Federal lawmakers offered marked praise for pregnancy help providers and the work they do during a recent training event in the nation’s capital.
Telling Our Story: The Keys to Unlocking Pregnancy Center Advocacy was presented by pro-life legal and advocacy non-profit Americans United for Life (AUL).
AUL partnered with several other organizations to present the training, also termed Pregnancy Center Advocacy Day and Pregnancy Center Day on the Hill.
The event brought pregnancy help directors and select staff from roughly 90 centers nationwide came to learn how to effectively tell their organization’s story and advocate with lawmakers and others on behalf of pregnancy help.
Following the training component participants had meetings on Capitol Hill with federal lawmakers and staff where they had the opportunity to put their training into action.
During the June 3-4 event, Members of Congress made brief appearances to offer remarks of encouragement and praise or sent such comments along in a video message shared during an appreciation banquet.
[Click here to subscribe to Pregnancy Help News!]
Representative Mary Miller (R-IL) addressed the banquet in person, calling the work of pregnancy help “essential.”
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) was among those to present a recorded message, emphasizing the human connection that pregnancy centers provide by offering to walk alongside women and help them in practical ways, such as diapers, ultrasound, and encouragement.
“Those things matter to people,” he said. “They matter to God, and quite frankly, they matter to that child in ways that people will never know.”
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) gave a shout-out to pregnancy centers in his state, saying they provide support and resources to women and families in need.
“They're an important part of every community,” Biggs said, “giving every woman considering abortion a place of support to continue pregnancy, a place where they find the help they need to choose life.”
“There's no better way to show how important each and every human life is,” said Biggs.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) expressed gratitude to AUL for hosting the event and told the pregnancy help attendees, “Your support of women who are so in need of your services is important.”
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) framed his remarks saying that while the 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade was historic, there remains much more work to be done.
“And as we continue pushing for pro-life policies at the federal and state levels, it's so critical that our pregnancy centers are equipped with the resources they need to help moms in need choose life,” he said.
“As leaders of pregnancy centers, you are on the very front lines in our communities, and you have the opportunity to help save lives every day,” Daines said.
“It takes courage,” he added. “It takes courage to stand for truth and be a voice for those who do not have a voice.”
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) told the pregnancy help crowd, “As we face many challenges in the fight to protect life, your work is more critical than ever.”
“You stand by vulnerable women and families, as they worry about caring for a new life,” he said. “You provide crucial information for mothers and fathers as they prepare to welcome a baby boy or girl into this world. You give hope, where many other voices actually prevent hope. You provide calm voices amid the chaos of those who don't want His children to be born.”
“I am continually amazed by the caliber of people who lead or volunteer at these centers,” Biggs said. “Your efforts are not vain, and the lives you save, and nurture will echo into eternity.”
“Your work is important,” he added. “It is vital.”
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) thanked the pregnancy help leaders for “making a real difference for women, children, and families across our country.”
She noted how pregnancy resource centers provide compassionate care, counseling, parenting education, medical support, and essential resources to women and families during the critical moments in their lives.
“The work you do reminds women that they are not alone and that both they and their children are valued, supported, cared for with dignity, and compassion,” Tenney said.
Tweet This: The work of pregnancy help reminds women they are not alone & both they and their children are valued, supported, and cared for with dignity
She said as well that the compassion and service offered by the pregnancy help movement “helps build a culture that values mothers, children, and the dignity of every human life.”
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) said she “could not be more grateful” for the work pregnancy help personnel do in centers across the country.
“Your dedication to expecting mothers and their preborn children helps remind us that every day of the gift of life,” she said. “While we continue our work to protect life at every stage here in D.C., you are on the ground changing hearts and minds by being the support system that pregnant moms and families truly need. You are all truly the rock on which we stand.”
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) addressed the pregnancy help gathering from the podium at its closing lunch.
Pregnancy care centers have been “the absolute” most important part of the pro-life movement right from the beginning, he said, and without their work more women would become victims of abortion.
“What you do every single day is life-affirming, life- saving,” Smith said.
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) said pregnancy centers were the heart of the pro-life movement.
“Your message is needed even more than ever,” she said.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) thanked those in attendance at the pregnancy center advocacy training event “for standing up and defending the innocent unborn, the most vulnerable people in our society.”
“You do that at a time when you have been pilloried, you have been attacked, you have been slammed,” he said.
“It is a privilege to stand alongside you,” said Hawley.
Joining AUL in partnership to present the Telling Our Story: The Keys to Unlocking Pregnancy Center Advocacy training were the Leadership Institute, Care Net, Heartbeat International, Seven Weeks Coffee, America First Policy Institute, Choose Life Marketing, the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, Family Policy Alliance, Truth Media Services, Vitae Foundation, and Winning Strategy Group.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News.
