Heartbeat International is bringing seven mothers—and their children—to Capitol Hill in January to tell Congress how they chose life with the help of community-funded pregnancy centers.
Heartbeat International is the first network of pro-life pregnancy help organizations founded in the U.S. and features the largest network in the world. With 2,100 affiliated pregnancy help locations—including pregnancy help medical clinics with ultrasound, resource centers, maternity homes and adoption agencies—it serves all six inhabited continents to provide alternatives to abortion.
The event “Babies Go to Congress” takes place Jan. 26, the morning prior to the annual March for Life, and is Heartbeat International’s 15th such visit to Washington, D.C., since 2009. It promises to be one of the most powerful pro-life events our nation’s capital has ever seen.
In the previous trips, 113 mothers and their children have visited a total of 265 offices—including those of both Democrats and Republicans. In each visit, a mother who has rejected abortion with the help of a pregnancy help organization has the opportunity to tell her story, alongside both her child and the staff from the center that helped her choose life.
“This is one event Planned Parenthood could never dream of pulling off,” Heartbeat International president Jor-El Godsey said. “Pregnancy help centers empower women to make the healthiest choice for everyone involved in an unexpected pregnancy. This is a powerful platform for us to both show and tell the truth that pregnancy help centers are good for America.”
This mothers in this year’s group hail from Arizona, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Wyoming. Though six of the mothers are bringing with them children 4 years old and younger, one mother—Nikki Pinkley from Branson, Mo.—is bringing her 14-year-old daughter to the event.
Pinkley was raised in the church and had recently graduated high school when she found out she was pregnant. Finding help at Options Pregnancy Clinic in Branson, not only did she choose life for Alexis, but the staff at Options encouraged her to keep pursuing her education and career goals.
Today, Pinkley is a closing in on a decade as a licensed professional counselor and is working on her doctoral degree in psychology. She and Alexis illustrate the positive life-long impact of that nation’s 2,600 pregnancy help centers.
“My hope is that every young woman facing an unplanned pregnancy will find the help she needs to face the challenges of being a single mom,” Nikki, who later married, said. “It’s not easy, but I am living proof that the future is what you make of it.
“Sometimes you just need someone to believe in you. I found the help I needed plus a lot of inspiration at Options Pregnancy Clinic.”
Click here to learn more about some of the lives that have been saved through pregnancy help centers. {eoa}
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