HBI
Danielle and Lei’Lani
DANIELLE'S STORY
At 20 years old, Danielle was terrified to find herself staring at two pink lines on a pregnancy test. She was immersed in a world of drugs, alcohol and risky behavior that she used to numb the pain of years of abuse and assault.
“I knew that I was carrying life - that it wasn’t just me anymore,” she said, “but I had no money, and my family refused to support me.”
That is when found a local maternity home, the Paul Stefan Foundation. It was here when she was welcomed with open arms and spent the next five years learning valuable life skills and gaining the education needed to get a good job for herself and her growing baby girl.
Danielle describes those years as the “hardest of my entire life, but they transformed me and my future in an incredible way.” She has remained involved with the home ever since, and today she serves her community as a foster care social worker in the Virginia Department of Social Services.
“So many women resort to abortion because they think it’s their only option, or that their baby will hinder their goals. I wish I could comfort those women, and tell them how keeping my baby motivated me to achieve every single goal that I set my mind on. I’d tell them that I named my daughter Lei’Lani, which means royal child of heaven. Why? I tell anyone who will listen – God sent her to me to save my life.”
Lei'Lani and Danielle
Kylie and Zoe
KYLIE'S STORY
Kylie* was a mom of two and had just started a new relationship when she found out that she was pregnant. She felt that she wasn’t ready, and even though her boyfriend was excited to be a dad, Kylie decided to have an abortion.
She quickly regretted this decision, especially as she and her boyfriend struggled to get pregnant again over the following years. She was overjoyed to find out she was pregnant in the summer of 2019 with a baby boy.
And then, when her son was seven months old, she found out that she was pregnant again with twins. Kylie felt overwhelmed and that she couldn’t go through with the pregnancy as her boyfriend was out of town quite a bit. The financial strain of raising five children on her own was just too much.
Hoping to get more answers, Kylie reached out to Real Options. She was still on the fence about getting an abortion, but after discussing the many resources that were available she realized she had all the support she needed!
Sadly, one of the twins passed before birth. Real Options was there for Kylie at that time as well, so she knew that she wasn’t alone. They provided her with counseling services and a baby shower. They gave her the support that she needed and became the family that she didn’t have.
“Now that my boyfriend is temporarily away, I still don’t feel alone. I know I have my family at Real Options and they are only one call away…If I didn’t come to Real Options, I would not have chosen life for my daughter. For that, we are forever grateful!”
*Name changed for privacy
Support the efforts of pregnancy help organizations today so that moms like Kiley are encouraged and equipped to choose life for their little ones.
Baby Zoe
Katelynn's Abortion Pill Reversal Story
Watch as Katelynn shares her reversal success story.
We found out we were pregnant on Christmas day. At first we were really excited! It was the most amazing Christmas gift we could ever have. At the same time, it was really scary because we have other kids we needed to care for. I had lost my job and my husband was struggling with his business. I just couldn’t see how we could possibly feed and care for another child.
My husband said he would support me whatever my decision and my decision was that I needed to abort this baby. I talked to Planned Parenthood - they seemed so knowledgeable and I thought I just needed to push through and get it done quickly; that would be the easiest way. That was a big mistake.
I took the first pill. All that night, I was awake. I knew in my heart that what I had done was just wrong. “Is it too late? Can I do something else?” I Googled what to do if you want to reverse an abortion and that is when Heartbeat International came up.
While I waited for my appointment the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network helped schedule for me, I was just praying that there was still a Heartbeat... and there was!
Aubrey Lynn was born August 24 weighing 8 pounds and one ounce that included 10 sweet fingers and 10 cute little toes! We know she is going to have a great future. She has parents who love her. God sent her to us and I think she is going to do amazing things!
Interested in helping more women like Katelynn? Visit hbi.life/socialgive to give today.
Heartbeat International Open House and Ribbon Cutting
Join us for a tour of our new office, talk with Heartbeat Staff and Board members, and enjoy refreshments.
Date: Thursday, November 3, 2022
Time: 3:00-5:00 p.m. ET
Address: 8405 Pulsar Place, Columbus, OH 43240
RSVP using the form below:
Email Sign Up
Get the latest news updates from Heartbeat International. Stay up-to-date on what Heartbeat International is doing around the world and in your backyard to advance the pregnancy help movement. Receive the latest pro-life news and read Heartbeat's perspective as well as what you can do to make an impact on your community and save lives!
Heartbeat International Welcomes Tracie Shellhouse
Beginning her pregnancy center work as a volunteer in Alabama, Tracie has led teams in Texas and Tennessee, allowing her a unique perspective in comprehending the issues pregnancy centers of all shapes and sizes face. Her willingness to follow God’s calling on her life has taken her around the country and now back to Ohio where she will relocate to join Heartbeat headquarters.
“Tracie is a familiar face around Heartbeat as she has tapped into our leadership trainings for years,” said Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International. “When the search began for such a critical role, Tracie was on our radar immediately.”
“I’ve known Tracie for over 10 years. I have watched her grow, wearing many different hats and growing in her leadership. I had the privilege of being part of her first New Director’s training here at Heartbeat International and we developed a friendship,” said Betty McDowell, who is retiring from the role after nearly 19 years. “She is well respected, and she cares deeply about people, which for me was really key as I was thinking about somebody taking the place where I have been. That care for people is a hallmark of what Heartbeat is and how we care for our people on our teams -- and Tracie has that.”
“I am excited to start a new season of service in the pregnancy help movement. I am committed to the mission of Heartbeat International and its legacy of saving lives. Learning from the unique experiences and diverse perspectives of people all over the world who share the goal of making abortion undesirable today and unthinkable tomorrow is humbling and exciting,” said Tracie Shellhouse, Vice President of Ministry Services. “It is an incredible blessing to join such a passionate and dedicated team in this vitally important work. I am thankful for the opportunity to be a part of it.”
Hello!
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.
Babies Go to Congress Interest Form
Lawmakers need to hear from you!
You have an incredible opportunity to join us for Babies Go to Congress and visit your Representatives with a message of hope! You will be equipped and empowered to share the good news of how your organization is reaching and rescuing lives in need in your area. Not only that, you will have the chance to bring a client and her baby along to share their story firsthand. Do not miss this opportunity at this important moment in our nation's history!
If you are interested in participating in Babies Go to Congress, please fill out the form below.
We will contact you very soon!
More...
Every woman deserves love and support during an unexpected pregnancy. That's why there are pregnancy help centers around the world dedicated to providing material assistance, moral support, and medical services to meet their needs.
Pregnancy Help Centers (PHCs) are life-affirming non-profit service providers that provide women who have an unexpected pregnancy with alternatives to abortion. Their services often include free pregnancy tests, consultation, ultrasounds, material support; education and information on adoption and abortion; and services and referrals for ongoing pregnancy and parenting needs. There are approximately 2,750 PHCs in the U.S. serving women and their families every day with a 99% satisfactory rating from clients1.
Centers that additionally provide limited medical care under the supervision of a licensed Medical Director are called Pregnancy Medical Centers (PMCs). Their services include pregnancy tests and ultrasound, to prenatal care and STI/STD testing.
Pregnancy Help Centers are also called:
- PRC – Pregnancy Resource Center
- PCC – Pregnancy Care Center or Pregnancy Counseling Center
- PC – Pregnancy Center or Pregnancy Clinic
- CPC – Crisis Pregnancy Center
- PSC – Pregnancy Support Center
- PSS – Pregnancy Support Services
- PMC – Pregnancy Medical Center
What services are generally provided by PHCs?
- Free pregnancy tests
- Pregnancy consultation (information about pregnancy options)
- Material resources (including diapers and formula)
- Post-decision support (including parenting education and abortion recovery groups)
- Consultation with a licensed medical professional
- Limited ultrasound for pregnancy confirmation
- Testing for sexually transmitted infections and diseases
- Abortion Pill Reversal
Want to know more about Pregnancy Help Centers?
Equip yourself with the truth about pregnancy centers at PregnancyCenterTruth.com, where you will find helpful stats and evidence-based answers!
If you would like to support the vital work of Pregnancy Help Centers, you can give here!
Why it’s a good thing pregnancy centers outnumber abortion clinics
by Jor-El Godsey
It takes more to help a woman choose life versus an abortion procedure
(The Washington Times) It takes more to do more.
Abortion proponents are suddenly very concerned about the fact pregnancy help centers outnumber abortion clinics. In fact, pregnancy help centers have outnumbered abortion clinics in the United States since the mid-1990s. That was when the surge of new pregnancy centers in the mid-’80s and the steady opening of new locations overtook the number of abortion clinics.
Now, two decades later, pregnancy help centers and their local, grassroots support fueled continuous growth into the new millennium. As we step into the post-Roe era, there are nearly four pregnancy centers for every one abortion clinic.
As state abortion bans take effect, even Planned Parenthood is announcing location closures, despite the fact that they, at least in their name, exist to support parenthood. Or do they? A look at Planned Parenthood’s own list of services reveals literally nothing to do with actual, you know, parenthood.
A few years ago, the creative marketing team at Planned Parenthood tried to convince everyone that “abortion is only 3%” of their business. So why are Planned Parenthood locations in life states closing following an abortion ban? Clearly, it’s not due to their parenthood products. But then there are the supposed 97% of their “women’s services” that are intended to help women, right? Apparently not. It seems as though they were willing to stay open to do abortions, but not to serve women.
Yet, somehow, abortion supporters like Sen. Elizabeth Warren are gravely concerned.
“In Massachusetts right now, those crisis pregnancy centers … outnumber true abortion clinics by three to one,” Ms. Warren told NBC 10 Boston. “We need to shut them down here in Massachusetts and we need to shut them down all around the country.”
Like Planned Parenthood, Ms. Warren is more concerned about abortion than about women who are pregnant and need help for any other choice.
While an abortion provider needs only a matter of minutes to terminate a pregnancy, a pregnancy center spends hours, days, weeks and even months helping women choose to carry their baby to term. Selling and executing abortions is a big money-maker (see Planned Parenthood’s previous annual reports). A significant portion of big abortion money goes to support politicians like Ms. Warren. (The dirty little secret of the abortion industry is that they’ve switched their model from selling abortions in stand-alone clinics to easily mailed chemical abortions over the last several years.)
Meanwhile, local pregnancy help centers, especially those that are in abortion states, faithfully help women through their pregnancy and into parenting or the chance to choose adoptive parents. Thanks to kind-hearted community donations, pregnancy centers provide things like maternity clothes, prenatal vitamins, parenting classes and baby items.
Pregnancy help centers invest time and attention in understanding the environment swirling around an unexpected pregnancy. Uncovering unhealthy relationship dynamics can serve to help reset a positive path forward toward the vision of the future she wants.
It takes more pregnancy centers because there is more to do to help a woman choose life for her baby versus the relatively quick abortion procedure. To adequately serve America’s pregnant women, it will take even more, not fewer like Ms. Warren wants, because women should never be forced into only the choice of abortion. That is no choice at all, especially when the pressure to abort is coming from other people or temporary circumstances. Every woman should be loved and supported in her pregnancy. That takes more.
The path to parenting is longer. Sometimes that makes it harder. And for the families thriving today thanks to the help of a pregnancy center, it is certainly worth the investment.
Life Launch
The Life Launch Grant was designed to intentionally inspire a new season of growth for pregnancy help centers in underserved communities in need of more life-saving outreach as an alternative to Big Abortion, and to help start-ups open their doors and advance pregnancy help to new communities in the U.S.
“Each of these stories is a snapshot of the life-affirming work that is being done in pregnancy help centers across the globe… These are the stories that remind us that every life is precious.”
- Sara Littlefield, Grant Program Specialist
Click on the presentation below to see the impact Life Launch has had on communities nationwide!
Heartbeat's Life Launch Program helps pregnancy centers through consultation, resources, and training opportunities, as well as financial and operational support to those centers qualifying for the Life Launch Grant.
75% of our Life Launch recipients and approved awardees are located in counties that had gone without pregnancy help – primed for more life-saving outreach. Using the 2019 census for numbers, 1,977,509 individuals now have access to pregnancy help through Life Launch!
Pregnancy help centers bring hope to moms and give life to their babies. Heartbeat International would truly appreciate your generous support to help build one of these centers and continue spreading our life-affirming message of Reach, Rescue, and Renewal.
Will you partner with us today? Click here to give.