In the Bible, the Book of Timothy mentions fighting the good fight. In the pro-life realm, we continue our own battle. And the newly released 2023 Life Trends report shares how it’s going.
Produced by Heartbeat International, this document offers an important window for people keeping track of the pregnancy help movement. Heartbeat is the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the U.S. and the world.
“The Life Trends report is a great way to keep an eye on the pregnancy help movement as a whole, and provides key insights as to how pregnancy centers and the services they offer are changing and shifting,” said Andrea Trudden, vice president of Communications & Marketing for Heartbeat International.
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Heartbeat's more than 3,300 pregnancy help organizations (PHOs) worldwide support women wherever they are in their pregnancy journey and beyond, working tirelessly to offer hope and help to women and families experiencing unexpected pregnancies. This vast network provides the opportunity to discover and assess trends within the overall pregnancy help movement and use them to inform and encourage others through the work that has been accomplished.
In one example, in 2022 there were 2,836,300 total in-person client visits at pregnancy help organizations in the U.S., an increase of 36% over 2021.
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Heartbeat's affiliate pregnancy help organizations fall into several categories according to the primary services they offer.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the primary services offered within the 2,023 Heartbeat affiliate locations throughout the United States.
● 1,341 (66%) are medical and mobile
● 418 (21%) are resources
● 9 (<1%) are abortion recovery
● 14 (<1%) are hotline and startups
● 19 (1%) are pregnancy support
● 162 (8%) are housing
● 60 (3%) are adoption agencies
Another important stat: 80% of centers surveyed saw the same level or an increase in general calls and clients after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. It’s also known as the “Dobbs decision,” which denotes the case that ultimately led to the fate of Roe.
That historic announcement also saw an uptick in one tragic area.
“Since the Dobbs decision, we note a much higher use of the abortion pill,” Trudden said.
“From this information,” she said, “we are able to provide pregnancy help organizations with key statistics so that they are up to date with the latest information to provide women with the care they deserve,”
According to the report, 70% of abortions were conducted through the pill. This latest figure is higher than the last report from 2020, where that number stood at 54%. It’s been on the rise, with 31% in 2014, 17% in 2008 and only 6% in 2001.
The good news is, Heartbeat’s Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) has more than 1,300 healthcare professionals working within it, and they have helped an average of 150 women start the reversal process every month. Those patients come from all 50 states and 86 total countries, according to the report. As of the report's compiling, more than 4,000 lives and counting had been saved thanks to the APRN. That figure has since topped 4,500.
Speaking of global impact, Heartbeat has 3,250 affiliates in 89 countries and territories. These affiliates occupy more than 7,000 locations.
The 2023 Life Trends report also showcases attacks on pregnancy centers since the Dobbs decision, including 16 in states with strong pro-life laws, 13 in battleground states, and 21 in states with laws more open to abortion.
The report includes the following:
“Heartbeat has been monitoring the attacks against pregnancy centers closely. We conducted a survey of affiliates on June 1 and then again on July 5 to monitor the growth of incidents against pregnancy centers. These results showed both physical and cyber-attacks against many of the organizations, showing that pregnancy help organizations went from a 1 in 6 chance of reporting an incident against their center to 1 in 3. The types of incidents ranged from fake reviews to vandalism (including firebombs).
But, as noted above, Heartbeat continues to fight the good fight. And we need dedicated, Godly people who support the pro-life movement to support us.
Download the 2023 Life Trends report HERE to see it for yourself.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network and Pregnancy Help News.
