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International Outreach  

 We now have 170 international affiliates in 42 different countries!

***New International Affiliates***
Comforter's Center Crisis Pregnancy Ministry - Kampala, UGANDA

Learn more about individual International Pregnancy Centers...

 

Abortion Legalized in Mexico City

Mexico City lawmakers approved a proposal legalizing abortion 46-19, with one abstention, on April 24, 2007. This decision may have a great influence on policies and health practices in other Roman Catholic Latin American countries.

“Heartbeat International and our affiliates advocate for the true reproductive health and well-being of women. Abortion is not a medical ‘treatment’ that can improve a woman’s health. The very idea of an abortion to preserve a woman’s health is a smokescreen used to promote a culture characterized by sexual gratification separated from responsibility. Women we see in our pregnancy centers testify daily to the painful physical and emotional effects of abortion” said Heartbeat International President Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D.

“The recent vote by Mexico City lawmakers to remove protection for their unborn citizens is especially disturbing,” said President Hartshorn. “After 34 years of abortion on demand in the U.S., we have seen first hand the tragic impact of abortion on women and families. We are appalled that the culture of death is being exported in the name of reproductive rights. This ultimate human rights violation being perpetrated on Mexican society is an insult to a culture that treasures family and life.”

Additional Information:
http://www.foxnews.com

 

CAPSS National Conference - May 23-25, 2007
Mt. Tremblant, Quebec

CAPSS is the fulfillment of a long-standing vision of Canadian pregnancy care centers. Thanks to years of dedicated volunteer work, CAPSS was birthed in 1997, and held its first national conference that same year. Affiliation in CAPSS is open to Christian pregnancy care centers, adoption agencies, maternity homes, and other registered charities offering pregnancy support services.

International Guests Attend the Annual Conference

Heartbeat was honored to have international guests from 14 different countries in attendance at our 2006 Annual Conference in Orlando. We are committed to equipping our friends all around the world with the training and encouragement they need to bring hope and life to the nations.

Our international friends share their conference experiences:

“The conference was much more than what I expected.  I came to the conference feeling rather empty but very soon my emotional bank was topped up.  Furthermore, the few days spent with so many wonderful people from all over the world revitalized and energized me more than words could ever explain.” -Gail Schreiner, Africa Cares for Life (South Africa)

“The conference was helpful and a real blessing for me. Now I feel like I’m not alone anymore.” -Lucy Popova, Women’s Information Center (Bulgaria)

“It was wonderful to receive so much great teaching and to meet so many Americans that work for the same purpose and vision as we do. We’re absolutely thrilled and blessed to take part in all the experience that you have.” -Christina Marie Braüner Nielsen, Heart for Life (Denmark)

Thanks to generous donations to our International Fund, Heartbeat was able to provide 19 full or partial financial scholarships to enable our international guests to attend the conference. The opportunity to meet them and to hear their stories is absolute blessing and we look forward to continued partnerships with our friends all around the globe.

 

Rindy Brooks Reflects on the Heartbeat Training in the Philippines

In March, Heartbeat International President Peggy Hartshorn and Heartbeats of Licking County (OH) Director Rindy Brooks traveled to the Philippines to teach at a conference hosted by Pregnancy Support Services of Asia. Rindy shares her experiences from the conference:

"The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it." 
-1 Thessalonians 5:24. 

I consider this one of my life verses and certainly this trip showed that when He calls, He equips.  Peggy accepted the invitation to speak at this conference the very day that I e-mailed her to tell her that my future daughter-in-law lives in the Philippines and that I would be happy to go along if she ever trained there! God calls. 

The enemy worked to discourage me when all the training manual chapters that I had prepared disappeared off my computer at home. I had peace that God could restore them and He worked a miracle and restored the folder on my desktop at the center. 

The conference itself was such a joy and the lovely people who were there soaked up every word Peggy and I had to say.  I have never seen people sit for so long and give such attention. I can understand them listening to Peggy, but me?  They were so gracious and God truly used our mouths to share with them a whole new way of seeing how to reach women in unplanned pregnancies.  The LOVE Approach was truly a revelation for them.

I remember a sweet ob-gyn that came up to the microphone and stated that after being at the conference she realized she had been handling women with unplanned pregnancies incorrectly.  She said when they came to her wanting an abortion, she would tell them “you have come to the wrong place” and send them away. But now she had learned to say, “I care about you, tell me more about your situation.”  She had learned how important it is to listen and love them. 

We watched Lily Perez grow and blossom into a leader of Pregnancy Support Services of Asia throughout the conference. People from all over the Philippines embraced the idea of reaching abortion vulnerable women with free standing centers (another new concept to them). 

I am very grateful for the opportunity to represent Heartbeat International in the Philippines at the Heart to Love Conference. I truly have a special place in my heart for each and every person I met.

Rindy Brooks
Executive Director, Heartbeats of Licking County (OH)

Centers Helping Centers: American Affiliate Offers Assistance to Center in Belize  

As Heartbeat’s Director of International Program, there are very few things more encouraging than being contacted by an American affiliate that wants to assist one of our international affiliates. When this happens, all parties involved are blessed. It’s a blessing to Heartbeat to be able to connect a U.S. center with an international center in need. It’s a blessing to the American center to offer a much-needed helping hand to our international brothers and sisters. And, most importantly, it’s a blessing to the international center that receives friendship and assistance that will equip them to reach abortion-vulnerable women in their country.

In the Third Quarter 2005 edition of the Pulse, Heartbeat’s Sexual Integrity™ Specialist Katy Flood wrote about her trip to the Central American country of Belize to train volunteers at the Helping Hands Pregnancy Counseling Center. In the article, Katy explained that the center had an urgent need for pregnancy tests to be able to expand their services.

Soon after the Pulse was published, I received a call from Renea Studer from the Advice and Aid Pregnancy Centers, Inc. in Kansas. They wanted to send a shipment of pregnancy tests to Belize!

“As our staff circulated and read the Pulse Newsletter that month, we realized that the Belize center was in need of pregnancy tests”, said Renea. “Since Advice and Aid Pregnancy Centers, Inc. had recently been blessed with numerous donated boxes of pregnancy tests ourselves, we were able to put our regularly scheduled shipment on hold.  It was decided to donate what we would have normally used to someone in need.   It seemed as though God placed the right article in front of us at the right time.  Not surprising, since His timing is perfect.”

According to Rachel de Ocampo of the Helping Hands Pregnancy Counseling Center in Belize, the timing was perfect indeed.

"This time last year, we didn't think it was feasible to advertise free pregnancy tests, what with our center's limited funds, but now we have pregnancy tests pouring down upon us,” said Rachel. “Advice and Aid Pregnancy Centers' donation of pregnancy tests was a great blessing to us, for which we are very grateful. Now the problem is attracting enough clients to take the tests!"

Heartbeat International would like to extend a warm thank you to Renea and everyone at Advice and Aid Pregnancy Centers, Inc. for their willingness to help an international affiliate.

 

Heartbeat International Takes Compassion and Care to the Ukraine

The Lord is moving mightily and calling more and more of His people to stand up for life in the abortion-ravaged countries of Eastern Europe. With this in mind, Heartbeat International and LIFE International sponsored our second-ever international conference in Kiev, Ukraine from October 26-29, 2005.

The Compassion and Care conference attracted 157 participants from 16 different countries. Participants were trained on pregnancy counseling, post-abortion programs, community outreach, fundraising, servant leadership, medical services, and many other important topics. Opportunities for fellowship and networking led to many new friendships and allowed for the creative exchange of ideas among lifesavers from all around the world.

In addition to the practical pregnancy center training that was provided, the Compassion and Care conference featured a strong spiritual component designed to minister to and encourage our participants. Each day began with praise and worship courtesy of the Christ Cathedral Church worship team. Participants were also given the opportunity to receive personal prayer throughout the week. As He always does, the Lord used this time to speak words of guidance, encouragement, and hope directly into the lives of His faithful servants. The conference ended with a banquet and a message from Christ Cathedral Church Pastor Phillip Barnett that encouraged participants to always keep Jesus as the foundation of their work.

Economic and cultural obstacles throughout Eastern Europe can make it extremely difficult to establish effective life-affirming pregnancy centers. While their resources are few, their dedication to the Lord and to their lifesaving work is truly an inspiration. Please keep our Eastern European affiliates and all participants of the Compassion & Care conference in your prayers.

Heartbeat International would like to thank all of the organizers and speakers that worked so hard to make this conference a success. We would also like to thank the American pregnancy centers that donated to our International Fund to help us provide financial scholarships for participants. Thanks to your generosity, people throughout Eastern Europe are now better-equipped to compassionately minister to those whose lives are affected by unplanned pregnancy and abortion.

 

Australian Government Awards Grant to Heartbeat Affiliate  

Australian Health Minister Tony Abbott recently announced that the Australian government would provide $300,000 in grants to organizations that provide life-affirming alternatives to abortion. The purpose of the funding is to provide women in unplanned pregnancies with the tangible help and resources they need.

We are pleased to report that one of the organizations receiving funding is a Heartbeat International affiliate! The Australian Federation of Pregnancy Support Services (AFPSS) will receive funding to support their national telephone counseling line.

Heartbeat International and AFPSS share a strong relationship. Anne Foster, the Executive Director, attended Heartbeat’s annual conference in Charlotte in 2004 and Heartbeat President Peggy Hartshorn was a featured speaker at the recent 2005 AFPSS annual conference in Australia. AFPSS does a wonderful job of equipping life-affirming pregnancy centers throughout Australia and Heartbeat International is blessed and honored to partner with them on behalf of life.

Heartbeat International congratulates our friends at AFPSS and we thank the Australian government for recognizing the valuable services provided by pregnancy resource centers.

 

Heartbeat International and CAPSS Form North American Partnership

The Christian Association of Pregnancy Support Services (CAPSS) is a membership organization that has been training and developing life-affirming pregnancy centers all across Canada since 1997. CAPSS members include Christian pregnancy centers, maternity homes, and adoption agencies that all share a commitment to the sanctity of human life.

As Heartbeat International held our annual conference in Chicago in April, CAPSS members were meeting for their national conference at the Lake Okanagan Resort in Kelowna, British Columbia. It is comforting to know that life-affirming pregnancy centers all over North America dedicated that entire week to training, networking, and spiritual encouragement!

Heartbeat International is dedicated to building strong relationships with other pregnancy center membership organizations all around the world. In late 2004, Heartbeat International and CAPSS discussed ideas for working together to create a connected network of pregnancy centers throughout North America. Our common goals, vision, and values encouraged CAPSS to offer a dual affiliation option with Heartbeat International to their members starting in 2005. We are overjoyed to report that Heartbeat International has added 45 new Canadian affiliates through this partnership! We are truly blessed by this opportunity to expand our pregnancy center network throughout Canada and we look forward to learning from each other, sharing ideas, and building new friendships with our lifesaving allies in Canada.

Heartbeat International wishes to extend a warm “thank you” to Theresa White, the CEO of CAPSS, and Deborah Woelders, the Director of Administration, for all of their efforts in making this partnership possible!

For more information on CAPSS, please visit www.capss.com.

Center Directors Worldwide are Grateful for Heartbeat International’s Conference

“Heartbeat has a heart for internationals, and a heart to serve the developing ministry of CPC’s in other countries and other cultures. The conference was spiritually empowering, professionally motivating and creatively stimulating. The opportunity to see how CPC ministry is being done in a U.S. context, while being consistently encouraged to make it work in our own cultural reality allows us to learn from the best and brightest in the movement.” –Wendy Lowe, Calgary Pregnancy Care Centre, Canada

“I learned a wealth of very helpful and relevant information at the conference! I was so excited to come and am even more excited about implementing some of the ideas that were learned at the conference in our center! Overall, the conference assisted in seeking to promote a spirit of professionalism and excellence in all we do for the Lord in our center.” –Deanna Cleveland, Kaiserslautern Crisis Pregnancy Center, Germany

“It was indeed a very happy occasion for me to have taken part at the conference. I heard all the keynote speeches and attended various workshops. All these were most informative and I had acquired very good knowledge which will help me to run our five centers more effectively…Many participants met me and offered their wishes and congratulations and also some had given me gifts. I was very much overwhelmed by these. The conference will be a turning point for our activities.” –Sam Jothimani, India

“After the conference everything is much clearer, questions are answered, the vision is wider. I learned a lot through workshops and through talking to people who have an experience. Also I got a lot of material and I can’t wait to read it all.” –Vesna Radeka, Serbia and Montenegro

“For me, it was indeed a harvest of blessings. It was my first time in the U.S. and I was quite amazed to see what a huge and powerful pro-life movement you Americans have. The world is indeed looking at you as an example for encouragement and help, as Rev. John Ensor said. May God bless America and keep you doing His work.” —Ernest Valea, Romania

“As close neighbors, we in Canada hope to strengthen our bonds with Heartbeat, through joint ventures and shared resources. With God's help, our centres will provide a bountiful harvest from all that Heartbeat has seeded into Canadian soil. Of all the gifts that I received as an international delegate, the greatest was the constant free-flow of Christ's love through the Heartbeat staff. May God's favor be returned to Heartbeat, a hundredfold.” –Theresa McRae White, Christian Association of Pregnancy Support Services, Canada

“Praise God! And thank you, the Heartbeat International for helping us to be able to attend the conference. I have received your encouragements, blessings and love in Christ, thank you again! I believe God will use Heartbeat International to help the CPC around the world to be established in Christ. More of women and babies will be blessed as the Heartbeat International spreads out the ministry worldwide!” -Mahalia Su, Ray of Hope,Taiwan

“God has allowed me to be refreshed and to learn more about this ministry through others that I have met. We appreciate all that God is doing in Heartbeat and throughout the world and that all of us strive to make a difference in the life one person at a time.” –Cynthia Fong, Mother's Choice, Hong Kong

“Thank you so much for your generosity in helping all of the internationals come to the conference and for all the information and encouragement you provided.” –Janice Viinalass, Tartu, Estonia