Movimento per la Vita

Movimento Per la Vita Italiano (MPVI) is the most prominent Italian Pro-life Association. It has the mission to defend and promote the value of human life “from the conception to the natural death” without exceptions.

Since 1975, MPVI has been actively working nationwide to promote the right to life and the value of human dignity. It meets pregnant women who need help with tailor-made empowerment projects: every story, every woman, is different and unique.

Solidarity, democracy, non-confessional purpose, and specificity are the other values inspiring the Movement service.

At a glance:

• 32.500 mothers served each year,
• 11.934 mothers assisted in 2019-2022 through SOS Vita (Italian Option line),
• 10.000 volunteers across the nation,
• 431 pregnancy help centers (Centri di Aiuto alla Vita - CAV) and local MPV centers,
• 64 maternity homes,
• 2 MOVIT, pro-life university groups (in Florence and Rome),
• 1 “Equipe giovani,” i.e. the national youth group.

We welcome every mother with difficulty, maybe hesitating to keep her baby.

Our challenge is reaching many more mothers through SOS VITA service.

Let Us Help Her.

SOS Vita

In addition to CAVs and Homes, the MPV offers the Option Line called "SOS VITA," which includes a free line (+39 800 813 000) and an online chat (sosvita.it). Both these services are open 24/7.

It is the best solution to overcome the fear of judgment and the shame of some girls and still offer them listening until the last moment before choosing their pregnancy. 

Carlo's Life: A Gift for Everyone

In 2019, during the pandemic, Beatrice was only 19 years old. She had recently started college and dreamed of becoming a professor of Math. Caught by the sudden pandemic, she isolated herself from her family in the city where she studied. She approached that neighbor, a handsome young man, a late-year student in law school. She got pregnant. Desperate and isolated, Bea surfed on the Internet, found a contact, and found SOS VITA. Thanks to the support of our volunteer, called like her mother, she felt supported and decided to keep her baby. At the baptism of Carlo, Beatrice invited all her uncles, even those with whom there had been misunderstandings. Thanks to the birth of little Carlo, the parents met her uncles, they clarified themselves, and today the family is more united than before.

All financial gifts received designated for our approved “alliance” affiliates will be forwarded to them in a reasonable timeframe (usually upon exceeding $250US). Heartbeat International deducts $30 plus 3% from the transfer, to help defray internal cost for money transfers, currency conversion, clerical costs, bank fees and any processing fees that might be charged. Should any funds be unable to be forwarded – primarily related to the recipient - they may be re-allocated for similar international work.

Centros de Ayuda para la Mujer Latinoamericana

CAM is a life-affirming network of 98 pro-life ministries in 20 Latin American countries, founded in Mexico in 1989. 

CAM serves pregnancy help ministries by assisting their affiliates in fulfilling the mission that God has given to reach, rescue, and renew their communities for life by serving abortion-vulnerable women and their families and working to restore God’s plan for our sexuality. CAM is committed to defending human life from the moment of conception to natural death across Latin America. 

CAM also provides valuable training, such as cooking and sewing, to women in low income situations who are facing an unexpected pregnancy. (See testimony below)

CAM is a joint Affiliation Partners with Heartbeat International. Heartbeat supports their efforts to equip and encourage a regional network of local, grassroots efforts to promote life-affirming alternatives to abortion. 

Client Testimony:

"I went to the clinic Santa Catarina (Mexico City) because I decided to get an abortion, but CAM (Woman Help Center) convinced me to have the baby. Now I have a job thanks to CAM."

–Veronica 

Pregnancy Help Australia

Pregnancy Help Australia is a national body that provides support, education and resources to life-affirming pregnancy support centres throughout Australia. 
The services we provide to Pregnancy Support Centres allow them to better assist women and families who may be experiencing difficulties as a result of a pregnancy or suffering a pregnancy loss.

 Our Vision: 

• Supports agencies to be dynamic, compassionate organisations committed to the provision of professional services for all pregnancy related issues
• Supports agencies that provide information and support for women, their partners and their families when they are experiencing distress or hardship as the result of pregnancy or any pregnancy loss.

Our Mission:

• Pregnancy Help Australia is dedicated to ensuring that quality pregnancy support services are available to everyone
• Pregnancy Help Australia provides support to individual agencies that offer positive choices for women, their partners and their families.

Pregnancy Support Services of Asia (PSSA)

Pregnancy Support Services of Asia (PSSA) is a non-profit interdenominational organization of life affirming pregnancy resource centers across Asia. 

PSSA, founded by Lily Perez and headquartered in Manila, takes on the daily challenge of pregnancy support, thanks to the grace-filled vision that God gave to Lily over a decade ago.

PSSA has joined hands with Heartbeat International in a joint-affiliation agreement that makes more life-saving services available to PSSA’s pregnancy help centers.

PSSA affiliates offer concrete services and support to people who are experiencing or have experienced problem pregnancies.

VISION:  An environment where every human heart is cherished and protected – within the womb and within strong families. – from Heartbeat International

MISSION:  To reduce abortion and strengthen the family in Asia by establishing, developing, and supporting life-affirming pregnancy services through prevention, crisis intervention and healing.

VALUES:  PSSA upholds the intrinsic value of every human life; and promotes the special place of sexuality within marriage, children and within strong families.

Pregnancy Care Canada 

Pregnancy Care Canada (formerly CAPSS) was formed in 1997 to provide a Canadian national association dedicated to encouraging, equipping and partnering with local Pregnancy Centres.

Pregnancy Care Canada provides leadership development, operational standards, staff, and volunteer training along with spiritual encouragement to over 70 affiliated Centres.

Their purpose is to help assist local pregnancy centers to reach and compassionately care for clients facing issues related to unplanned pregnancies, post-abortion stress, and sexual health.

Pregnancy Care Canada is a joint Affiliation Partners with Heartbeat International. Heartbeat supports their efforts to equip and encourage a regional network of local, grassroots efforts to promote life-affirming alternatives to abortion. 

Association for Life of Africa

Barbra Nalavwe Mwansa, founded the first pro-life pregnancy center in Zambia in 1998, Silent Voices, which has now saved 7,000 babies from abortion and spread the message of life to more than 25,000 young people in the nation of Zambia.

IAs the Silent Voices ministry grew, they began training people who were passionate about saving lives and desired to open centers in their own countries across the continent of Africa. In 2009 Barbra and the Silent Voices team held the first PAN- AFRICAN Conference. Since then there has been an increase of centers in Zambia and throughout Africa. Because of the demand for training indigenous workers and the great results that followed, Association for Life of Africa was formed by Barbra and her team to continue serving those who seek to start and run life-affirming pregancy help ministries in Africa.

AFLA is a joint Affiliation Partners with Heartbeat International. Heartbeat supports their efforts to equip and encourage a regional network of local, grassroots efforts to promote life-affirming alternatives to abortion. 

Client Testimony:

My name is Tamara. My mom died when I was 6 years old. My dad decided to return to Nigeria after my mother's death but my grandmother would not allow him to take me. I stayed with my grandmother until I was 9 years old. At that time I went to live with my uncle so that I could start going to school since my grandmother had no means to support me. While my aunt was away on a trip my uncle came into my room and raped me every night until she returned. I started feeling weak and sick. I later found out that I was pregnant. When my aunt came back, I knew had to tell her what had happened. She was angry but could not report the case to the police. She asked me to report the rape to the police for fear that the husband would harm her. My uncle was arrested and has remained in custody.

The government removed me from my home and took me to Silent Voices Maternity Home. My blood level was only 4 mills, I had no strength. In the maternity home, I was cared for and delivered a baby boy. I named the baby Michael resembling to the Arc angel that fought the powers of darkness. My baby is two weeks old. I am happy to see this baby besides the pain and the suffering.  I thank Silent Voice and AFLA for their love and support.

 

 

All financial gifts received designated for our approved “alliance” affiliates will be forwarded to them in a reasonable timeframe (usually upon exceeding $250US). Heartbeat International deducts $30 plus 3% from the transfer, to help defray internal cost for money transfers, currency conversion, clerical costs, bank fees and any processing fees that might be charged. Should any funds be unable to be forwarded – primarily related to the recipient - they may be re-allocated for similar international work.

Pregnancy Help Network - South Africa

Since 2000 Pregnancy Help Network has been affirming life through developing and equipping an effective network of 70 pregnancy help centers in South Africa to reach women and families facing an unexpected or crisis pregnancy.

We provide assessments and guidance to emerging pregnancy help NPO’s and mentor existing organizations through networking and workshops that teach train and develop South Africans to be a nation that affirms and values life.

We source, develop, and provide a wide range of training material, brochures, booklets, books, and equipment to enhance our service delivery.

An annual conference introduces pregnancy centers to the latest trends and developments in the field of women, children, and family care.

Our range of training includes personal and leadership development and various counseling skills to equip and empower pregnancy care centers to assist families affected by a crisis pregnancy.

Client Testimony:

I had three clients who changed their minds about abortion after counseling. Once was a student who was convinced that she cannot keep her baby and that her parents would not accept her pregnancy. After our counseling, she talked with her mother and both parents responded differently than she had expected. (Counsellor from Options Care Centre...George...South Africa)

Pregnancy Help Network convenes an annual conference that facilitates networking opportunities with centers in SA which help each center to learn what has been tried and is working and where we can make improvements in our own centers. Through Pregnancy Help Network we also have access to resources and training from other organizations and countries that they partner with. These ‘’tools of our trade’’ are a huge benefit for our centers in terms of helping a client to consider a life-affirming solution to her crisis pregnancy. (Pregnancy Resource Centre...Amanzimtoti...South Africa)

April and Derrick

At seventeen and a half I joined the Military and started to get a little taste of freedom.  I was sent to training with the North Carolina National Guard, when I fell in love with my now husband of twelve years. He was in the Navy and left to be stationed in California. You’re now saying, “How is that a great testimony, and how does the second chance come into play?”  The guy I fell in love with was not the guy my parents wanted for me. Why not? Let me tell you.  Biracial relationships were not allowed in the family - period.  

So when I came home from training, I had to make a choice - my family or my African American boyfriend. I choose my family. Months later I turned eighteen and made a choice to move out of my family’s home which gave me more freedom to do what I wanted to do. I started to drink underage, do drugs, and party. I also still had feelings for my boyfriend that I was told I could not be with. We reconnected and fell in love again with a long distance relationship. I was headed down a path that was not pleasing to God, or my family, and was very empty.  

The life I was now living included drinking, drugs and non-marital sex which kept me from facing reality and I thought I “had it all.” I lived by myself, paid my own bills and had a great relationship with my family. I was also able to have a relationship with my boyfriend without my parents knowing. Well, that was until my boyfriend came for a visit for a week or so. One night we went to a club with his friends and mine and were drinking a lot.  That night changed my life forever. Yes, that was the night I conceived my son Derrick. I found out about four to five weeks into the pregnancy but I continued to live the same lifestyle.  

I was running scared. I was scared that I would lose my family and scared that my boyfriend would leave me. I mean, why would he care?  We only talked on the phone and saw each other a few days out of the year. Now at the age of twenty, I found myself pregnant, scared and alone. How can I keep it all? I loved my boyfriend and my family at the same time. I did not want to lose any of them. The only person that knew was my best friend. In my mind I was trying to come up with a fix. I had two options- keep the baby and lose my family and boyfriend, or abort and no one had to know. I could go on with my life and still be loved by all.

One day I found out about LifeLine Pregnancy Help Center.  I did not know too much about it, but knew it had “help” in its name. I walked into the doors and that is where the love begins. They talked to me and I felt cared for. My heart changed when she (my client advocate) handed me a tiny silicone baby in my hand. I held it and studied it; I still remember her saying “this is how big your baby is.” I questioned “How? I’m just a few weeks pregnant” - but it was true. My baby had a heartbeat. He had my DNA. He was a boy, and had hands and feet. My mind changed in a matter of an hour; I could not ever hurt my child. I choose to tell Raymond, the father. It went better than what I thought it would. He was so happy he was going to be a dad! 

I chose to hide my pregnancy from my family, but they found out and disowned me and my unborn child. The pain I felt was real, it hurt, but I loved them so much and wanted them to be a part of their grandchild’s life. That did not happen. I had to do this by myself, with a long distance relationship with the father.  That is where Life Line Pregnancy Help Center stepped in. I started taking classes and watching videos on how the pregnancy was going and how to take care of a baby. They provided me an option to “earn while I learned.” At six months into my pregnancy, my appendix ruptured and my son’s life and mine were in great danger. I fought hard and gave up everything to keep my son and there was no way I was giving up now. Going through this and being in the hospital for weeks made me question myself again. I had no family to help out if something was to happen to me. I fought and pulled through and my son defied all odds and made it too.  

I gave birth to my son on June 10, 2001. He was so cute!  That day I found a love that I had never found before. I would give up everything all over again for him. When my son was a few weeks old, I made a choice not to return to work and move to Gulfport, MS with his dad. His father’s face lit up the moment that he met his son for the first time. On March 1, 2002, when Derrick was only nine months old, Raymond and I were married. Being married to someone in the military is a job of its own - moving a lot of times to many different states. In 2003, I got the unexpected news of my grandmothers passing. I was not sure how to attend the funeral, and not upset my parents by attending. To my surprise, my father pulled me aside in front of my husband and child and wanted to mend the relationship. That was the second best day of my life. He was able to see and talk to his grandson and son-in-law.

On May 13, 2004, we brought a beautiful daughter named Hailey into this world. While being focused on being a good mother to my children, going on with my life and just living day to day, I did not put my trust in God. I finally realized it made my life a lot easier when I put my faith in God and allowed him to take control of my family’s lives. To the present day I am thankful for God, LifeLine Pregnancy Help Center  staff, and family for supporting me and never giving up. I believe my experiences in life have played a sufficient role in helping other expecting mothers with their labor and delivery. I currently am working as a Doula in my community.  May God’s love shine through me and play a sufficient role in their lives.

Laura and Mason

I found myself a millennial child in her early twenties in a life of freedom and carelessness. Away from home, and away from the only life id ever known, I was trying to take hold of this new life of independence. I gave myself no limits, I wanted to be able to say I had experienced it all. As months passed in my new home in Columbus, I watched  as my drive for school slowly, but surely diminish. My priorities switched over to daily social gatherings where drugs and alcohol were being used, I mean after all that's what most college kids in their early twenties are doing, right? Perhaps I was just curious, but that drive to "experience it all" led me into a life I never imagined for myself.

After about two years of lots of parties and wasted time and money, I was lost. My family that was once so close, hardly spoke to me and I dropped out of my senior year of college. My relationship (with my current boyfriend) and excessive partying sent me into a stress level I had never reached before. Significant as well as awful things occurred to my boyfriend that changed our whole relationship. The things that happened made me wanna be there for him and help him. But it inevitably changed our relationship. As a small wedge began to build between us, I found myself seeking refuge with other people. It was at this point that I found myself in a compromising position with another boy. It was easy to cope with the shame and guilt of my multiplying transgressions cause I could just party and forget about everything. After finally coming to a point where neither boys in this triangle were willing to deal with the progressing situation, I found myself pregnant.

Within the week of discovering this, I began being pulled in several very different directions. It took some time but I finally came to the realization I hadn't even thought about what Laura wanted. Terrified and emotional, I didn't even get the chance to deal with these emotions personally, it seemed all my peers had better answers for me. The option of abortion was unfathomable to me, but at one point facing this pregnancy with the uncertainty of his paternity seemed more terrifying than the abortion. The time between my positive test result and my first ultrasound left me strained. When the day arrived, it took about 15 minutes to find my little one in my womb. I stared anxiously at the black screen awaiting for something to appear. In one seconds time a blurred imaged finally appeared and in the next moment my whole life changed as a heartbeat became visible.

At that point I became very selfish, I didn't care about what other people wanted me to do, I had seen that heartbeat and knew I couldn't let it go. After several months of many friends pulling me toward erasing this "mistake" I came to a decision. It wasn't this little boy's fault he was conceived. I couldn't believe I could be so enamored with this pea-sized life within me. I looked forward and saw a life of purpose and hope for myself all because this little boy was here. It wasn't going to be the end of my life, it was going to be the start of it. I could not imagine my life without this soul in it now. 9 months later I was holding him in my arms, and knew I had made the right decision. At that point no one else mattered, just my little boy and I.

Victoria and Christiana

I am forever grateful for the Bowie Pregnancy Clinic, and especially my counselor, Marsha, who I first met in May 2000.  This is my story.

Upon the realization that I had missed my period, my heart immediately sank at the thought that I could possibly be pregnant.  I was only a 15 year old high school student.  What would I do?  I thought there was no possible way I could bring a child into this world and be able to meet all the needs that a child would need.  As panic sunk in, I called my then boyfriend (now husband) and he drove to my house with a home pregnancy test.  Our hearts were racing as we awaited the results…. the home pregnancy test showed that I was indeed pregnant.  Not knowing what to do, we researched pregnancy centers in the hopes that they could provide more information and advice on our options.  That is when we found the Bowie Pregnancy Clinic.

Our minds were pretty made up when we arrived for our appointment at the Clinic.  We had decided that having an abortion was the best option.  There were so many factors working against us having a baby, it just made the most sense to not have the baby.  We met our counselor, Marsha, who spoke with us for nearly two hours that day.  She was such a kind and caring woman, who answered every question we had with no absolutely no judgment.  She not once frowned upon us when we told her what we wanted to do, but instead educated us on our potential options.  At the end of our counseling session, she invited us to come back that following Wednesday for a sonogram.  Even though we already had our minds set on the abortion, we agreed. 

I remember Marsha calling me every day until my Wednesday sonogram to check on how I was doing.  She would always end our phone conversations with a prayer, which as time went on, I found extremely comforting.

The Wednesday sonogram was such an eye opening experience.  There, we found out our due date and was able to listen to our baby’s actual heartbeat.  That was a truly breathtaking experience.  That moment itself completely changed our lives.

As we highly contemplated changing our decision of having an abortion to keeping the baby, we faced many, many obstacles.  Our parents disapproved of our decision, we had to figure out what we were going to do about our schooling, we had to find a place to live, we had to find jobs, and so much more in the preparation of having and raising a baby, and especially at such a young age.  Through every step of the way, every obstacle we had to overcome, Marsha and the Clinic were there for us.  Marsha would call us weekly, sometimes daily, to check on how we were doing and would offer us endless encouragement through each and every obstacle.  With her support and with the support of all of the prayers we had from the Clinic, we overcame every obstacle… even the seemingly impossible ones. 

On January 6, 2001, we gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby girl that we named Christiana.  Marsha was one of the first people we called with the great news.  She came almost immediately with her hands full of gifts from herself and the Clinic.  Our parents, who initially disapproved with our decision, were overjoyed with the birth of their first 

granddaughter.  Time stood still and everything changed once we brought Christiana into our lives.  The seemingly impossible obstacles that once stood in our way somehow found paths and we felt, for the first time in our lives, that everything happens for a reason and everything was going to be okay.

Today, my husband Christian and I have been happily together for 15 years.  We have both worked extremely hard balancing work and finishing school while raising a child and are currently working in our careers as an Engineer and a Paralegal.  We got married in 2006 and had our second daughter, Mia, in 2009.  Christiana, our oldest, is now a 13 year old honor roll student getting ready to enter high school.  Christiana and Mia are, without a doubt, the joys of our lives and we could not imagine life without them.

I say that the Bowie Pregnancy Clinic helped saved my daughter’s life because they opened up our eyes and gave us the knowledge, the strength and the encouragement to help us carry out our decision in keeping our baby.  The Clinic brought our counselor, Marsha, into our life who guided us through each tough obstacle that a young teen faces having a baby at a young age.  Without her, or the Clinic, our daughter would not be here today.  But I also say the Bowie Pregnancy Clinic helped saved my life because in deciding that I wanted to keep my daughter, it opened up my eyes as to my life goals, and it gave me the push I needed to fulfill them.  I am advocating for this Clinic because it truly saves lives.