Voice for Life (Glas za Život) -  Bosnia and Herzegovina

Our vision is to help women in the situation of unplanned pregnancy, by walking alongside them in their own unique circumstances. We provide counseling, as well as emotional and material support. We also help women who have suffered reproductive loss and have had abortion/s to find healing and restoration.

These are some of our client's testimonials:

I got pregnant with my third child unexpectedly. My first thought was, oh no, how are we going to provide for this one?! I went to see a doctor and he told me I was 12 weeks pregnant. The only thought I had in my mind is to have an abortion. I thought that would be the most responsible decision. Still, I had my doubts, so I decided to look for answers online. There I found your FB page, and I read that you help women in crisis pregnancy.

I called you, and you were so patient and kind to me. I talked to my husband after that and we both agree that we actually want this baby and that we will manage to provide for her somehow. Now after A was born, we couldn’t imagine our lives without her. Thank you so much for being there for me and for encouraging me to make the right decision.

At the beginning of our relationship, everything was “perfect”. He was kind, gentle and loving. However, the moment I told him I was pregnant, he completely changed. He said he could pay for my abortion and that things can go back to how they were before. I was raised Catholic, and I knew that abortion was wrong. I told myself that I will not have one. Still, I didn’t know what to do. I went to the priest and I asked for help. He told me he could refer me to some people who could help. He connected me to a lady who then connected me to your center. Words can’t express how grateful I am that you paid my rent for all of those months when I couldn’t afford a place to stay. I’m forever grateful to you all for providing a safe place for me and my daughter.

Through “Save One” that you offered me as a tool for healing I discovered some wounds that I was still carrying around. Through all of this, I’ve learned (and I’m still learning) the following:

• I believe that God forgave me in His mercy, even though I remember and cry about it sometimes.
• I have to accept forgiveness, not because of my own merit, but by the grace of God.
• I want to move on trusting that I will help someone else change their view on unborn life.

Center for Life LIGHTHOUSE (Centar za Život SVJETIONIK) – Bosnia and Hercegovina

 WHO ARE WE?

The LIGHTHOUSE Center for Life, the first pro-life registered center in the nation of Bosnia and Hercegovina since 2001, is managed by Robert and Sara (Sandrina) Jurjevich. The LIGHTHOUSE offers information and education for women about pregnancy, regardless of whether it is planned or unplanned. Through our educational activities and workshops, we aim to answer the questions that pregnant moms have concerning their pregnancy and how to prepare for the most precious gift in life – parenthood.

The highest priority of the LIGHTHOUSE ministry is to offer hope to women facing a crisis pregnancy and to offer alternatives to abortion, which is considered the main birth-control remedy in Bosnian society.

Testimony: “I was in a situation where I already had one baby of 14 months and found myself quickly with an unplanned pregnancy with a second baby. I was hit with fear and worry. What now? It was too soon…would I be able to handle it or not, because there was little difference … I have no help … I have no one … I will go crazy … I will fall into a depression. I cried and said to myself I did not wish for or want an abortion. By chance, I then came across the website of the LIGHTHOUSE! While seeking advice I wondered why this website? How could they help me? I received support through counseling and understanding. The pregnancy calendar I received prevailed, and I did not decide on an abortion. Through it, I learned so much that I didn’t know about. I highly recommend the LIGHTHOUSE! To everyone who finds themselves in similar circumstances and does not know what decision to make, contact the LIGHTHOUSE!” – I.G., Sarajevo

‘PREPARE FOR YOUR BABY’ PREGNANCY WORKSHOPS. Throughout the year the LIGHTHOUSE team offers a course of 6 consecutive weekly workshops for pregnant moms where we discuss the development of their baby in the 2^nd and 3^rd trimesters of pregnancy; the importance of a healthy diet and exercise; preparation for the birth of the child; and, what to expect in the first weeks after birth.

In the workshops, we provide pregnant moms with a nine-month pregnancy calendar called ‘The Miracle of Life’ which walks them through the details of their pregnancy month by month. Additionally, at the end of the workshop, the attendees receive a gift bag filled with items they will need for the baby.

Testimony: “All the information, examples, exercises were useful in preparation for giving birth, staying calm, understanding my body through each stage of development. The breathing exercises were most important for me during my own experience in giving birth because I was able to control the pain and helped myself and the baby.” – Samka M. H., Sarajevo

We stay in touch with the moms up to the first birthday of their child.

OTHER SERVICES OF THE LIGHTHOUSE

• Counseling after a stillbirth or crib death
• Post-abortion healing classes
• Humanitarian aid for single moms and families in need of food, clothing, firewood, etc.
• Online counseling
• Publishing books and literature focused on pregnancy issues

It is a wild west ... but we have an opportunity.

Every single day there is an opportunity to Rescue Her and Her Baby from the grip of the culture of abortion. Would you help deliver hope so pregnant moms can save their babies? Your monthly gift can ensure Option Line Consultants answer every call to our 24/7 helpline every month.

As a part of our Monthly Answering the Call Team, you will see firsthand -- how your gift makes a difference. More than 1,100-1,500 women reach for hope each day so no woman has to choose abortion. You can Rescue her and her baby! Thank you for generously delivering hope to women through Option Line.

An Option Line update from Nafisa Kennedy, Director of Option Line, and Cindi Boston, Vice President of Mission Advancement:

Determined Mom Receives Life-Affirming Support Through Option Line

Amber* discovered Option Line’s number through an online search for pregnancy help. Sahara answered the call and patiently listened to Amber who said that she knew she was pregnant.

Amber shared that just earlier that day, her boyfriend had let her know that he had “taken care of everything.” He had called an abortion provider and set up an appointment for an abortion without telling her beforehand and he said he would pay for everything. Amber told him that would not be happening. She told Sahara, “come hell or high water, with or without him, I am having this baby, but I need some help.”

Sahara recognized Amber was determined to choose life for her child and discussed how a pregnancy help center would be able to assist her directly and through referrals to other local resources. As they talked, Sahara provided the contact information for the center closest to Amber.

Knowing she now had at least one place to go to for both emotional and material support, Amber expressed her gratitude. She also let Sahara know she was going to try to talk to her boyfriend and see if he would come with her, too!

Thanks to Option Line answering this call, Amber will now be able to receive life-affirming support in her community.

*Name changed for privacy

Thank you for your interest in learning more about Heartbeat International. We are the largest network of pregnancy help worldwide, providing women with life-affirming options when facing an unexpected pregnancy. Our pregnancy help organizations provide the most basic needs of women (free pregnancy tests and ultrasound) to the most dire of needs, such as housing. 

Through our efforts, we work toward our vision of seeing a world where abortion is unwanted today and unthinkable for future generations. 

Special Message from Pastor Wootton, Heartbeat Board Member

The Power of the Pregnancy Help Movement:

Learn About Life-Affirming Pregnancy Help:

• Life Trends 2022 Report
• 9 Things You Should Know About Pregnancy Help Organizations 
• Pregnancy Help News - Articles on current events
  
  

Get Involved:

• 4 Ways to Rescue Lives in Your Town
• 10 Things You Can Say and Do
• Equip your community with The Love Approach Book
  
  

More on the Pregnancy Help Movement:

• Read: The Power of Pregnancy Help: Lasting Foundations for the Movement
• Watch: The Pregnancy Help Movement in Heartbeat's 50th Year
• Watch: 50 Years of Pregnancy Help Remarks from Jor-El Godsey
   

Heartbeat is here to serve you, so please reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 888-550-7577 to connect.

A young woman was so thankful for the assistance and support she received from a Pittsburgh, Pa. pregnancy help medical clinic and the Abortion Pill Rescue Network that she was moved to share her story.

“What are the chances you’ll find somebody who wants to help you?” Ashley said.

Just out of high school last year, Ashley was focused on partying. When she began to regularly feel tired, she had no idea she was pregnant.

After taking a pregnancy test and getting a positive result, she was frightened.

“Like this isn't a joke,” Ashley said. “This is real. I was scared. I'm a kid. I'm a kid about to have a kid. How do you do that?”

When Ashley told the child’s father, he urged her to have an abortion. She didn’t want to, but eventually conceded.

She had an appointment for a chemical abortion at seven weeks and five days gestation. The abortion facility staff told her that once she took the first abortion pill, it would block her hormones, and her baby would stop growing.

“And then you go home, and you finish it at home,” Ashley recalled. “And I just sat in that waiting room and he was like, ‘You're already here. You're already here. You're already, here you go. Just do it.’”

The chemical abortion regimen consists of two drugs. The first, mifepristone, blocks progesterone, the natural hormone in a woman’s body necessary to sustain pregnancy. The second drug, misoprostol, taken a day or so later, causes the mother to go into labor and deliver her deceased child. 

Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) entails taking progesterone to counter the first abortion drug. If a mom acts quickly enough after taking the first abortion pill, it may be possible to save her unborn child through the APR protocol.

“And then I took the abortion pill,” Ashley said. 

She immediately had regret.

“I felt like I did the wrong thing,” Ashley said. “And I hated that I did that. Is there any way I can take back? Like I can't take this back. I just killed my baby. That's scary.”

She kept telling herself that she went ahead with the abortion because she was unsure.

“But it's like, exactly, you were unsure,” she said, “you didn't give it the benefit of the doubt. You didn't try to be a mom.”

Ashley was terribly upset.

“I couldn't do anything but cry,” she said. “I was like, I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this. I can't even describe it. I just felt a burden on me. Like I felt heavy. I felt like I did the wrong thing, and I couldn't take it back.”

Ashley wondered how she would live with this decision for the rest of her life. 

She contacted the abortion provider for help, to no avail.

“I called back the doctors who gave me the abortion pill and they were like, no, no. Like the progesterone is gone,” Ashley said. “I'm freaking out. I was terrified. I thought, okay, I lost my baby. I did it. There's nothing I can do about it.”

Ashley went on the internet and searched, “Is there any way to reverse an abortion?”

She called the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) hotline and heard back from a nurse consultant first thing in the morning. The nurse connected her with Women’s Choice Network, where Nurse Manager Gloria Hale arranged for her progesterone prescription. This took some doing since it was a Sunday.

“I would not still pregnant if it wasn't for that,” said Ashley.

Ashley said several times over the phone that she just wanted to see the baby’s heartbeat, Hale said. They were successful in getting the progesterone started and Ashley came into the pregnancy help medical clinic Monday morning for an ultrasound.

“She brought her mom with her,” Hale told Pregnancy Help News. “Words can't capture the relief shown and then absolute glow on her face as we showed her the baby's heart beating. I'll never forget Ashley's excitement as she grabbed her mom's hand and said, ‘Mom, that's my baby!’”  

The APRN is managed by Heartbeat International and is made up of around 1,100 medical professionals and pregnancy help organizations that facilitate APR. The Network’s statistics show that to date, 3,000 lives and counting have been saved thanks to APR.

“Every night, I laid down and I prayed, and I let God know I'm thankful for him,” Ashley said. “I reversed my abortion, and I am pregnant. I'm about to give birth to a beautiful baby girl.”

Ashley remarked on the help she received from the APRN and Women’s Choice Network, and how it was offered without judgement. 

“Nobody's telling you what you did was wrong and now you have to live with it,” she said. “They're 100%. Like I will help you from my own pockets. I will take money out of my own pocket and go help you.”

It can be a roller coaster of emotions not only for the client but for those involved in caring for her as well, Hale said.

“From responding to her desperate phone call with words of affirmation, encouragement, and hope, to holding our breath alongside of her as the ultrasound begins and we're hoping to see a viable pregnancy,” she said. “However, with all that said, it is truly a blessing and privilege to come alongside these brave women and support them in every way we can through their APR and pregnancy experience.”

Ashley gave birth to daughter Thailynn in August 2021.

The young mom shared her story last fall via video with the attendees of the Women's Choice Network banquet, then joining staff onstage afterward with Thailynn.

“It was an incredible moment for our crowd,” said Executive Director Amy Scheuring. “It's so humbling to see how God uses us to intervene and transform.”

After the Women’s Choice Network event Ashley and Thailynn were doing well, settling in with Ashley's parents.

“And the whole family is in love with Thailynn,” Hale told Pregnancy Help News. 

“Woman's choice network. 100% gave me my baby,” said Ashley. “They saved not only my life, but my daughter's life.”

Interested in helping more women like Ashley? Visit hbi.life/socialgive to give today.

It's great to meet you! Thanks for filling out the info below so you can access the 2024 Sample Pro-Life Presentation. Together, we can Reach moms and Rescue babies!

Knights of Columbus!

With your partnership, we are saving more mothers and babies from abortion through Heartbeat’s Option Line and Abortion Pill Rescue® Network.

LEARN MORE:
Life Trends Report
Option Line
Abortion Pill Rescue Network
Heartbeat International 2023 Annual Report

Questions? Contact Heartbeat International at 1-888-550-7577 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Special Message from Pastor Wootton, Heartbeat Board Member

The Power of the Pregnancy Help Movement:

Learn About Life-Affirming Pregnancy Help:

• Life Trends Report
• Heartbeat International 2023 Annual Report
• 9 Things You Should Know About Pregnancy Help Organizations 
• Pregnancy Help News - Articles on current events
  

Get Involved:

• 4 Ways to Rescue Lives in Your Town
• 10 Things You Can Say and Do
• Equip your community with The Love Approach Book
  

More on the Pregnancy Help Movement:

• Read: The Power of Pregnancy Help: Lasting Foundations for the Movement
• Watch: The Pregnancy Help Movement in Heartbeat's 50th Year
• Watch: 50 Years of Pregnancy Help Remarks from Jor-El Godsey
  

Heartbeat is here to serve you, so please reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 888-550-7577 to connect.

Our Vision: Saving the lives of unborn children and the salvation of their mothers and fathers.

Our Mission: To help women who are in crisis due to pregnancy, to make a choice in favor of life. Reducing the number of abortions in Ukraine. Changing the mentality of the Ukrainian people on the issue of the value of human life.

  

The war in Ukraine

Everything that’s happening now in Ukraine is heartache for us. We are losing Ukrainian children being murdered in occupied cities and the number of abortions increased and are being massively performed. The Lord shook us hard and called us to enter a new spiritual position. We can be light for a lot of people by spreading the Gospel. We are trying to show our clients the spiritual reality of what has been happening.

Our organization is not big but mobile, we don’t need bureaucracy. This gives us the ability to help women directly and react fast to the needs our clients have.

Our ministry center is in the Western part of Ukraine in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk. A huge number of refugees from the east occupied cities among them pregnant women and women with newborn babies escape to this part of Ukraine which is not occupied. The majority of them have serious PTSD and need counseling. Some need humanitarian help: food, medication, clothes, care items for babies, and housing. Through counseling, material, and financial support we are sharing God’s love with them. We are trying to answer their needs as much as we can with everything we have.

Now we provide housing and all necessary care for two pregnant women, one of them with a 2-year-old toddler whose house in Lysychansk (Luhansk region) was destroyed. We also take care of 12 pregnant women that escaped from occupation and each day we receive more women in crisis pregnancies.

We would like to invite you to become our prayer and financial partners to save lives of the unborn children in Ukraine and contribute to the future of Ukraine.  

 

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.

Our Vision: A world in which every child will be welcome.

Our Goal: To protect the person inside the mother's womb, to turn the hearts of parents to children, to reduce the demand for abortion in our society, relying on the Word of God and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, to practice mercy, to convey truth, turning fears into confidence and confusion into the hope for the future.

Client Testimony:
Baby Eva says:

“When I saw the light, it was hard for me to breathe. Something squeezed my chest, my lungs did not fully open. They put me under an oxygen pillow. Sometimes I heard my mother's voice, but more often strangers in white coats and masks. But soon everything changed, and I ended up only with my mother. It was very hot, stuffy, but my mother was there, and I felt more cheerful. I am very glad that new people are chirping around me, it's funny to watch and sniff them. I do not like clothes at all and am suspicious of water. Some familiar woman appeared, who consoles my mother all the time, sometimes they pray together, they envelops me in a kind of cloud. We also drove far away together, it was a pleasure. It's still interesting to live, although a little scary. Mom notices that I always want to see where, who is doing what, and does not allow me to be ignored. Mom thinks that I am afraid that I will not be forgotten. And it is true. The feeling that I might be unnecessary to anyone and the fear that they want to get rid of me. I am Eva and I am already 2.5 months old"

No one has ever heard the voice of a baby inside the womb, we do not know for sure what he feels and what he understands. His feelings, knowledge and voice in his heartbeat. The maternity center is determined to listen to this signal of life and pave the way for 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.