Crisis Pregnancy Clinic supporters to bring babies to lobby Congress Thursday

Heartbeat International, one of the largest networks of crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) in the country, is inviting babies to Capitol Hill Thursday as part of a political pro-CPC campaign dubbed “Babies Go to Congress,” according to Christian Newswire.

Heartbeat is not just inviting any baby, but specifically babies born to women who became pregnant unintentionally and “chose life” instead of abortion. The point of the campaign is to send the message to Congress that “pregnancy centers are good for America.”

“Heartbeat’s pregnancy centers serve women with unexpected pregnancies without any financial motivation,” said Heartbeat International spokesperson Virginia Cline in a statement. ”Our main objective is to provide women with the emotional help and practical resources needed to welcome a new life. This includes helping women to recognize their own inherent value.”

Between 2001 and 2006, more than $60 million in federal funds were given to crisis pregnancy centers, mostly through abstinence-education grants, according to a government report (PDF) commissioned by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).

Heartbeat International provides www.optionline.org to connect women to CPCs across the nation. As The American Independent recently reported, the anti-abortion-rights organization Heroic Media has been using “doorway” pages, a violation of Google’s policy, to divert women searching for information on abortion to Option Line.

Next week, the Capitol will be the setting for another anti-abortion-rights campaign, called “Voices From the Womb,” in which live ultrasounds will performed on pregnant women.