Four years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, releasing states to protect the lives of children and their mothers from the harms of abortion.
While the legal milestone is still worth celebrating, we know that the Dobbs decision allowed pro-abortion states to expand and entrench harmful abortion policy. Tragically, the widespread use of abortion pills, hostility of progressive state leaders, and suspected increase in reproductive coercion systematically threaten our communities and our ministries.
How should pregnancy help organizations continue to respond?
Be clear-eyed about the opposition: Certain pro-abortion activists insist on shutting us down. That’s disappointing - but unsurprising - when we remember we serve in a broken world. But it helps to understand who opposes us.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) - a one-time civil rights powerhouse - has adjusted its mission to include smearing pregnancy help as the "insidious arm of the anti-abortion movement" known to “lure pregnant people” into “fake” clinics. The activist pro-abortion group, Campaign for Accountability is proud to bully tech companies into suppressing the truth about Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) and just last week “respectfully request[ed]” that the attorney general of New York legally harass pregnancy centers once again.
Thankfully, there’s been a lull in violent acts of terrorism against our centers and in April the Trump Department of Justice identified biased enforcement of the FACE Act under the previous administration and clarified the government’s responsibility to protect pregnancy centers.
Knowing that major news events can quickly reignite hostility, pregnancy help leaders should keep Heartbeat’s guidelines for responding to vandalism accessible and consider submitting threats of vandalism and violence through the FBI Tip Line or their local FBI office.
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Whether through ignorance or malice, a group of U.S. House Members and Senators have borrowed these activist talking points and profess “deep alarm” and “profound concerns” that a government website, Moms.gov, would dare to point expectant mothers to a resource that helps them navigate the uncertainty and challenge of an unexpected pregnancy.
In fact, since the launch of Moms.gov, the website referral has already resulted in more than 26,000 visits to the Option Line center locator, a total site view increase of 319%, meaning more connections to life-affirming pregnancy help.
Motherhood should not be partisan. At a time when many mothers are looking for support, guidance, and practical resources, it’s disappointing that anyone - especially our elected leaders - would focus on what we do not provide - namely, abortion and contraceptives - rather than the thousands of women we help every day.
Tweet This: When mothers are looking for support, guidance, and resources, it’s disappointing to have elected leaders focus instead on abortion.
How do we respond?
We keep serving: For more than five decades, pregnancy help organizations have walked alongside women with compassionate care, practical support, and hope, receiving a remarkable 98% satisfaction rating. Fundamentally, we keep welcoming the women and families who find us.
It helps to remember that we’re part of something much larger than our own quiet, compassionate, and comprehensive care. The free ultrasounds, parenting classes, diapers, and baby clothes add up to millions of dollars in support and, more importantly, a vast mosaic of individual stories of hope.
We explain: Our behavior speaks volumes, but words often prove necessary.
For several years, the resource PregnancyCenterTruth.com has served as a one-stop resource to address the false claims commonly hurled at our centers.
Heartbeat has also announced new resources to help pregnancy help organizations to respond to growing concerns of abortion pill poisoning and other reproductive coercion.
In June, Heartbeat submitted written testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, arguing that the SPLC’s defamation and bias threaten the pregnancy help community and the vulnerable women we serve. Regrettably, the testimony argues, this hostility is part of a larger pattern, but “our country will be a better place if the organizations fomenting such hostility are held accountable.”
We fight: Sometimes the battle finds us, and we have no choice but to fight.
On June 24, 2026, the trial finally opened in The People of the State of California v. Heartbeat International & RealOptions, the first lawsuit over APR to go to trial in U.S. history.
As Heartbeat’s General Counsel Danielle White wrote recently in RealClear Politics, “California Attorney General Rob Bonta is seeking more than $20 million in combined fines—enough to financially destroy Heartbeat International… and RealOptions… - for sharing truthful, medically supported information about APR with women who want a second chance at life for their babies.”
Notably, after years of subpoenas, discovery, and litigation, California has failed to identify a signal individual harmed by the APR protocol. To read our attorney’s opening statement and see case updates, visit Heartbeat’s case page.
Tweet This: After years of subpoenas, discovery, and litigation, California has failed to identify a single individual harmed by the APR protocol.
We advocate: Heartbeat has helped equip the pregnancy help movement in our nation's capital.
In June, we partnered with Americans United for Life (AUL) and others to equip pregnancy help leaders for effective advocacy, in the first annual "Pregnancy Center Advocacy Day."
Pregnancy help leaders can also express their interest in joining Heartbeat’s 2027 Babies Go to Congress event where centers have the opportunity to feature a client and her child, allowing lawmakers to see the living impact of pregnancy help through a powerful, personal story.
Pro-life supporters should also consider joining Heartbeat’s open letter supporting the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network and the women it serves.
Tweet This: Pro-life supporters can consider joining Heartbeat’s open letter supporting the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network and the women it serves.
These efforts merely scratch the surface. But the pregnancy help community always finds a way to serve and be faithful.
What are your next steps?
Editor’s note: Jessica Prol Smith is Director of Government Relations for Heartbeat International. Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and Pregnancy Help News. Heartbeat is currently the subject of two lawsuits concerning sharing information about Abortion Pill Reversal.
