We advise pregnant women to stay away from Heartbeat International affiliates, and any services they might offer.
Heartbeat International (HI) is a far-right US organisation that funds "pregnancy crisis" services around the world. It is known for misleading women into delaying an abortion until it is no longer possible for them to have an abortion.
In the words of El Pais, which conducted an investigation into the operations of Heartbeat International:
"These centers operate in very similar ways: they offer false information about abortion, propose adoption as an alternative and, in some cases, they temporarily offer accommodation and food. Their strategy is part of the new onslaught of the ultraconservative movement that works in the region to stop the advancement of women’s reproductive rights. Experts agree that the adoption offers they make are not real, but rather a way of convincing the mother to carry the pregnancy to term. In reality what they seek is to discourage the girl, the teenager, the woman, from having an abortion with a false promise that they will never fulfill."
The following are Heartbeat International (HI) affiliates operating in Malta:
Hope Crisis Pregnancy Support, 20 Trejqa tal-Barrieri, Mosta
Life Line Malta
LifeNetwork Foundation Malta, 7, Merchant Street, Valletta
