abortion statistics
Belgrade is the capital of Serbia, located in Southeast Europe. In Serbia, abortion was legalized in 1969, and it is estimated that by 1990 there were around 200,000 abortions annually (800.000 in the whole Ex-Yugoslavia). Based on these numbers, it is estimated that over 10 million abortions have been performed in Serbia, which is higher than the total number of victims in both World Wars and national conflicts in the former Yugoslavia during the 20th century.
Today, fewer people live in Serbia than the number of abortions performed.
Nowadays, Serbia is facing a demographic downfall. There are multiple reasons for that, some of which are ill-informed and ill-educated young people, lack of individual support for pregnant women and parents, and most of all lack of awareness about the value and sanctity of every human life.
In 2024. the lowest number of babies was born in Serbia since official statistics have been recorded.
Mission of the Pro Baby Center
Our mission is to see more babies born in Serbia — by standing alongside women and couples facing unexpected pregnancies, offering them the support they need to choose life, and helping them build a stable and hopeful future for themselves and their children. We also want to provide sustainable and compassionate solutions to the most common challenges that women face during unplanned pregnancies, after childbirth, or in cases of pregnancy loss (including miscarriage, abortion, ectopic pregnancy, or IVF failure).
We support women through information, education, counseling, and practical assistance. While helping them develop their parenting and entrepreneurial skills so they can live independently with their children and families — and reach their full personal and professional potential.
From our beginnings in a small 6m² office in central Belgrade in 2012, where we met with clients referred to us by word of mouth, we’ve grown into a center that, through various projects such as:
- YOU ARE NOT ALONE – Counseling for pregnant women,
- BABY PLUS – Humanitarian initiatives for mothers and babies,
- Educational workshops for youth, couples, and parents,
- Filming of the testimonies of our clients and
- Publishing YOU ARE NOT ALONE book
…has now served over 7,500 clients.
We believe that no woman should go through pregnancy alone, without support or options. Every woman who turns to us receives:
- Free counseling – psychological, emotional, and informational support during pregnancy and after birth;
- Personalized support plans based on the individual needs of each woman;
- Help with accessing healthcare and social services;
- Legal and financial guidance in crisis situations;
- Material support (baby clothes, hygiene supplies, food packages, etc.);
- Connection with a community of women who have gone through similar experiences;
- Continued encouragement and guidance throughout pregnancy and early motherhood.
Through this mission, we aim not only to support women through immediate crises but to empower them to rebuild their lives, discover their purpose, develop their skills, and create a better future for themselves and their children.
To sustain this project alone, we need $60,000 annually.
Our Story – 10 Years of Supporting Mothers Across Serbia
Our first client was a 17-year-old girl who had been left on the street by her partner with a seven-month-old baby. At the time, we didn’t even have an office, so she lived with our family and her baby for several weeks. Ten years later, that young woman became our colleague and dedicated herself to helping other mothers overcome crisis situations.
Since then, we’ve come a long way—we’ve changed locations seven times and provided counseling to hundreds of women throughout Serbia. We offered support during pregnancy and after childbirth, and each individual life story inspired us to develop new projects and programs to address the various crises mothers face.
Our counseling center initially operated in person in Belgrade, and since 2018, we’ve been offering free advisory and practical assistance to women across Serbia. We also developed a distribution network to send packages with donated items from our generous donors—cosmetics, clothing, and baby supplies.
Due to the frequent questions we received from teenage girls who believed they might be in unplanned pregnancies, we launched a school-based project focused on reproductive health education and reducing the rate of teenage pregnancies.
We have also recorded video testimonials and published a book featuring original stories written by mothers and fathers who received support from our counseling center. The book includes original photographs, was published in Serbian, and we are planning to print an English edition as well.
More recently, we’ve developed online questionnaires to help women recognize and address various challenges such as relationship crises, baby loss, pregnancy-related workplace discrimination, postpartum depression, and more.
We also maintain active contact with the business community in Serbia and have helped many women find employment.
Our Next Goal
Our next major objective is to build a center where women, both during pregnancy and after giving birth, can have a safe place to stay. For single mothers in Belgrade, it is nearly impossible to cover all the costs of living and housing. Our center will offer:
- Safe accommodation during the most critical period of their lives,
- Personal development training to help women discover their life’s purpose,
- Talent development and professional skills training,
- And a clear path toward independent living with their children and families after the crisis period.
For more information, you can visit www.centarzabebe.rs, and in case you have any further questions, you can contact Mila Todorovic, Centar ZA BEBE President, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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Heartbeat International Annual Report
Margaret (Peggy) Hartshorn, Ph.D., Board Chair
Margaret H. (Peggy) Hartshorn, Ph.D., currently Chairman of the Board of Heartbeat International, has served on the Board for 30 years, as Chairman previously from 1990-2004. She also served as Heartbeat’s President for 22 years (1993-2015).
Peggy co-founded Heartbeat International’s Option Line in 2002. It is the only 24/7, bilingual, internet-based, pro-life call center in the world. Option Line handles about a quarter of a million calls for help each year, connecting callers to their community-based pregnancy help center for life-saving and life-changing help.
Peggy and her husband, Mike, joined the pro-life movement in 1973, first working with the educational, political, and legislative arm of the movement. They housed pregnant women in their home (beginning in 1974), attended their first Heartbeat conference in 1978, opened the first pregnancy help center in Columbus, Ohio, in 1981, and Peggy joined the leadership team of Heartbeat International in 1986 (as a member of the Board, later Chairperson and President of Heartbeat).
Peggy has traveled to 52 countries, teaching and training, visiting existing pregnancy help organizations, and helping to start new ones in Eastern and Western Europe, Australia, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. She has also appeared on television and radio as a spokesperson for pro-life and life-affirming alternatives to abortion, and she is the author of Foot Soldiers Armed with Love: The First Forty Years of Heartbeat International.
Peggy is the recipient of many awards for pro-life work, including: President’s Volunteer Service Award under President George H.W. Bush, the J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award, the Defender of Life Award from Students for Life, the Cardinal John J. O’Connor pro-life award from Legatus International, the Norrine A. and Raymond E. Ruddy Memorial Life Prizes Award, the Sanctity of Human Life Award from Care Net, the Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle Award from the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, the Founder’s Award from the Christ Child Society, the Catholic Woman of the Year Award from the Diocese of Columbus (Ohio), the Life Champion Award from Pregnancy Support Services of Asia, the Woman of Impact Award from WRFD Christian Radio, and the Praesidium Vitae Award from Aid for Women.
Peggy has been married to Mike for over 50 years, and they have two children, adopted as infants, and 5 grandchildren.
Jor-El Godsey, President
Jor-El Godsey serves as President of Heartbeat International. He leads a staff dedicated to equipping, empowering, and encouraging the thousands of leaders and developing leaders of Heartbeat’s affiliated pregnancy help centers, maternity homes, and adoption services, in the U.S. and on every inhabited continent. He oversees Heartbeat’s core mission to be the leadership supply line for the growing pregnancy help movement worldwide by providing accurate information, training resources, leadership development conferences, programs, and daily support to help affiliates start, grow, and expand their services to women and couples at risk for abortion.
Jor-El comes to Heartbeat having served in the pregnancy help movement since 1988. He first served as a volunteer at Hope, the pregnancy help centers in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Then he joined their board, served as Chair, then as Executive Administrator. In 1999, Jor-El became Executive Director of Life Choices in Longmont, Colorado. Six years later, in 2006, Jor-El accepted the call to help Heartbeat International meet the diverse and expanding leadership needs of the pregnancy help movement as Vice-President. Now serving as the second President in Heartbeat International's 50+ year history, preceded only by Peggy Hartshorn, he continues to remind us all that we are better together.
Jor-El met his wife, Karen, at a volunteer training meeting for the Hope Center in Ft. Lauderdale. They currently make their home in Columbus, Ohio, and have three children.
Update: For the LOVE of Germany
Did you hear the one about the lawyer who traveled overseas and taught a bunch of U.S. military families how to better serve women facing unexpected pregnancies?
Fair enough, there’s not much promise for a joke in that question, but you have to admit, the latest Heartbeat International international training does sound a bit peculiar when you first hear about it.
The story took place October 25, when Ellen Foell, Heartbeat’s legal counsel, taught a day-long session of The LOVE Approach™ to a group of 28 staff, volunteers, and potential volunteers at Heartbeat Crisis Pregnancy Center in Ramstein, Germany.
The center, under the direction of Carrie Beliles, primarily serves U.S. military personnel and their families stationed at Ramstein Air Base, home of the 86th Airlift Wing and headquarters of U.S. Air Forces Europe.
“It was the first time teaching this material, so I really didn’t quite know what to expect,” Foell, who has been with Heartbeat International since 2012, said. “God really put two things on my heart that I tried to express to the group: The first was to encourage them to embrace their unique, God-given giftedness, and the second was to allow themselves to be released to really exercise that giftedness as they sought to serve women coming to the center.”
“It really was great to watch this group wrestle through how to apply The LOVE Approach to the real situations involving real human beings they are dealing with every day.”
While the majority of attendees were Americans connected to the military community in Ramstein, one participant came from another part of Germany with the hope to launch a pregnancy help organization in another part of Germany.
According to Heartbeat International’s Worldwide Directory, there are currently 114 pregnancy help organizations in Germany, although Heartbeat Crisis Pregnancy Center is the only Heartbeat International affiliate.
“These servants learned how to handle a great tool, and that was encouraging to see,” Foell said. “I was really impressed by the cross-section of ages and generations, and thrilled to see the seeds of more pregnancy help organizations being planted in Germany.”
Foell was joined by Heartbeat International Vice President Jor-El Godsey, who keynoted the center’s annual banquet and facilitated a meeting with European pro-life leaders during a three-day span Oct. 24-26 in Ramstein.
Marius and The Myth of Unwantedness
On one hand, it’s encouraging to see the international community’s outrage over the weekend at what can only be described as the euthanasia of a perfectly healthy, yet—tragically “unwanted”—resident of Copenhagen, Denmark named Marius.
On the other hand, the fact that Marius was an 11-foot-tall giraffe puts things into perspective.
Marius, a giraffe born in captivity, found himself in the lethal position of “unwantedness” by possessing what Animal Rights Sweden called, not “interesting enough,” genes, and his very existence posed the potential threat of inbreeding, which if you’re running a zoo, is apparently problematic.
Despite attempts to spare Marius’ life that included lucrative offers by individuals and at least one European wildlife park, along with “Save Marius” petition that garnered 27,000 signatures, “Marius was fed some rye bread at 9.15am and was killed shortly after by a shot in the head with a bolt gun,” to quote The Guardian of London.
But the kind of civility shown in these rescue efforts—and reflected in the kind of sentence in one of the world’s most respected newspapers that indirectly humanizes a giraffe—was also matched by multiple death threats against zoo officials, one of which threatened the children of two zoo administrators.
It appears the world isn’t buying into the whole idea of “unwanted” after all. At least not where giraffes are concerned.
Two and half years ago, 56 exotic animals broke loose from a private citizen’s backyard in Zanesville, Ohio, leading to what has become known as the “Zanesville Animal Massacre,” which included the killing of 18 rare Bengal tigers.
I was working at a restaurant with a friend of mine that night, and I remember being floored, not so much by the news, but by her reaction. It was the kind of reaction a person and a society tends to have at pivotal moments in history: the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the assassination of President Kennedy, the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
Might I remind you, Marius and the Zanesville Animal Massacre are both stories about animals.
Is there no corresponding outrage when it comes to human beings?
Worldwide unrest occurs overnight when a zoo takes “unwanted” life. Society shudders at the thought of “massacring” animals that, now on the loose, pose a lethal and immediate threat to human life. Death threats against children are made in the name of the protection of animals.
And yet, the value we set on a human life rests solely on her mother’s decision. “Is my child wanted?”
We don’t allow ourselves the personal and societal outrage that this “choice” by a mother (and often by influences other than the mother herself) leads to the death of over 3,000 human beings every day in the United States alone, but we do allow ourselves outrage when it comes to giraffes and Bengal tigers.
Let me add the caveat here that I love animals. At one point in my life, I proudly subscribed to Cat Fancy, and I’m about 10 times more excited than my 3-year-old daughter every time we visit the Columbus Zoo—where we have an annual pass. I hope she and her baby sister will learn to see every window into God’s glory that giraffes, Bengal tigers, and whitetail deer have to offer. I hope they learn that from me.
Deeper than that, as a believer, I’m convinced by Scripture that my treatment of animals has plenty to say about my heart. I’m thinking here about Proverbs 12:10, which says, “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.”
But I am bound and determined to make the most of opportunities like Marius’ afford us, to expose the fact that the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes. The elephant is in the room, whether you want him there or not.
Wantedness didn’t change the fact that Marius was a giraffe. Wantedness didn’t determine Marius’ inherent giraffeness. Unwantedness didn’t un-giraffe him, it led to his execution.
If you, Planned Parenthood, or my congressman can explain to me how wantedness determines humanness, I’d like to hear it. Until then, let’s do everything we possibly can to protect life—starting with the humans.
About Heartbeat International
Heartbeat International is the first network of pro-life pregnancy help organizations founded in the U.S. (1971), and now the largest and most expansive network in the world. With 1,800 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.
www.Facebook.com/HeartbeatInternational
by Jay Hobbs, Communications Assistant
Love is Our Language
God is faithful!
Wow! What an amazing week!
As the dust settles from our largest Conference to date, we are amazed at all God did last week! Over 900 gathered in Charleston, SC to be trained, equipped, and inspired as we celebrated the fact that "Love is Our Language" in the pregnancy help movement all around the world. None of this would have been possible without YOUR generous support! You have been a blessing to our frontline lifesavers and we thank you for your obedience to God! We offered 13 dynamic workshop tracks to educate and train our participants. We were blessed by amazing keynote speakers such as Dr. Ravi Zacharias, Fr. Agustino Torres, Kirk Walden, Terri Green, and many more! We were also honored to host 32 international guests from 17 countries, representing all six inhabited continents! We want to share a special thank you video from them to you! (Click the image to play). You can see pictures and highlights from the Conference by following us on Facebook today! Thank you again for all you do for LIFE! 
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Heartbeat Is Advancing!
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Special Announcement: Heartbeat is Advancing to a New Location |
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Dear Ministry Partner, After over a decade at our current location, Heartbeat International is transitioning to new office space in Columbus, Ohio to better serve our life-saving mission. We are excited for the new season ahead, even while we are neck-deep in moving boxes and packaging tape. Please note our offices will be closed Monday, April 21, and re-opening Tuesday, April 29. We will do our best to return calls and emails as soon as possible, and we thank you ahead of time for your patience. While our address is changing, our phone number will remain the same (614-885-7577 or 888-550-7577) During the transition, Option Line will continue to answer the call 24/7, connecting women in need to their local pregnancy help center. Thank you for partnering with us. You are such a blessing. |
Whitney Wall
When I give people my testimony I think it’s important to know my family background. I believe that how you are raised has almost everything to do with the person you will become, and the decisions you will make in your life.
I grew up in a very Christian conservative home. We went to church every Sunday, lived in the suburbs of a nice middle class neighborhood. I am one of four children and we have very supportive parents and they trusted us until we gave them a reason not to. In December of 2008, I gave them a reason when I told them I was pregnant.
When I was 19 I was taking classes and working a waitressing job in Ohio. I was young and stupid, and unfortunately, while employed there I met a guy who made me believe he was in love with me. A pretty typical story, but it’s amazing what control a man can have over a gullible girl. I ended up giving him the one thing I was saving for my now husband-my virginity.
A year later my world crashed when I found out in November of 2008 I was pregnant. I didn’t know what to do. All I could think about was not telling my family, that seemed to be the only thing that mattered. When I decided to tell my boyfriend, he informed me I needed to have an abortion. That was a hard pill to swallow, I was raised pro-life, my mother taught us to respect life in the womb, and yet now that I was in this situation it seemed okay to compromise my beliefs.
I reached out to girls I worked with, whom all seemed to tell me the same thing. “You have too much going for you”, “It’s too hard”, and “I need to take care of it”. So there I was; alone, scared, and discouraged with the abortion clinics number in my phone. I almost would rather do something that I know would emotionally scar me, than have to tell my family what I had done. I finally reached out to a girl I had grown up in the church with. I explained to her after a handful of tests it still wasn’t real to me, and I wanted someone to confirm my pregnancy. She told me to go to PDHC, and explained to me it’s free and they have more sensitive tests .I was familiar with PDHC, in fact my mother used to work the PDHC booth at our old church, but I didn’t think it was for people like myself. I agreed to go, and she made an appointment the next day in Columbus.
When I walked in to the building I immediately felt welcomed by a woman named Rita. She told me to have a seat while we waited on the pregnancy test. I was so nervous. Even though I already knew the answer, I was holding on to the small ounce of hope that the 20 other tests I took were false. I sat there, as she walked in and said in the happiest voice “congratulations mommy to be!” I immediately got on my knees and started bawling. It was real now. I couldn’t stop crying saying “no, no! What am I going to do?” she put her hand around my shoulder, helped me back up into my chair and said to me “Don’t cry, you’re going to be a mommy.” She then held up a picture from a simple brochure of what the baby would be looking like around that time of pregnancy. That was all I needed to see. It was like God was slapping me in the face. My priorities changed immediately and all the sudden I didn’t matter anymore. Here I was, so worried about ME and what IM going to do, when the fact of the matter is I have a baby growing inside me; A life, a soul. I was so concerned about facing the consequences of my actions; I lost all train of thought on what this really was: My child. Rita and I spent the rest of our time together talking about my situation, my family, my background. She let me know my options and assured me that no matter what I tell my family, they love me. My consultant gave me something I needed desperately: Encouragement and hope to start this pregnancy.
The night I told my parents was the worst night of my life. There was so much disappointment, anger, shock, sadness, disbelief. But in the end we could all only accept it and move on. What happened, happened.and Rita was right, they love me.
Those 9 months were the hardest year of my life. After tons of prayer, list after list of pros and cons, and months of counseling, I decided to place my little boy for adoption. It was a very difficult decision, and there are no words to describe how hard it is to make. Eventually it came down to something so simple: I want my son to have the life that I had. He deserves the world, and that’s exactly what I gave him. In July of 09, I finally found the perfect couple who deserved him. I would be lying if I said it’s not difficult to embrace the thought of choosing other people to be your son’s parents, but I got such an overwhelming sense of peace about Mike and Kara. I began to care for them as family, and even started to feel grateful that I got to be their birth mommy. I started to see that God was finally giving me an answer from months and months of prayer, and I felt confident in my decision.
On August 20th 2009 at 5:39 am, weighing 6lb 9oz and 21 inches long, Joshua Michael Wilson came into the world. He was more perfect than I could have ever imagined. When I first held him in my arms, I heard God say out loud “This is my son.” Finally feeling the love a parent has for their child made surrendering Josh that much easier for me. Unconditional love is a very powerful thing, and it’s amazing what you can do with it.
This is my story. My little boy is 4 years old now and not a day goes by where I ever regret the decision that I made for him, only that it took me awhile to make it. I share my testimony in hopes that maybe I can bring encouragement and empowerment to someone who may be in the same situation someday. That’s why I go to prison facilities and speak to pregnant women who are incarcerated, that’s why I volunteer to be interviewed in the dispatch, That’s why I go to any PDHC banquet I can and that’s why I take the opportunity to come to Washington DC and speak to a congress member. I know that a number of women choose abortion out of impulse because they feel scared and alone like I was. My mission is to end abortion. Not just by laws, but by educating the minds of humans. The only way we can expect change is to change minds.
Jacqueline Shifflett and Lealan
When the unplanned happened to me I felt my life was unraveling. I was dealing with a situation that no parent ever wants to encounter. Because the guy I had been dating put his hands on my 6 year old son while I was not home, I was involved in a CPS case. In order to regain custody I had to be diligent in communicating with lawyers, the court, and a guardian ad litem. The stress of this situation left me feeling like I was on the verge of a breakdown.
Then I found out I was pregnant.
I couldn’t believe that this was happening. I couldn’t believe I was in this situation! Why hadn’t I been more careful? I struggled in disillusion and confusion. I was scared, and didn’t want anyone to know, especially my parents. I was afraid of disappointing them. I thought, an abortion would make all of this go away. Besides, I knew I couldn’t keep the baby – I had too much going on. I just wasn’t capable of caring for another child at the time.
One day as I was driving in my car and I heard an ad on the radio for Harrisonburg Pregnancy Center and free pregnancy testing. It prompted me into making the decision to find out for sure if I really was pregnant. So, after dropping my son off at school, I went to the Center.
I had never been to a “pregnancy center” so I was not sure what to expect when I going in to Harrisonburg Pregnancy Center. It turned out to be super helpful. The staff was friendly, and I felt comforted and welcomed. The most impressive part of my visit was that I didn’t receive any judgment. Just that alone was relieving. But still there was more.
I got to meet with a wonderful client advocate, Paula, who took the time to simply listen and care for me and my situation. I was given a lot of information on all of my options, but did not feel pressured in any way. My time with Paula greatly impacted me. She wanted to understand who I was, and what I believed, without imposing her beliefs on me. The conversation caused me to evaluate my faith and what I believed about God, about life choices. She continued to care for me after my appointment by calling me every few weeks just to check in to see how I was doing. Knowing that there was someone out there that truly cared made the biggest difference in how I proceeded.
My visit to Harrisonburg Pregnancy Center impacted my pregnancy decision.
They provided a welcoming, professional, safe place for me to explore my options and to be heard. The care and information I received from the nurse and my client advocate helped lead me to the decision to carry my child to term and parent. Had I not gone to the Harrisonburg Pregnancy Center, I believe I would have gone through with an abortion.
But I am just one woman. There are so many others. Every day there are women
in our community facing a similar situation. I’m so thankful that the Harrisonburg Pregnancy Center is there to be a resource for women who are facing an unintended pregnancy, and who don’t know where to go or who to turn to. Because of the services, the information, the help, and the hope that they provide women can make a well informed decision about their unplanned pregnancy.
Because of my visit to Harrisonburg Pregnancy Center, I chose to carry and parent my son Lealan, now 8 months old. I can’t imagine my life without him, nor my other son’s life without his little brother. I feel that God gave me a second change to do things right, and He used Harrisonburg Pregnancy Center to help me see that. I am forever grateful to the Harrisonburg Pregnancy Center, and am so glad that they are a part of my community.
Diana Maldonado
The moment I found out I was pregnant my whole world stopped, or at least it felt like it did. I did not know what to do… but one thing was for sure, I couldn’t tell anyone in my family until I did know.
I remember going onto Google and typing “pregnant and scared” into the search engine. As I looked over the results to my search I saw one that caught my attention immediately. It was CareNet Pregnancy Center of Rhode Island. As I looked over CareNet’s website, I came across a telephone number for a hotline which was open 24 hours so I immediately dialed and spoke to someone about some of the emotions running through my mind and set up an appointment for the following week. At a time where everything is so new and so scary, making that call gave me such a feeling of guidance because I knew that soon I could express myself to someone and express how I felt about my unplanned pregnancy. The day of my appointment I was so nervous.
I went into CareNet knowing there were other options like an abortion and thinking that was my only way out. My thoughts of having a baby were overshadowed with unanswered questions and I felt like I had hit a dead end.
It was the greatest relief in the world to just talk to someone who made me feel so comfortable and gave me support and just get all the clutter in my head off my chest. I consider that day a blessing and because of that day I strongly believe I found the courage to continue with my pregnancy despite that it meant my life changing forever. At a time where my emotions were overwhelmed by my thoughts and I was not able to clearly think, the smallest of talks can make a big difference.
The amount of support I received was unbelievable. I had my first ultrasound at CareNet and the feeling I had that day from seeing my unborn child is indescribable. They helped me with many things from looking for a doctor to providing me with labor classes. It has been almost 4 years since my first time at CareNet but I can still remember that day clearly. I often think back to that day and all the wonderful staff and counselors at CareNet who helped me get through a nerve wracking time and helped me clear my mind.
It is so easy for your judgment to be over shadowed by thoughts. I sometimes wonder where I would be if I hadn’t reached out for help and acted on my emotions. I am extremely thankful there are no ‘what ifs’ and that I get to enjoy my son and all the joy he has brought me. It is sad and almost shocking to me to think about all the feelings I once felt and how vulnerable I was to thinking an abortion was my only solution. My plans and goals have not changed since I’ve had my son and I feel like they have only become more solid because I refuse to give up and when I feel like I want to give up all I have to do is take a look at my son. The moment I walked into CareNet, I walked out a different person.
