All of which brings me to Lalita.

Several pro-abortion groups, including the National Abortion Federation, offer financial assistance to women who want an abortion but can’t afford one.  And when 23-year-old Lalita Peterson asked them for help, the folks at NAF were only too happy to comply.

After the abortion, Lalita sent NAF a “thank you” and said that the financial help was “the only relief I've felt during this very lonely time.”  In a telephone interview with a reporter, Lalita – who has a 3-year-old daughter – said:

“I thought, ‘I totally cannot afford another child.’”

How very sad.  And because Lalita sought “relief” from the NAF instead of a Heartbeat pregnancy help center, her baby is dead and she now may face physical, mental, emotional, psychological and spiritual wounds.

Now contrast Lalita’s story with Jewell Grant’s.

Jewell was nine months pregnant and living in an abusive relationship.  One night, after yet another violent evening, she fled from her boyfriend and went to a local women’s shelter.  Shortly after, Jewell was told she had to move because the shelter wasn’t equipped to handle a pregnant woman in her ninth month. 

Alone and abandoned, Jewell found a Heartbeat pregnancy help center and maternity home where caring staff took her in immediately and without questions.  As it turned out, Jewell’s baby was born that very day.

After the baby was born – a beautiful little girl named Lei'lani – Jewell was given diapers, bottles, baby formula and other items needed to care for her baby. 

But that’s not all.  Jewell was also given loving care and the encouragement she needed to get her life in order.  Unlike the abortionist who killed Lalita’s baby, our affiliate pregnancy help center team invested their time and gave of themselves for Jewell and her baby.  And as a result of their commitment, they helped Jewell realize her dream of becoming a certified child care provider. 

Today Jewell has her own apartment and a job.  But most important of all she has hope, a solid future and the comfort of knowing that she chose LIFE for both herself and her baby!

Of those two women – Lalita and Jewell – which one was given true “relief” from their difficult situations? The answer is obvious.  And yet there are still many who don’t want women like Jewell to receive the help Heartbeat affiliates are able to give them.  Instead, they drive women directly into the net of abortion. What’s more, they are pressing our lawmakers to enact laws that restrict our pregnancy help centers and label them as “bad for women”.

 

Babies Go to Congress™

Last January Heartbeat took 33 people, mothers and babies included, to Washington, D.C. so they could tell their stories to members of Congress.  Being with them was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Jewell was one of the mothers who went with us. 

Her impact on those she met was truly remarkable ... especially on one particular legislative aide.  Although this aide agreed to meet with our group of mothers, her body language indicated she wasn’t pleased to have us in her office. But once Jewell started telling her story, everything changed.  And by the time Jewell finished her testimony she’d touched this woman’s heart and opened her eyes to the incredibly valuable service Heartbeat’s pregnancy help centers provide women!

Based on that change of heart – as well as others – I want to take another group of mothers and babies to Washington. It’s terribly important that we do this several times a year and meet with different lawmakers and members of their staffs.

Believe it or not, most members of Congress and their aides have no idea what our pregnancy help centers provide for women.  Many were truly dumbfounded when our mothers gave their testimony.  They were shocked because all they hear about our pro-life pregnancy centers comes from those in the abortion industry ... the very people who are out to shut down our centers.

That’s why it’s so important that we take more babies and mothers to Congress.

Just the other day Sen. John Ensign of Nevada proposed an amendment to a bill that was encouraging volunteerism.  Sen. Ensign offered his amendment so that the bill would specifically include volunteers working at pregnancy help centers.

The Senate rejected Sen. Ensign’s amendment by a vote of 56 – 41.  One of those voting against it was Barbara Mikulski, a pro-abortion Senator from Maryland.  According to one news source, she did so because she doubts “the role pregnancy centers play in helping women.”

That’s typical of the anti-life, pro-abortion bias we face in Washington and why it is so critically important for Heartbeat to build on our highly successful “Babies Go to Congress™” project!

Today I’m asking you to please give Heartbeat a generous gift that we can use to take our next group of mothers and babies to Washington in July.  

Of this much I can assure, there is no more powerful witness we can give to members of Congress than the compelling testimonies of mothers we’ve served and the faces of the babies whose lives we’ve helped save! I’ve seen with my own eyes the difference these women and babies make.  They soften hearts.  They open eyes.  And they change minds. 

So please do all that you can to help fund our July “Babies Go to Congress” trip.