Heartbeat Press - March 2024 Edition

POV: Abortion - An Ingnored Reality 

On a sunny afternoon in 2008, a young woman got out of a parked car just down the street from a neighborhood Planned Parenthood and walked up the fenced-in driveway to the building's imposing double doors. While they didn't slam as they closed (courtesy of expensive, high-tech automation), the vacuum of silence and air that followed the door's ominous click was all but deafening. It seemed so final, like there was now a barrier between the woman and the world outside. Like there was no going back after that boundary was closed, and yet, at the same time, there seemed to be no way forward either. 

    Forcing herself to take her next step, the young woman looked ahead to the sparkling white reception room that waited for her. Sparsely peppered with other women waiting for their own (dreaded) appointments, the room was surprisingly bright despite the one-way glass on the windows, a fact that woman pondered as she shuffled up to the reception desk and checked in with the nurse behind it. "Why would any business need tinted windows? Are they afraid of something being seen?" These and other similar questions formed in the young woman's mind as she joined the ranks of waiting patients and watched as each one was called through another set of non-slamming double doors that led deeper into the bowels of the building. When her name was finally called, the woman did the same.

    Completely devoid of any windows, tinted or otherwise, the space behind the doors felt jarringly different from the pristine waiting room. Gloomy and narrow, a hallway, colored almost grey by its filmy overhead lights, stretched back as far as the woman could see. Dingy vinyl tiles full of scuff marks did little to reflect the poor lighting. Faceless doors lined the space and served as the only breaks in the walls that, in and of themselves, seemed to lean claustrophobically close on either side. The hallway smelled clean, like bleach and latex gloves, but after a moment even that sterile scent became heavy. Following a nurse through the confined space, the young woman felt an uneasiness growing in the pit of her stomach that churned up and soured what was left of a breakfast she now regretted.

    After what felt like endless moments, the nurse turned and held one of the drab doors open. Pausing for a moment to take a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm her nerves, the young woman stepped over the threshold and into the company of a new nurse who sat beaming from behind an imposing center desk. This new nurse's smile did nothing to ease the mounting tension in the small space; in fact, it was unsettling as it glowed a little too wide and a little too bright, like it was practiced and mindlessly plastered on hundreds of times a day. 

    Sitting down across from the nurse, the young woman took another deep breath and tried to remind herself why she was here. Despite any fears or uneasiness churning in her stomach, she had to do this. She couldn't leave this building without getting rid of her "problem," and these nurses, no matter how cold, brisk, or entirely too cheerful, were going to help her. At least she hoped they would. Holding her wide smile, the nurse broke the thick silence with a cacophony of questions, each one asked a little too quickly and buttered with practiced sympathy: "How old are you?" "Reason for today's visit?" "How far along are you?" The young woman tried to answer each question as it was asked, but as she did, all she could feel were her emotions rising again, bubbling up and overwhelming her until all she could focus on was the thundering of her own heartbeat and the repeated reminder: "You've come too far to turn back now."  

    Hours later, when the sun had just dipped below the horizon and street lights were beginning to blink on, the young woman finally pushed her way out of Planned Parenthood's double doors to reenter the outside world she had left behind an eternity ago. Her insides felt hollow, in more than one way, and as she walked back to her car, only one thought bounced around her hazy mind: "I will never go through that again." She thought she had wanted an abortion. She had felt there was no other option available to her. But now, having actually gone through with the procedure, she felt and sharp spur of regret growing in her heart. "Had this really been the only option?" "Had the baby felt any pain?" "Would this empty feeling ever go away?" Nothing was clear. Instead, everything was a dull ache. As the young woman started her car and shifted it into gear, she couldn't help but sob as the growing darkness sank lower around her. 

    This is a common experience for thousands of woman walking into Planned Parenthood every single day. While the industry would love to deny it, there is no ignoring the reality right before our eyes. And yet, so many do because it is much easier to ignore a painful truth than take the difficult steps to expose and change it. But consider this: abortion is not female empowerment. It is a violent and isolating exploitation that no one, let alone a frightened young woman, should be subjected to. A true champion of women would fight to protect the vulnerable from it, no matter how difficult the battle. 

Photo Credit: IStockPhoto.com

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For more stories that expose the abortion industry check out The Walls Are Talking by Abby Johnson

Heartbeat Press - February 2024 Edition

American Gilead - The Handmaid Reality 

    "We slept in what had once been the gymnasium. The floor was of varnished wood, with stripes and circles painted on it, for the games that were formerly played there; the hoops for the basketball nets were still in place, though the nets were gone." These descriptive words begin the 1985 book, The Handmaid's Tale, written by Margaret Atwood and, at the same time, kick off a popular modern feminist screed intent on discrediting the Pro-Life movement. 

    Written in response to the growing Christian values of the late '70s and early '80s, the book follows the story of a woman named Offred as she navigates the personal and political minefield of the newly-minted Republic of Gilead that has replaced the United States at an unspecified time in the future. Built on a warped religious foundation, the new nation groups its citizens into categories that determine their value to the state. Offred, like every woman capable of bearing children in a time where the birth rate has dropped dramatically, is forced to serve as a walking womb for childless government leaders and their wives. The Handmaids, as they are called, have no choice in the matter and must endure repeated and republic-mandated assaults for the greater good.

    Modern feminists and the Pro-Choice cabal love to compare the Pro-Life movement to this oppressive and deviant model, claiming that protecting children from murder, providing aid to their mothers, and nurturing familial love is comparable to legal rape and slavery. While their assertions are completely false, disproven daily by mothers who kept their children and now have a chance to love and watch them grow up thanks to the Pro-Life movement, those who defend "choice" are too blinded by rage and caught up in their own agenda to see the difference. At the same time, many of them support a practice, created in 1976, that is much closer to a realized Gilead than anything in the Pro-Life movement: the Surrogacy Industry. 

    Enabling parenthood through the use of volunteer wombs for couples who can't carry their own children, surrogacy seems like a wonderful medical advancement and a shoe-in part of the Pro-Life cause. Unfortunately, the realities of the industry draw stark lines between the two, and the practice more often resembles a baby-buying business that thrives off desperate parents, exploitation of women, and disregard for the basic needs of its commodity (children) than anything remotely positive. In fact, much like the abortion industry, surrogacy is primarily focused on making money over the wellbeing of anyone associated with it.

    In Georgia, a European country thriving off the surrogacy industry, this fact is clinically displayed. As one of the country's higher paying professions, thousands of women desperate for money or fleeing domestic violence offer up their bodies as incubators, not understanding that, in doing so, they have transformed from human beings into enterprise preservers. They must carry the babies but they must not get attached to them. They must follow every order prearranged by the industry and the parents they serve. Their only worth lies in delivering healthy babies so, in failing to do so, a surrogate may be subjected to an abortion at the whim of the child's parents with no regard for the toll that procedure takes on the woman. Though it is hardly spoken of, many women regret surrogacy and wish they had never sold their bodies so haphazardly. And yet, in the face of industrial greed, their voices, pain, and regret are all but silenced.

    

    We here at Heartbeat Press recognize that the issue of surrogacy is a difficult one to discuss because many families would not have their children without the innovation. And any advancement that allows children to be born rather than aborted is a blessing. But we also ask that those who ardently support the industry reflect and do their own research on what we have discussed above. Any industry a person supports should be researched in depth, for your own knowledge, and in cases like this one, to shed light on dark corners that have festered far too long. Surrogacy is not perfect (far from it) and often opens the door for exploitation and greed. It completely disregards the babies it barters (depriving them of essential parental connection and the physical benefits of bonding with the women who carried them), and the women who spend nine months nurturing these children are dehumanized and left without the fulfillment that should come with the birth of a child.

    Beyond that, surrogacy sets the precedent that women's bodies can be used without regard for an individual's worth, that motherhood is an inconvenience that can be passed off and reclaimed when "convenient," and that life can be bought and sold. No better than the abortion industry, surrogacy and its ideals go against everything the Pro-Life movement holds dear and, therefore, should be passionately fought against in favor of building true connections, love, and family. We don't live in an American Gilead yet, but, then again, how much further would we have to go to get there? 

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As stated above, Heartbeat Press highly encourages individual research on the issue of surrogacy. 

As a broad, complicated, and emotionally charged issue it is important to be informed and confident in your conviction no matter which side of the aisle it falls on. 

Heartbeat Press can only provide so much information and we wouldn't want our readers to only take our word on this issue so please, dive deeper into the debate for yourself.

- Informative Videos To Start With -

Selling Surrogates - Wombs for hire in Georgia

How Involved Should Moms be with Their Babies?

How Does Baby Surrogacy Actually Work?

She's Having My Baby

Khloe Kardashian's Surrogacy Regret

    

Sources: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, Wikipedia, Creative Family Connections, Unreported World

Photo Credit: Noah Eisenman 

Pray Blog - Anger

Anger - Definition.

A strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility.


We all get angry; it's part of our fallen human nature. But think about that definition for a moment. Annoyance, displeasure; it's true. Doesn't all anger stem from some sort of annoyance? You might get angry at that person who cut you off on the road, or your family when they're being loud and you just want quiet. How about your boss who asks you to complete one assignment when you wanted to do another, or anything that disrupts your natural routine? Yes, you can get angry at all these things, but they all started from annoyance - a little problem that you blew up all out of proportion and now you can't get around it. That is what all anger is: annoyance or displeasure that you are letting rule the moment.

Next time you feel annoyed, take a moment to think. Is this going to continue to bother me, will it make me angry? Maybe take a breath or walk away from the annoyance. Just remember: annoyance leads to anger.

Pray:
Dear Lord, you never intended for anger to happen; it was a byproduct of sin and a fallen world. Let all of us keep our anger at bay; help us to glorify you by staying calm and seeking you when we feel annoyed. There is no getting rid of anger while we are on this earth, but we can ask for your help in keeping our anger at a minimum.

World Peace

"World peace!" we cry, and it appears that we have it.

But there is anything but peace. There is a war being raged all over the world on all fronts, physical, mental, and spiritual. But no one can see the enemy; he is invisible, but he is the most evil and terrifying enemy in the world. The devil!

Many people do not believe the devil exists, but the truth is the devil is as real as God is. The devil is the thing that goes bump in the dark, he is the author of your most terrible thoughts, and he is what created fear, anger, and hate.

But we must not be afraid of the devil, because there is an even more powerful being. His power is so great that the devil can do nothing against him or anyone who believes in him. This being is Jesus! No matter how hard the devil tries to bombard you with his lies and temptations, he can never win you over. But only if you put your faith in Jesus.

Jesus loves us very much; he wants us to have a defense against the devil's lies so he has given us his Word, his church, and each other. With these weapons, we can stand as bravely as any soldier, but we will crumble without our commander, Jesus.

So now is our world so peaceful? The invisible armies of darkness are marching all over the world. They seek to destroy every bit of light they find. But there is more light than they know; there is a huge army of light. Every Christian is part of this army and everyone can fight the darkness. We all have the power to fight; the question is, will we? World peace is non-existent now; it has not existed in the past and it will never exist until Jesus returns. So while we wait, will we fight?

Photo Credit: Arctic Wolves