Last week Heartbeat International's President Jor-El Godsey reached out to Heartbeat affiliates about an important moral component of supporting and defending life in today's culture where traditional values are disregarded and besieged.
Godsey explained in regard to the promotion of contraception by some pregnancy help organizations that now is a time for clarity of mission and values in the pregnancy help movement.
"The culture war is real and constantly working to dilute truth and diminish traditional values," Godsey said. "This is a season of great change and a time when we must find clarity in our mission and firm foundation in the values that have upheld the supernatural empowerment of the pregnancy help movement."
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"Thankfully, we have clear ethical standards that all national pro-life pregnancy help organizations have agreed upon that guide and guard us in facing moral questions regarding our movement," he said. "Now is one such time."
Godsey went on to explain that a handful of pregnancy help organizations are departing from pro-life principles to add contraceptives into their service offerings, providing a link to Heartbeat International's official perspective on the issue.
One of the tenets of the “Commitment of Care and Competence,” the national standard of ethical practices agreed created by the Leadership Alliance of Pregnancy Care Organizations (LAPCO) as a standard of affiliation for pregnancy help organizations (PHOs) is:
“We do not offer, recommend or refer for abortions, abortifacients or contraceptives. We are committed to offering accurate information about related risks and procedures.”
"The leaders of the pregnancy care organizations in the USA agree to uphold this standard," the Heartbeat statement says, which "links and rejects abortions, abortifacients, and contraceptives as appropriate services in PHOs because of the sanctity of every human life which begins at the moment of conception."
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"Science confirms the ancient wisdom of the Bible that describes the wonder of the human person, formed in the womb by the hand of God (Psalm 139, Jeremiah 1:5)," It continues. "And the eternal truth of the sanctity of human life is consistently reaffirmed and remains the foundational value of all pro-life ministries and organizations."
The statement offers example of how some organizations "persistently twist traditional definitions to accommodate the abortion culture," and also offers the reminder that studies show contraceptives can actually contribute to an increase of abortions/abortion rate.
Considering the 7-13% failure rate demonstrated by contraceptives, Heartbeat's statement points out that providing contraceptives will contribute to producing unplanned, unintended pregnancy among the very population—women at-risk for abortion—that PHO's serve.
"How many pregnancies, resulting from failed contraceptives provided by a “pro-life organization,” would then end in abortion?" it asks.
It's also noted that the term "contraceptives" is a dictionary synonym for "birth control," and that the concept of birth control policy has led to the eugenics movement, the Holocaust and China’s restrictive birth policy.
Heartbeat's statement points out as well that "population planners" within the United Nations, led by Planned Parenthood and mainstream medical providers in the U.S., insist - under the guise of “women’s reproductive health” - that all nations worldwide adopt their policies and agenda, which is universal distribution of contraceptives, along with the legalization of abortion. It further notes that pro-life organizations prescribing contraceptives could be unintentionally fulfilling these evil population control agendas.
"These realities make the provision of contraceptives anathema to pro-life missional outreach," it concludes. "No perceived gain from marketing or opportunity for government funding is worth compromising a PHOs biblical commission to champion the Gift of Life and the Giver of Life."
The Heartbeat statement also offers an FAQ page and additional resources.
Godsey included in his message last week a welcome for any questions or concerns that affiliates of Heartbeat may have on the issue.
"This is an important time for our movement to remain committed to our values and cannot compromise with abortion-friendly culture," he said. "We are better together with Him. We are proud to walk alongside all of you who hold fast to the faith."
