PHILADELPHIA, PA --- Unemployed and struggling to provide for herself and her 2-year-old daughter with unemployment checks, the last thing Matennah could afford was another child.

Ready or not, as 2011 dawned, Matennah found herself pregnant and headed to the doctor’s office alone for an ultrasound. What she found there left her, in her words, “crying like a child.”

Twins.

By this time, Matennah’s boyfriend, the father of her twins, was in jail, leaving her with virtually no support system to help care for her growing family. Though Matennah saw the twins as a double blessing, those closest to her urged her to consider other options.

Where would she turn? Who could help? What solution was best.

Matennah opened the Yellow Pages, holding the bulk of the book in her right hand while she browsed with her left thumb to the “A” section.

Toward the end of the section loomed the euphemistic words, “Women’s Medical Society,” whose presiding doctor, Kermit Gosnell, had been arrested just days earlier.

The beginning of the section, however, turned out to be Matennah’s salvation. It was a listing called Alpha Pregnancy Services, a Heartbeat International affiliate pregnancy help center located in the heart of the City of Brotherly Love.

We met Matennah and her three daughters, Biana, Alena, and Chloe, at our Babies Go to Congress event in January 2013, where she had the chance to show and tell lawmakers that pregnancy help centers are good for America.

Alpha Pregnancy Services is 2.5 miles from Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s “House of Horrors” clinic, where a woman in Matennah’s shoes, Karnamaya Mongar (pictured right), was butchered—in the words of one congressman—by Gosnell within a year of Matennah’s unexpected pregnancy.

Just think about that. Matennah was literally within pages and city blocks of darkening the doors to the now-most infamous abortuary in America.

But instead, Matennah found a pregnancy help center that not only equipped her with the help she needed to choose life for her two precious daughters, but is now helping Matennah raise her three daughters with practical resources, job skills training, and parenting assistance.

This is why Heartbeat International and our network of over 1,400 life-affirming organizations exist. We exist so that women and families like Matennah can live and thrive. We exist so that no woman ever feels so alone, coerced or hopeless that she ends her child’s life through abortion.

Make no mistake about it. This is a life and death issue.

Death on the one hand for—at the very least—every unborn child whose mother walks into an abortion clinic. Life on the other for every one of the 1,000,000 children, mothers, and families who visit pregnancy help centers each year.

Women like Matennah deserve better than abortion—regardless of whether our culture labels those facilities as filthy “Houses of Horror” or pristine “Centers for Reproductive Health.” Each woman in Matennah’s situation deserves the kind of emotional support and practical resources during an unexpected pregnancy that Alpha Pregnancy Services has given her.

Won’t you give today to support this life-saving, death-defying work? Heartbeat International thanks you. Alpha Pregnancy Services thanks you.

Most importantly, Matennah and her three daughters thank you. 

(Watch Matennah's full story below.)

by Jor-El Godsey, Vice President

The notice went out in February 2004 for every organization in the world to revisit their logo. It happened again in June 2007. Did you get your notice?

Actually, those were the launch dates of Facebook and the first iPhone, respectively, with both signposts signaling a smaller space in which logos would compete.

As these notices were issued, the 20-year-old Heartbeat logo and the “swoosh” heart were cleaned up incrementally to try and keep pace with the shift from print to electronic communications. But, its design, echoing some early ’90s trends, was difficult to size down for a profile picture on Facebook, or for showing up on a really small screen as more and more of us access the Web from our smartphones.

With these practical concerns in mind, and through a recent process of strategic planning, Heartbeat has committed to a logo refresh, which we officially unveiled at this year’s Annual Conference in Dallas.

We’ve kept some elements the same—the name structure and font—but are introducing a new corporate color (Midnight Blue) and our brand new network symbol, “The Heart of the Future.”

Crafted by our own award-winning graphic designer, Brett Foster of Extend Web Services, The Heart of the Future follows the five core elements of a good logo design—simplicity, memorablility, versatility, appropriateness and timelessness.

For Heartbeat International, it’s a familiar symbol that capitalizes upon the heart we’ve used since 1993 to capture the focus of our mission, networking efforts, and corporate culture.

We call it The Heart of the Future because pregnancy help is focused on just that. Our future—at least the one God desires for us—is established upon the foundational truth of the sanctity of life and the promise of life everlasting. As we focus together on preserving and welcoming the next generation, we serve together to strengthen our society’s future, because at the heart of a healthy society is the family.

Everything the pregnancy help community does today—save babies, uplift women, and restore families—is vital to the health of every community’s future.

Moreover, we know the call of God is upon the pregnancy help work, because it is truly His Heart. The Heart of the Future is recognition that God is at the heart of all we do in championing both the Gift and the Giver of Life.

Medical Students for Life Summer Internship Program

In the end, few summer internships will change the world. But, after the initial launch of an internship program by Medical Students for Life in 2012, a trio of Heartbeat International affiliate medical centers are hopeful this could be one of them.

With a growing pro-abortion inclination within the medical community, these pro-life students often face challenging situations where their convictions are pressure-tested, and possibilities of advancement are sometimes threatened.

As part of its broad range of efforts to build up the students who face this type of pressure during their education, Medical Students for Life placed medical students in three Heartbeat affiliate centers for summer internships, where they had the opportunity to observe first-hand the clients facing unintended pregnancies who visit Heartbeat centers every day.

These students were able to shadow consultants during their client visits, learn how pregnancy tests are conducted, and observe limited obstetrical ultrasounds in action on a regular basis. Some were able to meet with/shadow the physicians serving as pregnancy center medical clinic medical directors in their private practice, which served to provide the students a chance to watch how pro-life medical professionals navigate the predominantly pro-abortion medical culture.

We received glowing reports from all three of the centers who volunteered for the program, and all three are eager to participate in the program, which Medical Students for Life hopes to expand.

Here are the reactions in our friends’ own words…

Sylvia Johnson, Executive Director, Houston (TX) Pregnancy Help Center

Spencer Stickler served at Houston Pregnancy Help Center’s two locations (Fifth Ward and Downtown) as a Medical Intern. We were honored to have Spencer for three weeks this past summer. Some of the duties Spencer performed are as follows; filing medical records, observed ultrasounds, updating our referral and resource, assisting with day to day administrative duties. It truly was an honor to serve with Spencer.   

See Spencer’s reflection on the experience here (link to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl0ldqy_De0).

Anne Kako, RN, Nurse Manager, A Woman's Concern, Revere, MA

I wanted to thank you for offering A Woman's Concern the opportunity to participate in the Summer Medical Student internship program. It was wonderful to meet and share ideas with the next generation of pro-life healthcare providers. It was an opportunity for those of us working in PRC's to share our experiences and knowledge with the medical students. The med students shared with the staff the pro-life issues that they are facing in their education. The students were able to see first-hand the situations that our at-risk and abortion-minded clients are facing. They were able to witness the AWC staff helping clients by providing information, ultrasounds and support in a life affirming environment.

Our medical director, Dr. Keough, had the students shadow him in his office. Both students felt this was a great opportunity. Next year, we would like to offer them exposure to our radiologist and other OB/GYN physicians on staff. AWC also has an ultrasound course (DVD's) from Case Western that we would like to make available for the medical students to view next year. AWC will also be offering STI testing next year to our clients and their partners, which the med students can also shadow. AWC is looking forward to future participation in the summer Medical Student internship program. Thank you for allowing us to share in this opportunity.

Debbie Wolff, Nurse Manager, Women’s Choice Network, PA, reported that her center’s intern was an “ideal student”, and the experience in their center was “very beneficial for (the student) and impacted her, as there was a lot she learned that she was not previously aware of.”

Heartbeat International is thrilled to join with Medical Students for Life in this cooperative effort, which benefits those entering the medical field by actively involving them in the ministry of our affiliate pregnancy centers.

Many medical students who are pro-life in their beliefs have no real-life experience with women and men faced with untimely pregnancies and the reality of abortion options. This internship helped to solidify their convictions, as they saw first-hand that pregnancy help centers set the standard for true compassion and support for women.

Heartbeat International looks forward to its role in cultivating the next generation of pro-life healers who are dedicated to “do no harm.”

Step by Step: Arkansas “Pregnant Woman’s Protection Act”

Thanks to the good work of Americans United for Life (AUL), another step forward was taken to protect women and children from the violence of abortion when Arkansas adopted the “Pregnant Woman’s Protection Act” earlier this week.

This vital legislation was signed into law Feb. 26 by Gov. Mike Beebe, making Arkansas the third state, along with Oklahoma and Missouri, to implement legislation based upon AUL’s model.

In Arkansas, the bill was intended to:

Ensure that the affirmative right of a pregnant woman to carry her child to term is protected [and]   … that defenses to criminal liability provide for a pregnant woman’s right to use physical force including deadly force to protect her unborn child. SB 170§ 2 (Legislative Intent).

The bill specifically cites research and studies indicating that violence and harm to women increase during pregnancy. Passing unanimously through both houses, this bill gives a pregnant woman the right to use force to protect her unborn child, if she reasonably perceives that her unborn child faces a threat that would justify use of physical or deadly force in self-defense.

Also in the bill, an unborn child is defined as, “the offspring of human beings from conception until birth” [§3(a)(2)], another strong incremental victory for the sanctity of every human life.

SPECIAL UPDATE: Many of you have prayed for our affiliate center in Houston as they faced harsh adversity and pro-choice protestors over the past few weeks. We have a very encouraging update from Houston. God is GOOD!

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement over the last 45 days, during the Pro-Choice Houston protest outside our Downtown location.

You prayed with us, you fasted for us; you rallied around us and gave your financial support in the midst of unforeseen expenses. In response to good advise, we hired off-duty police officers and updated our surveillance system to ensue the safety of our staff, clients and volunteers. We also contacted Facebook regarding Pro-Choice Houston slanderous posts, and FaceBook removed the posts.

We did not passively allow the protestors to interrupt the flow of our services, nor did we allow them to distract us from our work. God's peace ruled in our hearts and in the center, regardless of the activity outside. And, "what the enemy meant for evil, God used for good." Evidently, clients misread the protestors hand written "Fake Clinic" signs to mean "Free Clinic". Women poured into the center, askin g if we were a free clinic. Many of them were in unplanned pregnancy situations and after receiving our free services, they chose life for their unborn babies.

The Pro-abortion protestors plan to prevent clients from receiving our free services failed miserably. Statistically, the number of clients served at the Downtown Pregnancy Help Center increased significantly during the picket:

• 357 new clients served 300 pregnancy test performed
• 153 patients received ultrasounds
• 67 clients who were initially abortion determined, chose to continue their pregnancy.
• 117 clients heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 20 professions of faith.

In essence, we acted as Nehemiah did; we prayed, and then we worked.

“They all made plans to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw us into confusion. But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.” Nehemiah 4:8-9

For life,
Sylvia B. Johnson
Executive Director
Houston Pregnancy Help Center

Alpha Pregnancy Services saves lives and builds families; to that I can testify. Here is my story:

I first learned about Alpha while flipping through the yellow pages in 2008. However, I did not take advantage of their services until a couple years later, when I learned of my second pregnancy.

In November of 2010 I went to my family doctor to get on birth control, only to learn I was pregnant. My boyfriend and the doctor were very happy, but Me? I was full of questions, in disbelief, and scared. I had a two year old at the time and was thinking, “What was I going to do with another child?”

My boyfriend was very sure about having our child, and did not think about how we were going to take care of two children, with only our part time jobs. Concerned, I decided to reach out to family. Some shared their disappointment and wished me luck; others suggested abortion was the best solution for me. Abortion had never crossed my mind, though I felt it was something to look into.

Then I went to the doctor. She told me that I still had time if I was thinking of abortion. The ultrasound showed I was having identical twins. With shock, I cried like a child. By this time my boyfriend was in jail and I felt alone and scared. Also, more overwhelmed and confused than ever. Some felt twins were all the more reason to abort. To me—I felt twins were a blessing and all the more reason not to.

I decided to carry to term. I felt the only local support I had was my boyfriend and my daughter. Then I turned to Alpha for help. I have been working closely with Jamie and Sue since I was four months pregnant. They have helped me with everything a friend, doctor, mother, and auntie could have helped me with, and more. At one point I only had God, my family, and Alpha in my corner. They were still supporting and motivating me to keep going.

Alpha did not only help me become a good mother, they helped me build a stronger relationship with God, myself and my family. Alpha is the one place on earth I can go to and know I will not be judged, and I can leave with a change for the better at every visit. My New Year’s resolution is to make sure that Alpha and programs like these are heard about, so when the opportunity came to go to Congress, I felt grateful to be a part of it.