Director Sandy Shoshani leads Be'ad Chaim (Hebrew for “Pro-Life”), which was established in 1988 in Israel. Be'ad Chaim's mission is to open the eyes of women and men to an alternative to abortion so that they will choose life, with an ultimate goal to end abortion on demand in Israel. Be'ad Chaim’s offices span throughout Israel and provide education, counseling, and tangible provision for needy mothers. Its services include: “Project Moses,” a sponsorship program to provide mothers with baby items for a full year, “Gardens of Life,” a place of healing for those who have lost a child, counseling, education, clothing, and Post Abortion Syndrome (PAS) Support groups.

Click here to visit Be'ad Chaim's website.

Headed by President Alicia Latorre, ProVida (Spanish Federation of Pro Life Associations) originated from the first Pro Life Association of Spain in 1977. It has been a recognized and registered organization since 1981. ProVida promotes respect for all human life from conception until natural death through its services, which include: personalized assistance to single mothers, free medical and psychological care for women faced with an unplanned pregnancy, food and housing aid, educational courses, organization of conferences, seminars, and congresses, and collaboration in socio-cultural, scientific and public awareness events to promote a culture of life.

Click here to visit ProVida's website.

Heartbeat International President to receive Defender of Life recognition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday | Oct. 7 2014
CONTACT: Jay Hobbs, Director of Communications and Marketing, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

COLUMBUS, OH – Celebrating her nearly 42 years of hands-on involvement in the life-saving ministry of pregnancy help, the last 21 of which as President of Heartbeat International, Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., will be honored as a Defender of Life by Students for Life of America, the group announced Tuesday.

The award is set to be presented at Students for Life of America's West National Conference in San Francisco, Calif., on January 25, 2015. Students for Life of America has also announced Professor Robbie George of Princeton University as its East National Conference recipient.

"It is truly an honor to be recognized by an excellent pro-life organization like Students for Life," Hartshorn said. "The work they are doing among high school and college students around the country is remarkable, and I am so thankful to commend with them the great work that pregnancy help organizations are doing every day in every region of the world."

Jolted by the announcement of the U.S. Supreme Court's infamous Roe v. Wade decision Jan. 22, 1973, Hartshorn immersed herself in pro-life work almost immediately, becoming involved in Columbus (Ohio) Right to Life in the following weeks. She and her husband, Mike Hartshorn, then began housing pregnant women in 1974, which led to their realization of a call to begin a pregnancy help organization in 1978.

That call led to the 1981 founding of Pregnancy Decision Health Centers, in Columbus, Ohio, which now serves over 15,000 clients annually in eight locations throughout Central Ohio.

Peggy Hartshorn joined the board of Heartbeat's forerunner organization, Alternatives to Abortion International, in 1986, before taking the reigns as president in 1993. During her tenure, Heartbeat International's umbrella has expanded from around 100 centers to over 1,800, comprising the largest and most expansive pregnancy help network in the world.

Hartshorn's previous awards include the Cardinal John J. O'Connor pro-life award from Legatus International, the Norrine A. and Raymond E. Ruddy Memorial Life Prizes Award, the J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award, the Sanctity of Human Life Award, the Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle Award from the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, the Founder's Award from the Christ Child Society, the Catholic Woman of the Year Award from the Diocese of Columbus (Ohio), and the President's Volunteer Service Award under President George Bush.

Previous Defenders of Life Award winners include Congressman Christopher Smith (R-NJ), Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, Father Frank Pavone, Abby Johnson, David Bereit, and Phyllis Schlafly.

"Real women are being silenced and gagged in the process."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Thursday | December 18, 2014
CONTACT: Jay Hobbs, Director of Communications and Marketing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

COLUMBUS, OH – An article first posted Dec. 5 on Vocativ.com before it was picked up at Slate.com and The Daily Mail, among others, calls into question both the demand and medical research behind a treatment designed to reverse the effects of Mifepristone, developed by Dr. George Delgado, M.D., F.A.A.F.P.

Dr. Delgado, who sits on Heartbeat International's Medical Advisory Board, is medical director of Culture of Life Family Health Care and founder of AbortionPillReversal.com, which has built a network of 226 pro-life OB-GYNs who are prepared to provide an early dose of supplemental progesterone to block the effects of Mifepristone—the first of two pills administered in the RU-486 regimen.

"We are grateful for Dr. Delgado's work," Heartbeat International President Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., said. "It is a shame to see his good work besmirched by agenda-driven writers, determined to grow the business of abortion.

"The tragic thing is that real women who have either been helped by this treatment or wish that they had been, are being silenced and gagged in the process," Hartshorn said. "Pregnancy help organizations like Dr. Delgado's offer each and every woman the true compassion, support, and choice she deserves."

The articles—released over two years after Heartbeat International reported the site's launch and first distributed a webinar on the procedure through Heartbeat Academy—cite the small sample size of women included in an initial peer-reviewed 2012 report published by Dr. Delgado.

Dr. Delgado's team is currently reviewing its cases from the time of the initial report—which included 28 contacts and four births following ingestion of Mifepristone from May to December 2012.

Neither Dr. Delgado nor his team have been contacted by reporters linked to the recent articles.

About the Maternity Housing Coalition

The Maternity Housing Coalition exists to inspire excellence among maternity housing providers and articulate a collective voice to advance the culture of life and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We provide training and tools, facilitate exchanges of knowledge and experiences, and foster fellowship among members.

The life-affirming effort of aiding women, children, and families in and around pregnancy necessarily includes promoting and providing housing resources and extended care. Strong housing services are the result of committed individuals and organizations striving for excellence in all areas. 

We value all housing efforts that seek to overcome the challenge of homelessness. We know that there are many valuable organizations and heroic individuals who give tirelessly to provide housing. For a variety of reasons, we have limited our current coalition to life-affirming maternity homes with a Christ-centered leadership and/or service model.

Connect

The MHC provides opportunities for affiliated maternity homes to connect with other maternity homes and life-affirming organizations nationwide. This includes our exclusive Maternity Housing Coalition Facebook group, networking events, as well as access to all affiliate benefits of Heartbeat International. 

The MHC provides a Housing Locator Tool so your home can seamlessly be found by clients and advocates in the first-of-its-kind accuracy and speed. The Housing Locator features quick and easy filter options to search for homes by intake criteria, client needs as well as the ability to submit an initial inquiry application for residency right on the same webpage. 

Learn

The MHC provides its members with access to ongoing maternity housing-specific materials and publications including monthly housing-specific webinars, relevant podcasts, and our e-newsletter, Heart & Home, with the most up-to-date information about the movement and current practices to support homes of every approach and housing model.

Grow

As a part of Heartbeat International, the MHC provides opportunities all year long for our affiliates to grow in their faith, profession, and relationships. Staff and volunteers of maternity homes are invited to attend our annual Conference with a maternity housing track as well as our summer Pregnancy Help Institute, a small group learning environment for in-depth training. Additionally, our housing affiliates have access to a monthly cost-free consultation with a housing specialist to review any topic of choice related to maternity housing.

Starting a maternity home? Click here for tips to get started!

Our Beginnings 

Over the past few years, leaders of maternity homes have been strategizing how to best unify maternity homes across the country, to speak collectively, support fledging homes, learn from one another, and help every maternity home to be more successful in facilitating the transformation we hope to see in the lives of the women we serve.

The results of this ongoing discussion were the formulation of the Maternity Housing Coalition (MHC), which is now reaching out to more than 450 U.S. maternity homes to provide support and resources for the unique work of providing housing to homeless pregnant women. Heartbeat International has been a great partner every step of the way. With its extensive history of supporting life-affirming organizations, Heartbeat has given the newly created MHC a home.

In partnering with Heartbeat, the MHC is tapping into a wealth of resources, including Heartbeat’s Annual Conference, the ability to host webinars through the Heartbeat Academy, and the opportunity to have more maternity homes take advantage of Heartbeat’s existing resources, such as the Sexual Integrity™ Program, The LOVE Approach™, and Healing the Effects of Abortion-Related Trauma (H.E.A.R.T Manual™).

Heartbeat unites Christ-centered ministries from across denominational dividing lines and has a deep cultural sensitivity shown by its 2,800 affiliates from across the country and around the globe.

The Coalition is blessed to have such a loving place to call home!

Maternity homes are a key response to the questions: “What about that child?” “What about that mother?” “What are you doing to help them?”

Housing ministries provide the pregnancy help movement with a valuable response to these concerns.

By their nature, maternity homes meet a wide variety of needs, providing genuine choice and practical aid to mothers and mothers-to-be. Some of these precious women need help meeting immediate needs such as homelessness, while others need help formulating a long-term plan for success.

Aren’t we blessed to be smack dab in the middle of this wonderfully challenging and wonderfully beautiful work?!

Led by Barbra Mwanza, a long-time friend of Heartbeat International, Association For Life of Africa (AFLA) grew out of a ministry known as Silent Voices Zambia, and formed a partnership with Heartbeat in 2013. AFLA's vision includes the following: (1) Bring together the independent and autonomous Life Affirming/ Giving Organizations/Centres in Africa through Affiliation. (2) ALFA connects its Affiliates to local and overseas mentors and also matching the local and overseas resource to where they can be mostly utilized. (3) Equip and Coach new Directors & church leaders in Africa. (4) Spearhead the Bi-Annual Pan African For Life Equipping Conference. 

Click here to visit Association For Life of Africa's website.

Heartbeat International seeks to advance the pregnancy help movement worldwide, and has partnered with the following networks to better serve women and families on every continent of the globe.

	Pregnancy Help Network
	Association For Life of Africa
	Be'ad Chaim (Israel)
	Centros de Ayuda para la Mujer Latinoamericana, A.C. (Latin America)
	Pregnancy Care Canada
	Movimento per la Vita Italiano (Italy)
	Pregnancy Help Australia
	Pregnancy Support Services of Asia
	ProVida (Spanish Federation of Pro Life Associations)

Heartbeat International® and the Centros de Ayuda para la Mujer Latinoamericana, A. C.  (CAM) celebrate a new level of partnership that will serve pro-life pregnancy help ministries in both CAM’s Latin American network and Heartbeat’s worldwide network. This new Heartbeat-CAM program completes the pregnancy-help reach to women in the farthest points of the Americas. Heartbeat has similar partnership programs pregnancy networks in Canada, Africa, Australia and southeast Asia.

Heartbeat and CAM believe that this partnership, the fruit of a long-standing relationship, will benefit both organizations. The partnership enhances both Heartbeat and CAM’s respective ability to serve the pro-life pregnancy help ministries that place confidence in the two networks. Heartbeat International President Dr. Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D. says, “Both CAM and Heartbeat serve pregnancy help ministries by assisting our affiliates and one another in fulfilling the mission that God has given to us to reach, rescue, and renew their communities for life by serving abortion-vulnerable women and their families and working to restore God’s plan for our sexuality.”

Heartbeat sees many benefits in working more closely with CAM: expansion of international affiliates as well as access to the expertise and cultural understanding that CAM offers its network of 98 pro-life ministries in 15 Latin American countries. Heartbeat is pleased that the joint affiliation will allow CAM to promote Heartbeat benefits to CAM’s network.

CAM, which recently celebrated two decades of service to women and adolescents facing unplanned pregnancies, continues to expand throughout Latin America from its original center in Mexico City. According to CAM founder, Mr. Jorge Serrano Limón, “Today, more than 1,800 women and their babies are saved each month in Mexico City alone.” That number is growing fast as pregnancy help centers open across Latin America, from Mexico to Argentina.

Click here for news about CAM.

Click here to view CAM's website.

En espanol

Heartbeat and PSSA join hands to fill a tall order in the Philippines

Centers affiliated with Pregnancy Support Services of Asia (PSSA) fill a tall order helping women and families. Asia is a region of the world where abortion and other population control tools are the order of the day. In fact, for baby girls throughout Asia, the mother’s womb has become a very dangerous place.

PSSA, founded by Lily Perez and headquartered in Manila, takes on the daily challenge of pregnancy support, thanks to the grace-filled vision that God gave to Lily over a decade ago.

PSSA has joined hands with Heartbeat International in a joint-affiliation agreement that makes more life-saving services available to PSSA’s pregnancy help centers.

At Heartbeat, we welcome the expansion of international affiliates and the access to the expertise and cultural understanding of Asian society that PSSA offers through its network of pro-life ministries. Heartbeat is also pleased that the joint affiliation will allow PSSA affiliates to benefit from Heartbeat affiliates the world over, our experience, and our tools. For example, PSSA affiliates will gain access to Heartbeat online trainings around the world and around the clock through the Heartbeat International Academy.

The idea for PSSA began at Heartbeat International’s annual conference in October 2004.  Lily, a longtime pro-life advocate from the Philippines, attended the Heartbeat Conference and became inspired to create an umbrella organization for pro-life pregnancy centers throughout Asia.  Heartbeat and PSSA began working together to bring leadership training including board management, postabortion healing, hotline counseling, and The LOVE Approach™ to PSSA affiliates. For example, in 2006, Heartbeat had the privilege of helping PSSA build capacity and leadership among Asian pregnancy help ministries by cosponsoring the Heart to Love Conference in the Philippines with PSSA. Over 180 individuals seeking training for pregnancy center ministries attended the conference.

“The growing reach of PSSA’s helping arms is a dream come true and an answered prayer for me in my personal mission of promoting life-affirming services in my country,” said Lily. “I am forever grateful to Peggy Hartshorn (Heartbeat International President) and Heartbeat International for sharing their passion for this ministry.”

Click here to learn more about PSSA

Pro-life Servants lead with their hearts to strengthen Pregnancy Help Movement

Lily Perez has been involved with many organizations promoting life in the Philippines.  She and her husband, Rene, were Directors of Couples for Christ Family Enrichment Education Ministry for many years.  Currently, Lily leads Pregnancy Support Services of Asia.

Heartbeat staff met Lily for the first time at our 2001 annual conference that was in Glendale, California.  With her love for the Lord and for life, Lily began attending Heartbeat conferences, many times accompanied by family and co-workers.  Not only has Lily visited Heartbeat, but Heartbeat staff has also visited Lily in the Philippines on many occasions.

After attending Heartbeat’s annual conference in 2004, Lily was inspired to create an umbrella organization for pro-life pregnancy centers throughout Asia, originally called Heartbeat International Philippines Center, later named Pregnancy Support Services of Asia (PSSA).

Lily’s gentle spirit and strong leadership, gifts from the Lord, have helped her realize her dreams. She continues to be open to the Lord’s leading as she sees answered prayers of life-affirming services in the Philippines.  PSSA plans to form affiliated pregnancy help centers in Hong Kong, Brunei, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, and China by training individuals in these countries to establish and develop effective pregnancy centers.

Partnership with Movimento per la Vita, Heartbeat unveiled

While newly elected Pope Francis paid an unexpected visit to some 40,000 participants in Italy’s March for Life in Rome May 13, Heartbeat International was busy at the same event, signing paperwork for an official partnership with Italian pro-life organization Movimento per la Vita.

The collaborative partnership adds 398 new affiliates for Heartbeat International, bolstering its position as the largest network of pro-life pregnancy help centers in the world, with 1,800 affiliates. Heartbeat’s first official

partnership in Western Europe now gives the 42-year-old organization a presence on all six inhabited continents, with partners in Canada, Latin America, the Philippines, Australia, South Africa, and Central Africa.

“We are very pleased to announce this partnership with Movimento per la Vita,” Peggy Hartshorn, Ph.D., in her 21st year as president of Heartbeat International, said. “We already share so much in common with these friends, and I personally look forward to what we will learn from them as our relationship grows.”

Founded in 1975, Movimento per la Vita—much like Heartbeat International—began providing women with abortion alternatives three years prior to the procedure's legalization in its country, and now includes 338 pregnancy centers and 60 maternity homes, providing life-affirming help to women and families in need. The group is led by its founding director, Carlo Casini, a former judge who now serves as a member of the European Parliament.

Movimento per la Vita also operates a pregnancy helpline, SOS Vita, which connects women facing difficult situations involving unexpected pregnancies to local centers, referred to as Centri di aiuto alla Vita (CaV). The helpline operated by Movimento per la Vita distinctly parallels Heartbeat International’s Option Line ®, a 24/7 call center connecting women and men facing unexpected pregnancies with real-time help and face-to-face contact with local pregnancy help centers.

In 2012, Movimento per la Vita served 60,000 women and saw 16,000 babies born who were otherwise vulnerable to abortion. Since 1975, the network has served over 500,000 women, delivering 160,000 children.

Click here to view Movimento per la Vita's website.