Pregnancy help personnel from across New York state came together recently for education, networking, and to be refreshed in their life-affirming ministries as the New York State Coalition for Life held its 2024 conference.
The conference has nearly 30 years of history and has grown to offer two full days of pregnancy help presentations and content. Individuals from New York pregnancy centers and medical clinics, maternity homes, adoption agencies, and other related ministries gathered as unity is more critical than ever, with ongoing state government efforts to stifle pregnancy help.
The New York State Coalition for Life has had a focus on networking, education, equipping and empowering, said NYS Coalition for Life President Kathy Jerman.alban
Jerman, who recently joined Heartbeat International as Director of Affiliate Services, believes that every state should have a pregnancy help coalition.
“I just think it's so important, especially in the days we're living in, that we have to unify, and we've got to stand together,” Jerman said.
Jerman, who previously was Executive Director for New Hope Family Services in Syracuse, said she is looking forward to being able to foster coalitions in her new role with Heartbeat.
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She and other pregnancy help personnel from across New York and beyond came together in August as well for a federal court hearing in Buffalo as New York Attorney General Letitia James has sought to bar a number of pregnancy help organizations from sharing information about Abortion Pill Reversal (APR). Centers assembled for the hearing in support of each other, pregnancy help, and freedom of speech whether or not they were part of one of the lawsuits in state and federal courts involving James and APR in New York.
James also sued a pro-life group last year seeking to ban its members from going within 30 feet of an abortion facility. James’s office had previously taken up another suit from her predecessors against a pro-life group for demonstrating at a Queens abortion facility.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law in 2022 creating a task force to investigate pregnancy centers. Hochul vowed to assist Texas women in coming to New York for abortions following passage of Texas’s heartbeat law in 2021.
Pregnancy help organizations in New York have also endured inquiries from the state into their operations for declining to carry out abortions, as well as obstacles in coverage from insurance companies.
Most recently, the state was among those with an amendment on the ballot to enshrine abortion in its constitution, the amendment, sadly, passing in the Nov. 5 election.
Some 135 people from 28 pregnancy help organizations across New York state gathered in Albany November 14 and 15 for the New York State Coalition for Life 2024 conference, which had the theme “Equipping Every Generation.”
Topics covered by keynote presenters, workshops, and panel discussions included chemical abortion, controversy in the pro-life movement, prenatal diagnosis, today’s challenges and the future of pregnancy help, Abortion Pill Reversal, leadership, trauma informed awareness, IVF, digital fundraising, and engaging young people.
Additionally, the New York State Coalition for Life was one of the state coalitions that took part in the recent diaper drive for pregnancy centers hosted by Heartbeat International and EveryLife. The coalition received the diapers and wipes from EveryLife timed to coincide with the conference, allowing for the items to be distributed to centers at the event in Albany.
“It's just been really a great conference and each time I feel like it gets a little bit better, and we bring in more sponsors and big-name speakers and just really good content,” Jerman said. “So, it's been really great.”
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Her message to pregnancy centers, adoption agencies, and maternity homes in New York state is that they are definitely welcomed and encouraged to join the coalition.
“The whole thing that I just really keep wanting to emphasize is unity,” she said. “We all have the same mission and vision to save souls and to save babies, and we're all on the same team here and we're fighting together.”
There's a lot that can happen in terms of pushing back when pregnancy help organizations stand strong together in unity, Jerman told Pregnancy Help News, especially against the battles that they fight in New York state against the attorney general and other politicians that oppose pregnancy help.
“We have to stand strong together, and we have to be united in our messaging,” she said. “And by standing strong together, I think strengthens us individually too, and we can feel like we're not alone.”
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and Pregnancy Help News. Heartbeat is currently part of lawsuits brought by two state AGs concerning sharing information about Abortion Pill Reversal.
