Pro-life leaders sent a powerful message Friday to pregnant mothers struggling with the news that Roe v. Wade has been destroyed: We’re here to help.
Amid celebrations and tears of joy after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling, pro-lifers also stressed that the movement will work harder than ever to help families in need so that no mother ever feels missing her unborn baby. The child has to have an abortion. The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling allows states to once again protect unborn babies from abortion, and experts predict that between 12 and 26 states will do so soon.
“Before Roe v. Wade, we were there for her. And we will be there for her after Roe v. Wade,” Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International, said Friday.
Heartbeat International is the largest maternity support network in the U.S., with more than 3overnancy resource centers and maternity hospitals. These organizations served nearly 2 million people in 2019, providing free medical, educational, and support services — from diapers, pregnancy tests, and cribs to temporary shelter, clothing, and parenting classes — to help mothers and their babies.
The organization operates OptionLine, a 24-7 hotline, and website to connect mothers with community resources, as well as the Abortion Pill Reversal hotline, which connects mothers who have taken the first abortion pill with local doctors who can help reverse the abortion. And possibly save their baby’s life.
In many ways, the work of the pro-life movement is just getting started, said Andrea Trudden, vice president of communications and marketing at Heartbeat.
“Women still need compassionate care and support, and we remain here to provide practical resources and life-affirming options in our pregnancy support network, as we have done for over 50 years,” she said.
Pamela Whitehead, executive director of ProLove Ministries, said they have been preparing for this day for years, reaching out with love and grace to women struggling through difficult situations.
Her organization provides financial and material support, counseling, and other services to mothers and children in need, and training to help other pro-life organizations provide better-individualized care to families in their communities.
“The situations these women who are pregnant and in urgent need of help face are complex, but abortion will only make their lives worse if they live with the emotional, physical, and spiritual pain that abortion leaves behind,” Whitehead said. “We unite as a movement and stand up for women, walk with them in their mess, encourage men to stand up for their unborn babies and mothers of their children.”
Other organizations such as CareNet, Human Coalition, Let Them Live, and others also provide non-judgmental counseling, education, and support services to help pregnant and nurturing mothers and babies.
Shannon Royce, president of the Christian Employers Alliance, challenged Christians to support these organizations more than ever as states are again allowed to protect unborn babies from abortion.
“The unborn need protection, and their mothers need help and hope,” Royce said. “Now, more than ever, people of good faith must continue to save babies’ lives and serve their mothers. We can love them both.”
At the government level, state leaders have also worked to expand support and encourage mothers to opt out of abortion and choose life for their babies.
Texas legislators recently expanded support services for pregnant and parenting mothers and babies to give them resources to choose life. They voted to invest $100 million in the Texas Alternatives to Abortion program, which offers free counseling, parenting classes, diapers, formula, vocational skills training, and more, and additional funding for the Healthy Texas Women program.
And CNN recently reported on several pro-life Republican-led states expanding Medicaid coverage for new moms.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who brought Roe’s case to the Supreme Court, was once a single mother. In her comments celebrating the victory for life, she also urged others to join her in supporting legislative efforts to advance energy and empower women.
“It is now up to us to advocate for laws that empower women — laws that promote fairness in child support and improve enforcement, childcare, and workplace policies that support families, and laws that improve foster care and adoption,” Fitch says. Said. “We must renew our commitment to weaving a safety net that helps women in difficult circumstances and gives their children life and hope.”
