Inside Moms.gov: A New Era of Support for Expecting Mothers

What if the government actually prioritized resources for mothers and families in a way that truly celebrated life? In this episode of the Prolife Team podcast, we explore the groundbreaking launch of moms.gov and the vital connection between Heartbeat International and this new national initiative.

Join Jacob, Father Frank, and Jor-El Godsey, President of Heartbeat International, as they discuss the shift toward life-affirming government policies. We take a deep dive into the resources available on the new website, ranging from nutrition and medical care to financial planning for a child's future. You will learn how pregnancy centers are outnumbering abortion clinics and what is being done to reach mothers in their moment of need through technology and immediate support networks.

This conversation also covers the importance of the Abortion Pill Rescue Network and how restorative reproductive medicine is helping families overcome fertility challenges without compromising their values. Whether you are a pro-life advocate or someone looking for resources, this episode provides a comprehensive look at the modern landscape of family support in America.

Chapters
0:00 Musical Intro and Opening Prayer
4:15 Welcome to the Prolife Team Podcast
6:30 Introducing Jor-El Godsey and Heartbeat International
9:45 The Launch of Moms.gov and its Impact
13:15 How Government Policies Support the Smallest Residents
16:00 Integrating Option Line and Pregnancy Centers
20:15 Nutrition and Healthy Living for Expecting Mothers
24:00 Global Pro-Life Trends and the Post-Dobbs Landscape
28:30 Countering the Rise of Mail-Order Chemical Abortions
33:00 Reaching Mothers in Need Through Online Outreach
37:45 The Importance of the Abortion Pill Rescue Network
42:15 Understanding Trump Accounts and Financial Resources
46:30 Restorative Reproductive Medicine and Fertility Support
50:45 How Option Line Connects Families to Local Help
54:00 Tracking Coerced Abortions and Protecting Women
56:00 Closing Prayer and Musical Outro

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#prolife #heartbeat #momsgov #familyresources #pregnancyhelp

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 5:08

Well, welcome to the ProLife Team podcast. I'm Jacob. I'm here with Father Frank and Jarell. And today we're going to get to hear about moms.gov and the connection that Heartbeat has with that exciting announcement. So, Father Frank, would you start us off with a prayer and then do an intro and then we'll bring Jarel in?

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Absolutely. Great to be with you again. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the opportunity to defend life. We thank you that you are the Lord of life and that in your Son Jesus Christ, life death has been conquered already. We need to proclaim, to celebrate, to serve, to apply that already accomplished victory to all the circumstances of our culture, the needs of our people, and the policies of our nation. We thank you, Lord God, that that positive policies to help families grow and to help moms and dads have children are in fact being implemented at this present time in America. And we thank you for the opportunity to uh to implement and and to and to encourage the growth of these uh of these policies. Help us, Lord, to see the blessings you are bestowing upon us and help us to participate in this great uh uh work of proclaiming, celebrating, and serving the gospel of life. We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. All right, so friends, we have uh not for the first time here, uh, but once again, uh the uh president of Heartbeat International, uh Gerald Godzi, and uh we just had in the what was it just a couple of months ago, right? The the great uh annual uh Heartbeat International Conference. I was privileged to be there once again, and and uh the the procession of all the flags of the nations uh is always a highlight of that conference, the great presentations and really the the inspiration that comes from the times of prayer, celebration, and just the networking that occurs. So, Gerelle, congratulations on another great conference. Um even more importantly, the ongoing work that uh Heartbeat and all its affiliates do uh both in the country and around the world. So great to have you with us today. And you know, y all of us, uh Jacob and yourself and I and so many others have been excited by a uh new initiative, a new website and a new piece of evidence, really, that the current uh administration in the United States uh really is interested in helping chip uh families to have children. Um I think about um Hungary, uh, for example. I um in the course of my international work, I I I've gotten to know Viktor Orbon over there and and the government of Hungary over the years, you know, very uh much, the leader is very much opposed to abortion, have succeeded in really bringing down the numbers by precisely this kind of thing we're gonna discuss today, taking initiatives from the government to remove as many obstacles as possible uh from from moms and dads who want to have children, make it easier, and that's not the whole battle, but that's a big part of it. Um so Carol, tell us about this. Uh how um introduce those of in our audience that are not familiar with moms.gov, um talk to us about it and then we'll delve into it a little more.

SPEAKER_04 8:40

So it it was uh it was actually a surprise to us uh that this was gonna happen. Uh apparently there had been some work uh behind the scenes that we were unaware of. Uh you know, it's not been our our um it's not been our understanding that that the uh you know administrations in the past have been particularly focused on, you know, the positivity of motherhood and moms. So we are grateful for this administration to be doing that and to do it in such a public and evident way. And they were looking for uh someone that would be willing to answer the calls and help connect. You know, that they really are concerned for those moms who are not sure that they want to be moms. And they they needed a positive uh uh uh outlet for that to happen. And that's when they reached out to Heartbeat International and asked this conversation out actually begun in in um in some some simple ways a a few years ago. Uh and so we were so we were unaware that those that there was even traction in making those happen until about a week before the the the week before the announcement of the of the website. Uh we got a phone call and said, hey, we're gonna we're looking at doing this. You're it's embargoed, we couldn't really even talk about it, even in those days running up to it. Um got invited to come to DC to be a part of that. So uh that was that was kind of our our experience. But you know what? We answer the phones every single day at Option Line for moms who don't know that they want to be moms, who are not sure that they're eat you know, they're not even sure what to do in their pregnancy. Uh and so we're glad to help connect them to pregnancy help organizations around the US and all 50 states.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

You know, um when I see this and what and we'll we'll we'll tell our our viewers a little more of what's actually on this website, but I think about the years and we often hear this, you know, in commentary, a political commentary now in the United States, that the great progress that we're seeing right now in government policies in defense of our faith and in defense of our values and in defense of pro-life um might not have um been so strong and overwhelming uh if we didn't have that kind of inter those those four years between the first uh uh Trump term term and the second. And the the the the reason is that during those four years, the people who helped with the great trollife progress of the first Trump administration were not sitting by on the sidelines uh just taking a break. They were working very hard. Uh there was a group, there is a group uh still very still growing and very active, the America First Policy Institute. Um and you had, you know, people from the administration and all of them uh pro-life and working hard in that interim period in anticipation of a possible second administration. They said, you know what, we're gonna presume that that you know we're gonna have one. Let's hammer out what kind of policies do we want. And when it comes to the pro-life uh area, uh there was a document publicly uh released called the Hope Agenda. And um really very much the thrust was exactly what we were just saying. Let's help our families have babies, make it easier, remove the obstacles, and encourage it. So now we see this uh uh this amazing uh website, and I want to invite our uh our listeners and viewers to take some time to go to it and really explore it. Very simple moms.gov. The.gov indicates it's an official government website. Um the title at the top of it is Resources and Information and Help for New and Expecting Mothers. Um, and then the subtitle there, Addressing the Needs of Mothers and Fathers Who Face Difficult or Unexpected Pregnancies and ensuring the well-being of mothers and the health of American families. And Jarell, right under that, there's a big, big uh uh uh section there that says pregnancy centers provide supportive services for mothers and families. And it goes on to talk about the thousands of pregnancy centers. I mean, we could see the the the stamp of heartbeat right here, right? Front and center. Uh they're promoting the pregnancy. This is what we've always we've always wanted to see the government doing, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 13:06

Yes, of course. It you know, the pre and pregnancy centers have been working regardless of what administration is in the office for 50 years, right? So this is not a new idea. Some of some of the our our opponents want to pretend that, you know, we're we're some type of nefarious outfit. But the truth is we've been helping uh moms as they've been discovering their pregnancy, and even those women who are not sure that they're pregnant, we've been helping them connect with some resources to help them confirm their pregnancy and then help them know what's available for them. You know, most most young women are not walking around with the knowledge of all the things available to to new moms or to to those that are newly pregnant. They're not walking around with that information. But pregnancy centers have had this information cataloged, specific to their community for many, many years. And so we're excited for the opportunity to to do this. Uh we're grateful for a government that is concerned about moms that are just finding out they're pregnant. You know, uh uh Father Frank, uh uh years ago I re I had the privilege to talk to then Governor Jeb Bush about a program that was starting in in Florida. You know, it's where you guys live these days. Um and and I and I was stunned by something that he said to me because it was so it was just such a a special statement, but I had never heard it from a a a sitting governor. Not that I talked to all the governors on a regular basis, but even even uh even an elected official, and he looked at me and he I said something about but you know, is that is that what we really want to do? And we were talking about a program which is which is now uh under the care of Florida Pregnancy Care Network, and he said, Well, of course, Florida is concerned about its smallest residents. And I'm like, Yes, that's the way it should be. Every elected official should be concerned about their smallest residents. And that is exactly what we see with moms.gov, that this administration is concerned about its smallest residents, who, by the way, happen to re to reside in the you know, in the womb of their moms. And so moms.gov is perfect. It's a perfect, uh well, it's not necessarily perfect in its wording, but it's perfectly re representing the sentiment that we have that moms should be valued and cherished and pointed to resources that can help them prepare their children.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

You know, that c that quote of Governor Bush reminds me of something that was done in the in the first Trump administration. You know, we have a key a key uh office in the government that impacts the pro-life uh cause is the Department of Health and Human Services. So you think about health and human services. So if you ask the government, well, who who's the who are the humans that you serve? And that's an important question, right? That's a fairly important question. So they actually have they have a statement of principles and strategies that the agency uh operates under that and spells this out. It's like, okay, health and human services, whose humans, what humans are we serving? And it's like um so the policy memo that came out under the Trump administration explicitly said we are including the children in the womb. Uh and so it's like an understanding that, you know, we're serving humans as soon as they become human. And and this is uh another piece of evidence. Now it it mentions here when it talks about the pregnancy centers, moms.gov actually has a prominent link, and it is the first uh link that appears on the site to option line. I was delighted when I saw that. So that must that's I guess uh I mean, obviously they're aware of option line, but I guess that was a fruit of the negotiations and the conversations that you referred to earlier.

SPEAKER_04 16:53

Well, it's and uh negotiations wouldn't even be the right term. It was like it was you know, someone had asked who was uh who was uh uh steeped in policy, you know, would well would option line be ever be be interested in in being a referral? And I'm like, absolutely, of course, we would want to help moms. And and frankly, you know, e even this got this got launched on Mother's Day. And we were, you know, we were initially concerned that of course only the hyper politicized people would find it first. But actually, and that is true. You know, we we got an increased number of calls that were political in nature, people that were unhappy or and but we got also got a lot of questions like, what is this about? And so we got good questions, genuine questions, not just you know, activist kind of questions. But then we got what we really wanted, which was moms calling and looking for help. And so I I was excited. We saw we saw like a 500% increase in the locator. So that means that they found a local pregnancy center themselves, right? They found they they they found that information on their own. And our call line was was up almost a hundred percent, you know, in that in that week that followed, and and has staged high, higher than it was before. So moms are finding their way to the very kind of help that we want to provide. Help that speaks life. Uh, not like the administration before uh this one, you know, the Biden administration and others uh under Obama, they they were very focused on reproductive health, which is kind of a misnomer because it's neither reproductive nor is it health, right? That you know they they simply were promoting abortions and that and and that is uh is so we're grateful for the turnaround, we're grateful for the reorientation of of uh of our own government towards life.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Yeah, it's a good point that you make because you talk about contrasts between the administrations. Yes. Biden's administration actually put up a website for abortion services, services, quote unquote. We got the mirror opposite of that. Um exactly.

SPEAKER_04 18:53

So there's a difference, Father Frank. There's not just the mirror opposite in ideology and in focus, but also from a uh uh from uh kind of a commerce side of things. Like we we don't charge and we don't we don't gain anything. No one in the pregnancy center movement gains money from a decision made by a woman. Uh whereas the the abortion industry is uh is very different than that. They're not getting reimbursed or they're getting paid for their services, and that's something that is uh that is a distinct opposite of what the pregnancy help movement is all about.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

And not only that, those at those same administrations want us to pay for it, right? Yes, there's that there's that you know, we said the government pays for something. The government pays it's us, you know, we end up paying for it. So next to that, um reference to the pregnancy centers and to option line, um they uh there's this paragraph here about federally qualified health centers the FQHS, and these are there are not as many of those as there are of pregnancy centers. In fact, it looks like the pregnancy centers are outnumber them two to one at least. Um but the federally qualified health centers are also serving uh medically underserved areas in population, as the website describes. What is uh Jiro, what is on a practical level, what is the intersection and and and relationship between pregnancy centers and these uh federally qualified health centers?

SPEAKER_04 20:26

That's a great question. You know, the the the FQHCs, as we call them, it's a little easier to say, just the letters, right? So federally qualified health centers, FQHCs are are really there for a more robust medical services for the woman, apart from her pregnancy as well as with her pregnancy. So we we we appreciate the FQHs and their ability to serve women, particularly in the underserved community. Pregnancy centers uh on the whole are not necessarily as broadly uh you know, medicalized, for instance. They don't have as many medical services. They really are focused, focused their services more on that point of finding that that a woman is pregnant. How can they confirm that? How can they help help her in that moment? Uh the FQHCs are gonna be are gonna be more beneficial on a broader health continuum uh for for women and for their their needs related to beyond pregnancy, right? So um, but the pregnancy now now honestly, there are a number of and it's a growing number of pregnancy centers that are actually very medicalized and have more robust services, and we celebrate that. That's not that's not generally the rule as it is the exception right now. Um but that those that's the difference. We really are gonna help them. And you know, uh I I can uh I can say that the FQHs are are not necessarily as definitively pro-life as the pregnancy centers are going to be, but that at least they're not they're not uh offering abortions and abortive fashions.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Right, exactly, exactly. Now, this website is really interesting. It goes on then to talk about nutrition. Nutrition. And of course, this is reflective of this whole make America Healthy Again movement. That's right. Right. And it's like, wow, this is a beautiful thing that's happening. That the government is officially, and it really in some substantial ways, you know, uh and with economic incentives, pointing Americans to more healthy eating. Um the uh I we just saw that provision, what is it, with the uh some of these benefits programs for uh those that are those that are uh uh economically uh uh challenged. What's that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And if that that that that they can't use it for junk food. So it's like, you know, you hey, listen, if the government is gonna help you to eat better, we're gonna help you eat better qualitatively, not just quantitatively, you know, go buying all the candies and sodas and chips and everything. Eat healthy. So there's you got even these these you I see uh pictures here on the website of grapes and pears and salmon and yogurt and whole milk and and think think about that.

SPEAKER_04 23:05

Think about that, Father Frank. I mean, this is the first thing that we should we should encourage, right? Is like, hey, you're pregnant, you should eat well, right? Because the two lives are involved. Like, that's the beauty of adding this. You know, the whole question about make America healthy again. Yes, of course we should make America healthy again, just like we should make America great again. Uh, but when you particularly think about moms, right, that's one of the things that immediately comes into play. But think about that. That's being introduced, at least in the moms.gov website, as one of the things that they should be mindful of. Uh, every woman that comes in should be encouraged to be healthy. And we know that, of course, abortion is not healthy, it's deadly for the baby and it's unhealthy for the mom, uh, you know, in in a in a variety of ways, maybe even with physical complications. So the fact that we that we she, you know, we're talking about the health of the mother in the midst of a of a pregnancy is a good thing and should always be that. And unfortunately, you don't hear that as a part of the, say, the services of Planned Parenthood. You know, there they don't orient themselves in that direction to immediately talk about the health of the mom. No, they orient themselves to talk about abortion or abortifacience, where they benefit from the sale of those things or they benefit from providing, and if nothing else, they benefit ideologically from uh promoting that type of uh service first, right? That's the issue. You know, it's uh it's like, hey, it's we're I'm grateful that we have a government administration that is focusing on the mom and her health and herself, because that's far better than what we see from other situations where you have a uh where you've had an administration promoting an industry, the abortion uh industrial complex, as some people have called it. Right. Big abortion, as I would call it.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Big abortion. Well, and it's incredibly detailed. I mean, there are links here to dietary guidelines, there are links here about recommendations about how many micrograms of folic acid the the pregnant mom should have every day. It's 400, by the way. Recommendation of the CDC. It has lists of the kinds of foods that moms uh pregnant moms should focus on.

SPEAKER_04 25:19

Yeah, amen. Nursing mothers, it has, you know, lists of different kinds of well that this is one of the things, this is one of the things that, you know, as the as the centers have become more involved with prenatal vitamins, you know, many of the pregnancy centers are offering those. And and someone said to me one time, it uh it was this is actually a doctor who was serving clients in a pregnancy center. He said it's kind of like a contract. If you can introduce uh prenatal, prenatal vitamins to her at that, and that in that understanding of her as a now, she's newly pregnant. And, you know, he says, when you when you introduce that and they agree to take the take those vitamins, it's like they're making a contract. They're they're actually accepting the responsibility that they have a human life and they need to be healthy for that baby. If not, and of course for themselves, they need to do that as well. This is the beauty of of uh of a government that's that's it's encouraging healthy mothers and healthy motherhood.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

So beautiful. It's so great. Well, for those that are just joining us, you are on Jacob Barr's uh podcast, even though he's letting me uh do the interviewing today. So, Jacob, thanks for having us, the ProLife Team podcast. Uh, we're talking with Jarel Gotzi, the president of Heartbeat International, massive network of pregnancy centers across America and around the world. Jarel, what what's what are the numbers now?

SPEAKER_04 26:37

The affiliates of Yeah, we're we're up to about 4,000 affiliated locations in about 100 countries. Yeah, it's amazing. Uh about two-thirds of those are in the U.S., uh, as far as the 4,000 as affiliates. And of course, we affiliate more than pregnancy centers. We include maternity homes, adoption agencies, uh, some hotlines, some of some abortion recovery programs. You know, those are so we have a uh uh we have a pregnancy help affiliation uh spectrum that we inv that are that we're involved with. And then we see it uh very different, happens very different outside of the U.S. Now, what's funny is uh, you know, not not funny, maybe uh maybe that's the wrong choice.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 27:17

What's interesting is that you know, post-DOBS, we become more like Europe. You know, Europe is a patchwork of abortion laws per country. Some of them are staunchly pro-life. We Malta would be the best example of that. And then the others are are are rapidly uh pro-abortion, and we would count, like say, France and that. Well, we have those ourselves, right? We have we have uh we have fortunately we have more more examples of staunchly pro-life than our European friends do, uh, with the the likes of Texas, Alabama, and others, uh Oklahoma, uh uh among many. Uh but of course we also have those that are like staunchly uh uh pro-abortion, abortion, not just advocates, but defenders of abortion and even shielders of abortion, which is what uh France would be our best example in Europe. But then we see California, we see New York, we see uh Massachusetts, other states that are distinctly uh abortion states, as I like to call them, abortion states versus life states.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Exactly. Yeah, we do have that patchwork, that's for sure. Um and you know, uh one of the uh most well-received little points uh I find when I'm giving talks is when I point out how the uh uh uh pregnancy centers outnumber the abortion clinics. A lot of people are not aware um of that, and it's by quite a margin, isn't it?

SPEAKER_04 28:37

It is. It's you know, it's it's now it's more than four to one. Uh in and it's a it's a good and bad uh it's well, let me say it's it's always good that we outnumber abortion clinics. Uh unfortunately, the the abortion industry is relying less and less on clinics and doing things more and more online. Uh that that's driving their profits. Uh, it's driving the numbers up. You know, they're they're basically getting our, I would contend that that the abortion industry is moving towards chemical abortion through male order abortions. You know, I I don't I don't give them the the the benefit of calling it telehealth abortions because actually those are very few amongst amongst all of the things that are happening. It's male order abortions and it had there's uh there's like no tele and no health in most of them, right? So uh we really are it's really important to understand that that's how they're growing the numbers. So that that kind of obscures the fact that there are uh uh uh more pregnancy centers than there are abortion clinics because they have moved to the online model of uh of of of promoting uh really uh without health concerns. I mean, you you know this. They they they they're they're working um opposite of how the REMs, uh the risk uh uh uh mitigation strategies that were implemented with the original chemical abortion uh um FDA approval. They're they're they've done everything to get around. And I would I would contend that they're actually doing this because of the success of pregnancy centers. You know, we we you know this. We saw we saw over a 25-year period, we saw a a decline from 1.6 million abortions per year. And I think the last time that occurred was in 1991. So by the time we get to the like 2015 or so, it had been cut in half. Now, half is still too many, one abortion is still too many, but that was a pretty solid uh win. And I, you know, I uh we have we have data that shows that that's that's been driven uh largely by the effective growth of pregnancy centers across the U.S. Um and so I think the other side took notice of that. I mean, we cut their market share by half. And they said we have to come up with this is my me conjecturing. They, you know, interestingly enough, they don't invite me to those meetings and they wouldn't, you know, they wouldn't want me to be in there. But I believe that they actually were looking for a way to get to get around and past the effectiveness of pregnancy centers in cutting into their market. And that's where they they were aided by the Biden administration and the Obama administration before that. They they they've they've basically eliminated all the obstacles so that they can just rush women into a decision they don't really want. They don't really want abortion. You know this. They they don't really want it, but they feel trapped. And some of them are actually coerced or forced into it. And we sadly we're seeing more and more examples of that now where other people are forcing them, forcing a chemical abortion onto them. You know, we we we recently launched the launched the website about that where we we identify the states where those stories are coming from. And I I'm I'm absolutely certain more and more of these stories are going to come out. And hopefully there's some would be some litigation. We're already seeing that with uh the win in Louisiana, uh, at least the short-term win with in Louisiana with um the Fifth Circuit recognizing that. Uh and and that that case is still going on. So uh um more and more of these cases are happening. The abortion industry is taking advantage of of uh of the very low bar that it that the Biden administration uh reduced uh down, so you know, not really interested in women's health or women's health care. Uh and so we we are um we're seeing those numbers increase, but it's not it's not because the pregnancy centers uh haven't still been loving people into compassionate uh life choices, but it's because they're finding more devious ways to to uh promote their product and profit from it.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Yeah, and that's why it's so good. And we we see this at the uh some of the workshops given at your your conference, where the pregnancy centers are becoming more and more savvy about also how to reach um moms in need without them coming to the to the brick and mortar facility, reaching them online. You made reference to that before with the option line. And uh yeah, we got to become more and more savvy about how to do that with chats and instant chats and social media and everything. All of the technology, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_04 32:58

And we don't have the luxury, we don't have the luxury like the abortion industry does of shutting down clinics because you know, remember the the the uh the abortion industry only has to succeed once, right? They just have to have to abort that baby and eliminate the so-called problem. Well, but it takes a lot more to walk with her throughout her pregnancy and even beyond her pregnancy. And so that's why we continue to need the brick and mortar, but we're going to have to continue to grow our ability to reach her in the moment she's looking, reaching out. And I mean, not with an appointment for some other time. I mean, bring her bring our best, our best to that moment. Bring, you know, talk to her, be ready to really unpack her story, listen, like the love approach, which we talk about, listen and learn in that moment. Uh, we we can't we this idea about we have to talk to her to get her to come and visit us, we want that because we're relational people. Like I get that. But but the reality is the abortion industry is doing everything they can to eliminate that next step. They're trying to rush her into that decision, and that means we need to rush to her with meaningful ministry in the moment.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

That's right. That's why so many of these states that have these pro-abortion constitutional amendments, they just don't want abortion to be legal. They go out of their way to say no delay. No delay. The state may not delay in any way, shape, or form. So they don't want just abortion legal without limits, they want it delivered high speed on a silver platter, you know, and uh that make it as easy as possible. Um and sometimes worse than that, like you said, with you know, men putting these abortion drugs into their girlfriend's tea or dessert.

SPEAKER_04 34:33

Yes, that those are horrible stories. Horrible stories. But even but even that concept, Father Frank, I mean you know this. You've you sp you speak so eloquently to all of these things. But the, you know, but when you think about it, the it's the enemy of our souls that does one of two things. Either tries to hold us back from doing what God would have, or rush us quickly into a decision God would not have us make. And that's where I feel that's where I feel the abortion industry is is trying to perfect is rush us to that that decision. You know, at the abortion pill rescue network hotline, we hear that often. She she's she once she takes that first pill and we get to interact with her, she says, I want to do, I want to change my mind. I want to reverse this abortion.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 35:16

And because, and when we when we we've talked with women in that moment, they said, What did I just do? And it's like, boy, I have been there. Like I have done stupid things in the moment, and and you know, thinking immediately, thinking like, oh, I should never have done that. I should now, how do I fix that? Well, that's the reality of what many of the women that we talk to at the almost all of them, in fact, uh at the Abortion Pill Rescue Network hotline is really about that decision that they just made, they now want to undo. And that's where we get to step in. So that's what we can see that happening. And, you know, and one of the realities of the of the changes in the administration is that they used to require REMs, the the original approved FDA REMs, where by the way, we're only seven weeks, not the 11 that we're dealing with now. Um but they uh they also required an ultrasound in advance. And sadly, we have watched since we took over the abortion pill rescue network in 2018 from Dr. Delgado, um, who uh has handed it off to us uh gladly. We're grateful that for all of his work in pioneering that. But when it got handed over to about 100% of the women that we talked to had had an ultrasound before uh getting the abortion pill. Now that that's that's dropped dramatically. It's nearly half that uh today with the women that we're talking to, and it just continues to plummet. Uh all because those those common sense health protections were were have been removed uh from the pathway so that they can the abortion, uh big abortion can rush her into that decision, even though it's not really what she wants.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

You know, the the the as we know, the default for for someone getting an abortion is ambivalence, the default. And the rushing them on uh, you know, they're on that table and they start to change their mind, and there's like a very very narrow window, and they're usually told, just stay still, stay still, you know, and and sometimes they're actually physically held down. There's a very narrow window for her to be able to get up off that table. What the what the the what the chemical technique uh ends up doing is it expands that window of ambivalence because there's step one and then 48 hours, step two. So there's a window there that the ambivalence kicks in more strongly. She's got more time to wrestle with it, and hence the the great successes of the abortion bill reversals. Um but friends, we're talking with Jerell Godzilla of Heartbeat International. We've been discussing this new website that we really want all of you to just jump on it, promote it, read through it, let other people know about it. Moms.gov, an effort of the Trump administration to help mothers have children. Um and Jerell, we talked about the health parts of it, the intersection with heartbeat and option line. But then it goes into the financial angle of it. The Trump accounts, this is a major that I think that decades from now, you know, this is going to be one of the biggest things people are talking about, about the legacy of this Trump administration. The Trump accounts, assuring, jump starting, as it says, the child the child's future. Um, with these uh, well, let me just read what it says here, tax-advantaged investment accounts for U.S. citizens under the age of 18. Children can be enrolled in these uh uh and will receive uh uh a thousand dollars immediately from the U.S. Treasury in an account that then they can access at 18 years old. The employers of the parents of these children can uh can invest in it. I mean, this is a beautiful thing. So you got the uh the financial part of it, and there's even a link here, enroll eligible children. And then there's even um the Trump RX. So an effort to make prescription drugs much more affordable. And here, of course, it's focusing on those those kinds of drugs that may be helpful with for someone who is trying to get pregnant or who is pregnant, drugs that address ovulatory dysfunction, hormonal imbalance, uh insulin resistance, excess weight, and all of these things, addressing these things can improve fertility outcomes. This is amazing to me. I mean, just the the the the what's here is just amazing. And they talk about preconception health. You know what I'm thinking of as I look through this website? It's almost like looking through the agenda of one of the Harpy conferences where the topics, right? Of things that they don't, this is what we want people talking about. This is what we want people helping moms to do. This is your thoughts about about more about this uh amazing content.

SPEAKER_04 39:51

It does, it does what you said. It informs them that there are more resources. Again, most women are not walking around with this knowledge. So the fact that the government has kind of collected these key pieces and added to it. Like, you know, the Trump accounts are are fun. Now, unfortunately, my kids are well past the time that they qualify. Uh, but I'm, you know, we had our first grandchild last year, and so we're like, hey, you know, we we she qualifies for a Trump account. And so that's something, you know, we the and to see to see our um our federal government really understand investing in the people, uh, like you said earlier, the humans, right? And not the industries that are behind it. So whether that's the insurance industry or that's the uh particularly the abortion industry, like this this is what we want to see. Give people the opportunity to make good decisions and they will make good decisions, right? So let like that. This is all good stuff. Now, not all everything, we're not gonna agree with everything that the government is talking about on moms.gov, but you know what? We'll take the opportunity to to bring life-affirming ministry uh and and positive, uh positive message health to to these folks. That's that's that's a blessing that we have that opportunity. Um, you know, they they didn't ask us about all the other pieces when they they invited us to be a part of that, but we're happy that we can help.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

It's so great that that that that you have helped with this. Uh, you know, there's even a section here about conscience protections, and don't we know how important that is?

SPEAKER_04 41:16

You know, that that has become crazy important in the last uh 15, 20 years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. People who are forced to do things that uh are the opposite of motherhood. And I I mean, this goes into that. Um, and you know, finally, you know, one of the points I want to make, and I don't know how much you've been having to deal with this, uh, Jarrell in your work, uh, but the controversy over IVF has been a big topic of discussion among pro-life people, especially vis-a-vis, you know, government policies um and so forth. And I always said, and I think this moms.gov shows uh illustrates this point that I've been making. I said the government is interested, the current administration is interested in promoting fertility, helping people who want to have babies to do so. And just like you just said, we're not going to agree with every method that that could accomplish that goal. We agree with the goal, and we'd much have much, much rather have a government go in that direction than in the direction of but this website has reference to the very many other fertility uh uh uh approaches, very many other ways of overcoming infertility that are morally acceptable because there is a wide range. And and and you know, so many of us were saying to the government early on when this whole IVF thing came about, we said, listen, um, you know, you you if you're gonna promote IVF, make sure you're promoting all the other methods of overcoming infertility too. And this website does exactly it does.

SPEAKER_04 42:54

And, you know, Father Frank, you you touched into a key thing that that I think is still an untold story, right? Uh that that women's health has been subverted uh by an over-reliance or over focus on on things like contraception, on introducing hormones uh for women, you know, over many that they would be then using for many, many years that have been have affected affect them negatively. And that they there these are because there's a there's just a a um a dearth of of information about how to actually address women's health issues. So our friends like uh Dr. Hilders, for instance, would be one, our you know, who who focuses on this. He you know, inspired by uh, I believe by Humana Vitae Vitae when it first came out. And and that really was his call to step in to help women and help explore these with women so that so that they would find the reasons why they're they're having difficulties or problems. Whereas our con our the contraceptive mentality uh it has really been one. About just using applying band-aids uh to symptoms and not really understanding this. So I I think the fact that this that moms.gov is including uh they call it restorative reproductive medicine, which by the way is actually reproductive, unlike our, you know, our the other folks who you who misuse that term because they they they're actually trying to help help make sure people don't reproduce, which I hate the term re reproduction anyway, because we don't reproduce. Each one of us is a masterpiece that God has has designed and created. Uh so we're we're not re we don't reproduce like copiers do, like repro, you know, we we we are all unique creations. But nevertheless, the fact that we're talking restorative reproductive medicine is wonderful, and there should be more of that. And our friends at at uh like Tom, like Dr. Hillgers, our friends at uh femme health.org, uh the the folks that are focusing on fertility education and medical management, like these are wonderful things that we should all know about. That and there's a lot more that that are happening that are positive. They're life-affirming efforts, they don't, you know, they're not focusing on and then not and not surviving on on uh abortion or selective reduction as our as the I IVF world is often find itself in. So I I'm grateful that these things are are are included in this conversation, and I trust and hope that we'll only see and hear more about it.

SPEAKER_00 45:20

It's wonderful. Uh thanks, Jarrell, for these insights. And you know, we ought to thank our viewers because you know what? This website wouldn't be up there, this moms.gov, if it weren't for the voters. The voters put this website up there. It was the voters who decided that instead of a government-sponsored abortion website, we would have a government website promoting motherhood and healthy motherhood and fertility. And you know what? It's still in the voters' hands. We got more of them coming down the bike.

SPEAKER_04 45:50

So I learned from I learned from you, Father Frank, that you know that the pub the public servants ought to know how do you say it? You say that you know they they should be uh mindful about not killing the public but serving the public. There you go. Exactly. And and and I, you know, hey, this is also about future generations, right? You know, we we we need uh I love how uh you know Vice President Vance talks about have more babies, you know, like this is a good thing. And so I'm grateful that any anything that promotes uh uh uh accepting God's gift of of babies and motherhood is a good thing. And of course we celebrate families and fathers as well. Anything that helps do that is a good thing. It sure is.

SPEAKER_00 46:29

Thanks, Gerel. God bless Heartbeat International and Jacob, back to you. Thanks for uh letting us have this conversation today. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 46:36

So before we wrap things up, Drell, I'd like you to give us a snapshot of Option Line today, along with um how Pracy Clinic can and should connect with, you know, as a Heartbeat member, how they can just give us a refresher on the current status of Option Line.

SPEAKER_04 46:53

Well, the good news is uh you know if if you're a Heartbeat affiliate, you're you're automatically on. It's like uh and there's various ways that you can make it more effective, a more effective tool for outreach. And uh definitely keep us informed as far as keeping us up to date on the information that is on option line. That's been an uh that's been also very, very fun. You know, suddenly people, if they weren't quite remembering that option line is there to help them, now that moms.gov has come to they're like, wait, is that information correct? And we learned ours are a little different. Maybe they maybe they may they maybe they've relocated or whatever. But we it's not just uh Heartbeat affiliates, by the way. We also incorporate CareNet affiliates. Uh, there's a few hundred that are of those that are not uh also Heartbeat affiliates, and they're on Option Line as well. And we with maternity homes and adoption agencies are also featured on on Option Line as well. So if that's something that people are looking for, we're happy to help. So if you have any questions, we'd be glad to talk about that. You can reach out to Option Line directly or just reach out to Heartbeat at support at Heartbeat International.org.

SPEAKER_03 47:51

Awesome. And then and then how do people when someone someone calls in to the option line, tell us, you know, sort of walk us through how things happen. Tell us thank you.

SPEAKER_04 48:01

Uh yeah, uh our goal at optionline.org is to connect them with life affirming help in their area as close to them as possible. So that's why you'll see our locator like shows the closest 10 available, you know, that and sometimes those are very close and sometimes those are distance. But our goal is to make that connection right there. You know, we don't even answer the answer the phone option line. We call it helpline. So that doesn't matter if they that they they know or they don't know that they talk to someone in, say, Columbus, Ohio, where we are, or one of our team, we're all over, by the way. Um, but they but that they find and connect with that that that uh compassionate local outreach, that grassroots effort that's happening right there. So uh, you know, sometimes our calls are very short and sometimes they're very long. Uh we try to help them make that connection, but that's our that's our goal and our privilege. As you can imagine, that's easier to do when the centers are open. Uh and we can just warm transfer them if possible. Uh harder to do overnights and weekends, but we are there to answer that call 24-7-365, uh, definitely in English and Spanish, uh, but occasionally other languages, because we do get calls and contacts from around the globe and but also other languages even in the US. So that's our privilege, that's our joy. Uh we answer um uh probably about uh 11 to 1200 of those calls and and emails and texts and and chats every single day. We're happy to do that and uh blessed to be able to serve the pregnancy health movement and the pro life movement in this way.

SPEAKER_03 49:26

Awesome. Yeah, and many pregnancy clinics will um forward their phone calls after hours to option line in order to have a real person answer it versus it going to uh to a voicemail machine or something of that sort.

SPEAKER_04 49:39

Yeah, we're happy to do that. If and don't just do that, make sure you reach out to us and let us know that you're that you're doing that. So that way we we don't create a circular thing where you forwarded it, we didn't know, and then we tell them, hey, there's a center that you might want to know about. Oh, they already know about that. That makes it so both look bad. But yeah, we we're happy to be that that uh that friendly voice that talks to them even in the evenings uh and weekends when centers are closed. Uh that we can we can set appointments. About half of the the the US centers that we have were able to actually set appointments right into their systems. Most of the, you know, we work with most of the big systems that are out there. Um so yeah, we we're pleased to serve, and it's been a great, a great opportunity to do now for 23 years.

SPEAKER_03 50:19

Wow. That is so good. And then we you mentioned briefly about the um that that tracker that was on FrancyHelp News.com slash tracker dash abortion dash poisonings, which I believe is for people who are well very coerced by you know being given the abortion pill and not knowing, or by you know, by by a boyfriend or husband or someone of sorts. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

SPEAKER_04 50:48

Yeah, we just launched that, Jacob. Like you're like you're hot off the presses, right? This is literally just we just published this uh just just recently. And more that's more for us to kind of put out there, kind of coalesce all the different stories that are coming out. Like that, you know, there there have been people that have been arrested and charged, there have been uh lawsuits about this, you know, this is but this is becoming sadly more common occurrence when you have men that are ordering the abortion pill and a poisoning their their um you know their wives, we have with that that instance, their girlfriends uh who don't are are who did not agree to to have this, and in some cases have been vocally uh opposing it, and yet they've been tricked because the the industry doesn't create any roadblocks for men to be able to treat women in this way. So we're just compiling the stories. We're not necessarily like out scouring amongst the pregnancy centers for this information, but we are making sure that we have an opportunity to kind of compile these stories as they arise. Because we know it's on the increase. We know it's like, of course, abortion has always been a uh one of the legs of the stool of trafficking and traffickers, right? We know that these are issues that are being forced on women uh and certainly coercing women into these decisions.

SPEAKER_03 52:06

Yeah, thank you so much. Um Jarrell, would you wrap up our podcast with a prayer as those who are listening can join along? I would be happy to.

SPEAKER_04 52:15

Well, Father, we thank you for uh the opportunities that we get to champion life, Lord, and thank you for our administration to do that uh in this way, Lord, even with moms.gov and to encourage and champion uh uh pregnancy and pregnant moms and moms in general, Lord. We thank you for every opportunity that you give us to talk about the wonder and the joy of your creation, your gift of life. And and Lord, where we can, you the giver of life. So, Father, thank you for that. Thank you for uh this pregnancy help movement that you've called into existence that's been uh at work now for more than 50 years, more than half a century. Thank you for everyone that you've brought into this, Lord, from those that sit in the seat of the executive director or around the conference table at the board meeting or in the counseling room or the or the ultrasound or out in the schools or everywhere you find them, Lord. We thank you, whether they're nurses or they're uh professionals in some other capacity, Lord, or they're just uh kind hearts that said, I want to do something, Lord. Thank you for blessing each and every one. Thank you for the opportunity that you give us to speak life and to speak life in such a way, Lord, that people say yes and amen to it. Lord, we are grateful for the chances that you give us. Thank you, Lord, for Father Frank, for Jacob, for the opportunity to gather together and talk about what the good things that you were accomplishing in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 53:42

I arise today through the power of the train through the faith in the trust in the woman of the maker and the maker I sweet I sweet me and I need to be a good one.