HBI
Option Line Surpasses 2 Million Connections in 2025, Marking Record-Breaking Year of Life-Affirming Support
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Heartbeat International announced today that its 24/7 helpline, Option Line, has surpassed more than 2 million connections with men and women in 2025 — more than five times the number of connections from the previous year and representing the highest annual total in the program’s history.
Option Line serves as a confidential, around-the-clock front door to the pregnancy help movement, offering compassionate listening, accurate information, and seamless referrals to local pregnancy help organizations. On average, Option Line now responds to more than 5,600 connections each day, ensuring no one faces a pregnancy decision alone — even during nights, weekends, and holidays.
“Pregnancy doesn’t take a holiday or the night off, and neither do we,” said Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International. “This amazing milestone reflects the growing trust people place in Option Line and the unwavering commitment of pregnancy help organizations to meet women and families with compassion, dignity, and hope.”
Several connections are supported by Option Line Plus nurses, who provide free, life-affirming health education and help callers understand their options while prioritizing their health and safety. These nurses also play a critical role in connecting callers back to pregnancy help organizations in their communities, particularly during hours when most centers are closed.
Behind the milestone are real people and real stories. Option Line consultants regularly speak with women facing pressure, fear, and uncertainty, offering space to be heard and access to support. In many cases, those conversations lead callers to verified pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, and practical assistance through local pregnancy help centers — often transforming fear into confidence and isolation into hope.
“This achievement belongs to the entire pregnancy help movement,” added Nafisa Kennedy, director of Option Line. “Option Line exists to support, not replace, pregnancy help organizations by extending their reach and ensuring continuity of care at all hours.”
As a new year begins, Heartbeat International remains committed to strengthening Option Line’s capacity, training, and technology so that every call, chat, or text receives professional, grace-filled support.
For more information about Option Line or Heartbeat International, visit OptionLine.org or HeartbeatInternational.org.
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About Heartbeat International
Heartbeat International is the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the world, committed to providing compassionate care and support to women, children, and families before, during, and after pregnancy. Through programs like Option Line, Heartbeat International equips pregnancy help organizations to meet needs with excellence, integrity, and hope.
Lauri Campbell
Affiliation Coordinator, Heartbeat International
| FEATURED TOPICS | FEE RANGE | TRAVELS FROM |
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► Servant Leadership & Team Development |
<$1,800 | Maryville, TN, USA |
Biography
Lauri Campbell is an Affiliate Services Coordinator at Heartbeat International (HBI) and joined the team having served in a pregnancy help organization (PHO) for over 30 years. Her experiences as a Founding Board Member, Executive Director, Board Chair, Development Director, Banquet Director, and Client Advocate have given her great insight and empathy for the heroes working on the front lines. Her perspectives help to encourage pro-life leaders and their teams to walk victoriously through the unique challenges that come from advocating for the preborn. She is honored to help leaders walk out Biblical servant leadership and further their mission using God's Word as the standard.
Valerie Harkins
Executive Director, Maternity Housing Coalition
| FEATURED TOPICS | FEE RANGE | TRAVELS FROM |
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► Maternity Housing |
<$1,800 | Houston, Texas, USA |
Biography
Valerie has worked in pregnancy help ministry since 2006 and joined the Heartbeat team as Director of the Maternity Housing Coalition in 2021. A licensed social worker, Valerie specializes in Anti-Violence Public Education and Attachment Theory. She has experience with operating pregnancy centers and maternity homes as well as designing supportive programs for single mothers. Valerie has a passion for empowering children through education and women through opportunity. Her heart’s desire is to see women know and love Jesus as King. At Heartbeat, she is responsible for creating effective content to engage the maternity housing community.
Michele Cheresnick
Affiliation Coordinator at Heartbeat International
| FEATURED TOPICS | FEE RANGE | TRAVELS FROM |
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► Leadership & Team Development |
<$1,800 | Gulfport, Mississippi, USA |
Biography
Michele Cheresnick is an Affiliate Services Coordinator at Heartbeat International, where she serves pregnancy help leaders by providing guidance, encouragement, and practical support. She brings over seven years of experience in the pregnancy help movement, including roles as Client Services Director and After Abortion Support Director. Michele is deeply committed to ministry and leadership development within the pro-life community. She is passionate about equipping others to lead with purpose and compassion, and she firmly believes that Jesus is at the center of every story—and that healing and transformation often begin when those stories are shared.
Heartbeat: Criminalizing Women for Abortion Conflicts with the Heart of Pregnancy Help
“Pregnancy help cannot be both a safe harbor and a source of punishment,” Jor-El Godsey, president - Heartbeat International
COLUMBUS – 11/11/2025 – As some abortion opponents renew a debate over whether women should face criminal penalties for seeking or undergoing abortions, Heartbeat International reaffirms its commitment to compassion, support, and hope for every woman facing an unexpected pregnancy.
Pregnancy help organizations cannot both openly advocate for criminalizing women and remain safe harbors for them.
Our mission is rooted in “personal, confidential, and nonjudgmental” care that meets women in moments of crisis and empowers them to choose life. The call to criminalize women for abortion, however well-intentioned, directly conflicts with the heart of pregnancy help. Such measures would undermine the trust that allows women to reach out for support and would erode the safe, compassionate spaces that define the movement.
For more than 50 years, pregnancy help organizations have offered what laws alone cannot provide: customized practical assistance, personal emotional support, and applied spiritual encouragement. Through life-revealing ultrasounds, positive parenting classes, material aid, housing, and connections to community resources, these organizations have reached millions of women, helping them restore broken relationships, overcome fear, and choose life for their children.
While political and legal debates continue, the work of pregnancy help organizations rise above legislation. It offers a path of mercy rather than punishment. The movement’s focus is not on condemning those wounded by abortion but on rescuing, healing, and walking alongside them with human compassion.
Abortion must end because it destroys one life and deeply wounds another. Yet the path to a world where abortion is both illegal and unthinkable will not be built through criminalization of the victims of a lucrative abortion industry, but through compassion, through the tireless work of those who extend hope in place of fear, support in place of shame, and life in place of death.
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About Heartbeat International
Founded in 1971, Heartbeat International is the largest network of life-affirming pregnancy help organizations in the world, with nearly 4,000 affiliated locations spanning more than 100 countries. Through training, resources, and support, Heartbeat International empowers pregnancy help organizations to reach and rescue more women, and to renew communities for life.
Pregnancy Help Appreciation Week Devotions
Fundraising Friday
As our last day of PHAW, Lauri Campbell, Affiliation Coordinator, shares a special message:
Thoughtful Thursday
On this Thursday, Camille Cisneros, Affiliate Grant Specialist, shares a devotion with us:
Wellness Wednesday
This Wednesday, Valerie Harkins, Executive Director of the Maternity Housing Coalition, shares an important message:
Team Tuesday
Now be encouraged by Michele Cheresnick, Affiliation Coordinator:
Medical Monday
To start off this week, watch our first devotion by Kathy Jerman, Director of Affiliate Services:
And don't forget to check out the deals of the day and share the love on social media!
Heartbeat International Affiliate Map
Heartbeat International Statement on the Second Chance at Life Act of 2025
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
September 19, 2025
Columbus, OH — Heartbeat International and Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) applaud efforts to ensure women receive complete and accurate information before making a life-altering decision. The Second Chance at Life Act of 2025 is aimed at ensuring women are empowered with knowledge—not only about abortion—but also about the possibility of reversing a chemical abortion, if they change their minds.
Every woman deserves to know all her options. Research and thousands of real-life stories prove that in-progress chemical abortions are not always final. Through the Abortion Pill Rescue Network, statistics show more than 7,000 lives have been saved when women, after taking the first abortion pill, realized they wanted a second chance to choose life.
Behind each number is a family, a story, and a child who is alive today because his or her mother had the courage to seek help and the opportunity to be fully informed:
- “I don’t know where I’d be without [my son],” said Shashana, who encourages other women to “take a leap of faith because you never know where it’s going to lead you – it could be that door you need.”
- Sarah, whose son Isaiah was saved through the reversal process, shared, “I wanted to try whatever I could to reverse the worst decision I had made… I have never been more grounded in my faith, nor blessed.”
- Cassidy remembers the turning point when she heard her baby’s heartbeat after beginning Abortion Pill Reversal: “The entire room filled with joy, and it was such a magical moment that changed everything for me. The Abortion Pill Reversal not only saved my child’s life but saved [my life] as well.”
Heartbeat International and the Abortion Pill Rescue Network strongly support efforts like the Second Chance at Life Act of 2025 that prioritize transparency, informed consent, and above all, a woman’s right to know the truth. Women deserve nothing less.
Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International, said, “We are deeply grateful to Rep. Pfluger for his leadership in introducing this bill and to the co-sponsors standing with him in this effort. By ensuring women are informed about the possibility of Abortion Pill Reversal, Congress is affirming that every woman deserves the chance to make a fully informed choice — including the choice to save her child’s life and continue her pregnancy.”
For more information about Abortion Pill Reversal, visit AbortionPillReversal.com
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A New Trend: "Pro-Choice" Pregnancy Centers — What It Means for Our Movement
by Andrea Trudden, Vice President of Communications and Marketing
Across the nation, a small but growing trend is emerging that deserves our attention. Abortion advocates are beginning to launch their own versions of “pregnancy centers,” modeled after the life-affirming organizations you and I have faithfully served for decades. A recent Mother Jones article highlights one such example in Arkansas, where an abortion-support organization has opened what it calls a “pro-choice pregnancy center.” Others in Indiana and Ohio have similar models.
On the surface, these centers may look like ours: they offer free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, parenting classes, baby supplies, and even housing. For years, however, the very same voices now applauding these initiatives have criticized our centers as “fake clinics” and warned women to avoid us. The hypocrisy is clear—but so are the potential challenges this trend brings to our movement.
What This Could Mean for Pregnancy Help
- State Funding Competition
Many of our centers choose to operate independent of government funding, while others accept state support for certain of their educational programs. As some pro-abortion centers adopt the outward form of pregnancy help, some lawmakers and officials may see them as eligible for state funding. This could redirect taxpayer funds to support a pro-abortion mission and weaken the ability of pro-life organizations to serve women effectively. - Marketing Confusion
To the public eye, both types of centers may appear similar. Without clarity, communities may not distinguish between life-affirming pregnancy help and abortion-connected initiatives. This could blur the identity of the pregnancy help movement, which has always been grounded in serving women and protecting life. - Outreach Challenges
When “pro-choice” centers use similar language—offering “support,” “options,” or even “pregnancy resources”—it may confuse clients seeking authentic, life-affirming help. Women may not know if the place they walk into will actually champion both them and their babies.
What We Must Do Now
In this moment, it is more important than ever that our centers are crystal clear about WHO we are and WHAT we do.
- Highlight What Sets You Apart
Emphasize the long-term, holistic support you offer: parenting classes, housing referrals, baby supplies, relationship resources, emotional and spiritual care—support that continues well beyond birth and at no cost to women. - Educate Your Supporters
Make sure donors, churches, and community partners understand the difference. They need to know that when they support your center, they are ensuring women and babies are embraced for the long haul—not steered toward abortion. - Stand firm on the Commitment of Care and Competence
As Heartbeat International affiliates, every center agrees to abide by Our Commitment of Care and Competence, which ensures services are provided with honesty, integrity, compassion, and the highest standard of care. This commitment—grounded in truth and professional excellence—is what sets pregnancy help organizations apart from any imitation. It guarantees that clients receive not only free and practical resources but also respect, dignity, and hope in their time of need. - Strengthen Your Outreach
Share real stories. Show the faces of families changed because of your work. Authentic testimony cuts through confusion and makes your mission unmistakable.
Our Call Forward
The emergence of “pro-choice pregnancy centers” underscores one powerful truth: the pregnancy help model works. The services you offer are so effective, compassionate, and necessary that even those who oppose our mission are imitating them.
Let us take this not as discouragement, but as confirmation that what you do every day is changing lives. As imitators arise, our task is to stand firm, speak clearly, and continue serving with loving, life-saving excellence—so there is never any doubt about the difference life-affirming pregnancy help makes.
Together, we will ensure that women in every community know the truth: we are here for them, we are here for their children, and we are here for life.
Heartbeat Applauds Federal Court Block on Colorado’s Abortion Pill Reversal Ban
Aug. 4, 2025
COLUMBUS — Heartbeat International, which manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN), celebrates a landmark federal court ruling that permanently blocks Colorado’s attempt to ban Abortion Pill Reversal (APR). The decision affirms the right of women to receive progesterone treatment when seeking to reverse the effects of a chemical abortion and continue their pregnancies.
The ruling came in Bella Health and Wellness v. Weiser, in which a Catholic healthcare clinic in Colorado challenged the 2023 state law that labeled APR as “unprofessional conduct.” Under a preliminary injunction, Bella Health & Wellness was able to continue offering APR—and since that time, at least 16 babies have been born as a result. On Friday, the court made that protection permanent.
“This ruling affirms what we see every day: women deserve real choices,” said Christa Brown, BSN, RN, and Executive Director of the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network. “When a woman regrets starting a chemical abortion, she should never be forced to complete it against her will. Abortion Pill Reversal gives her hope and a second chance—and this decision ensures that hope is not silenced. It’s a victory for life, for freedom, and most of all, for women.”
Through Heartbeat International’s Abortion Pill Rescue Network, more than 1,400 medical professionals, hospitals, and pregnancy help organizations worldwide are available to help women reverse the effects of the first abortion pill using progesterone, a hormone safely used in pregnancy for decades.
“This is a tremendous victory not just for one clinic in Colorado, but for every woman who wants to choose life after starting a chemical abortion,” said Jor-El Godsey, President of Heartbeat International. “Heartbeat applauds the courage of Bella Health and Wellness and the court’s recognition that women should never be denied care because of politics. Women deserve the right to continue their pregnancies—and our network stands ready to help them.”
Statistics show that Abortion Pill Reversal has saved over 7,000 children to date, offering women a second chance when they’ve had second thoughts.
The Honorable Donald J. Trump
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
As Americans who serve in or support the life-affirming work of pregnancy help, we write with urgency and conviction on behalf of the women we serve every day.
We ask for your immediate attention and action to reverse the devastation caused by the abortion pill, mifepristone, a drug that accounts for the majority of all abortions in the United States. Recent research from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) reveals that mifepristone is 22 times more dangerous than the FDA reports. This is not just a statistical oversight—it is a national crisis. The data confirm what we in the pregnancy help movement have witnessed for years: chemical abortion harms women.
Under the Biden Administration, the FDA stripped away longstanding safety protocols, allowing abortion pills to be shipped through the mail without any medical evaluation, ultrasound, or in-person supervision. These reckless changes have empowered traffickers and abusers, endangered minors, and left women to suffer complications—including hemorrhage, incomplete abortion, and infection—alone and without medical care.
We hear the consequences directly from moms through our 24/7 helpline: women sharing how they aborted their baby alone in their bathrooms, anxious mothers desperate to reverse the pill they were told was “no big deal,” and heartbreaking stories of women being quietly coerced—or even forced—into making a quick decision they regret. The federal government has failed these women.
Mr. President, you have the opportunity to right a grave wrong. We respectfully urge you to:
- Restore and strengthen FDA safety protocols for mifepristone, including in-person medical screenings, gestational age confirmation via ultrasound, and full informed consent;
- Direct the FDA to reevaluate the approval of mifepristone, using transparent, independent review processes that account for underreported adverse events and long-term impacts on women;
- Enforce the Comstock Act to halt the illegal mailing of abortion drugs into pro-life states, protecting state sovereignty and the rule of law;
- Challenge pro-abortion “shield laws” that allow abortion pill traffickers to defy federal and state laws without consequence; and
- Protect pregnancy help organizations from censorship and discrimination, ensuring women can access real alternatives, truthful medical information, and compassionate support.
Mr. President, your leadership helped usher in a new era for life. We, the undersigned, now ask for your voice and your action to help end the silent crisis of chemical abortion. Women are counting on you.
Sincerely,
Jor-El Godsey
President
Heartbeat International
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Abortion Pill Rescue® Network Surpasses 7,000 Lives Saved Despite Legal Attacks and Big Tech Censorship
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
June 23, 2025
Columbus, OH — Heartbeat International is celebrating a major milestone: statistics now show more than 7,000 lives have been saved through the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN), the most effective response to chemical abortion.
The APRN connects women who regret taking the first abortion pill (mifepristone) with a network of medical professionals prepared to administer an emergency protocol designed to reverse the effects of the first abortion pill. This life-saving protocol has given thousands of mothers a second chance to choose life for their children.
“This is a milestone of hope,” said Christa Brown, executive director of the APRN. “Statistics show more than 7,000 lives have been saved—each one representing a woman who found the courage to reverse course and continue her pregnancy, often in the face of fear, isolation, and pressure.”
The announcement comes at a time when chemical abortion is under increased scrutiny. A new Ethics & Public Policy Center (EPPC) report released in April details the heightened risk of adverse events caused by mifepristone, the first drug in the abortion pill regimen. The report outlines serious safety concerns for women, reinforcing the need for greater awareness of options like Abortion Pill Reversal (APR).
“Chemical abortion drugs are being marketed as simple and safe, but the reality is far more dangerous,” said Jor-El Godsey, Heartbeat International president. “Women deserve the truth—and they deserve to know that there is a way to reverse the effects of mifepristone and save their child’s life if they act quickly.”
The APRN milestone is all the more remarkable given the sustained efforts to silence the program. Heartbeat International has faced lawsuits regarding Abortion Pill Reversal from pro-abortion politicians aimed at shutting down its life-saving work, algorithmic suppression by platforms like Google and Yelp, and advertising bans across social media.
Yet despite these obstacles, mothers in crisis continue to find the APRN—whether online, through word of mouth or trusted referrals from local pregnancy help centers.
In fact, call volume to the Abortion Pill Reversal hotline has increased every month since November, underscoring the growing demand for this vital service and the deep desire among women to seek a second chance at choosing life.
Chemical abortion has now become the most common method of abortion in the United States. The APRN represents the leading solution for women seeking to save their pregnancies after taking the first abortion pill.
“We give all glory to God for this milestone,” Brown said. “And we’re grateful for our network of courageous healthcare providers and the pregnancy help organizations who offer women compassion and clarity when they need it most.”
To learn more about the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network, visit HBI.Life/APR.