(Pregnancy Help News) — Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner praised Heartbeat International and pregnancy help at a recent briefing with White House staff and Heartbeat’s assembly for Babies Go to Congress.
Turner shared his personal ties to pregnancy help and adoption while commending those who serve in the movement and ardently defending life.
Every life counts to the Lord, Turner said, denouncing euphemisms for abortion such as pro-choice, pregnancy termination, and reproductive health.
“And we’re not afraid to speak the truth because the truth will indeed set us free,” he said.
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Turner stressed the importance of keeping conscience alive in recognizing the evil of abortion because the pain will prompt action.
“We can honor the souls who perish by fighting to save the unborn life today,” he said.
“And that’s why Heartbeat International is so important and why I’m so happy to be here with you all to share your stories and to hear your stories,” said Turner. “Your work combats the lie that pro-abortion crusades spread, the lie that our side is only pro-birth but not pro-life.”
“They say that we care for babies only when they’re in the womb, but that we care nothing for them or for their mothers once they’re actually born,” Turner continued. “But I care for people from the womb to the tomb. Not just when they’re in the womb, but when they’re living until they go to glory with the Lord.”
Heartbeat, the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the U.S. and the world, has brought moms and babies and pregnancy help workers to Washington, D.C., since 2009 with its Babies Go to Congress initiative to meet with Members of Congress and staff and share how their lives have benefited from pregnancy help. More than 180 moms and babies and the pregnancy help personnel who have served them have come to Capitol Hill with Heartbeat International to tell their stories in nearly 400 Congressional offices.
The November 4 briefing was arranged by the White House Office of Public Liaison and also included Assistant to the President and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Office of Domestic Policy Council Dr. Heidi Overton, and White House Director of Media Affairs Sonny Joy Nelson. Each of the administration staff affirmed pro-life policies and encouraged those working in and served by pregnancy help.
Sec. Turner said he wished those who repeat the lies about pro-life individuals were there to meet the Babies Go to Congress group. It would be a “Road to Damascus moment” for them to see how wrong they are about the Heartbeat group and the entire pro-life movement, he said.
“I believe if they were here, they could speak with each of you and hear your story,” Turner said. “They could speak with the mothers whose lives were changed, who chose not to believe the lie that their personal happiness depends on the idea that they should sacrifice their children.”
“That’s a lie,” he said. “They could meet with your children and see their smiling faces as I do today.”
The children would not be there that day if their mothers had not chosen to give the life and to choose their lives, Turner said.
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“If people were here, they could meet the representatives from the pregnancy help organizations who worked so hard to provide mothers with ultrasounds, mentorship programs, and other tools and support and training that they need to bring life into the world and to be good mothers,” said Turner. “Thank you all for what you do.”
“I know it’s not easy. I know sometimes it’s what they say is a thankless job, but it’s not thankless,” he said. “Every day that you get to see a new life is a blessing from the Lord. Every day that you get to see a mother change her mind is a miracle from God in heaven. So, thank y’all for what you do.”
Turner and his wife support Prestonwood Pregnancy Center in Dallas.
“And so, I’m for you,” he told the Heartbeat International delegation, stating as well that the administration “sees everything that you are doing, and you will always have a friend and an ally in us.”
Turner discussed the work of the Housing and Urban Development office and how it includes making serving communities by making home ownership more affordable, which strengthens the American family.
The work is a great privilege and honor, he said, but “to have American families to begin with we must fight back against the murder of our children in the womb, and against the propaganda which seeks to paint this atrocity as something respectable and normal. That will never be okay with me.”
“You all are a crucial part of this noble mission, as I’ve said before,” Turner added. “You show expectant mothers that there is another way from what the world tells them.
Turner shared that he has an adopted sibling, “And I thank God for that one woman who told her there’s a better way.”
He shared as well that his sister’s son is his adopted son.
“So, I’m not standing before y’all to tell you what I heard,” Turner said. “I’m living it.”
Someone had told his sister when she was pregnant with her son that there’s a better way, said Turner. “And here we are, two generations, one decision.”
“Thank y’all for what you’re doing,” said Turner. “You show women that there are loving people around them to support them in difficult times, to help them throughout their pregnancy and their child-rearing.”
Unplanned pregnancies cause uncertainty and fear about the future, he explained, and it’s easy to fall prey to doubt that tells one abortion is the only path back to life they had before.
“God, what a lie that is,” Turner said.
Having counseled people who have been through this, he expressed gratitude to God for His grace and His mercy.
“And how He can restore us and revitalize us and rejuvenate us,” said Turner. “We’ve all seen and fallen short of the glory of God. We’ve all made mistakes.”
“But I thank Him that you give women on this side of eternity an opportunity to make a better decision,” said Turner. “Because groups like Heartbeat International provide a light to dissipate uncertainty.”
When ladies come to pregnancy centers, they’re uncertain and fearful, he said.
But then pregnancy help workers say, “Here’s a light to take that uncertainty and fear away lead women away from the precipice of death and towards the joyful blessing of bringing new life into this world,” Turner said.
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He referenced Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations,” and Jeremiah 29:11, which reads, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
These passages remind him that a sovereign king, he said, that God Almighty has a plan for all of us.
“And the life starts at conception,” said Turner. “And before He formed us, He already knows us, and He has a plan for us.”
“So, the work that you do is a work that honors the Lord,” he said. “And because you do what you do, you give babies, boys or girls, an opportunity to fulfill the call of God and the plan of God and their life. And because of that, I applaud you.”
Reprinted with permission from Pregnancy Help News.
