For over 18 years the Heartbeat of Miami has been a testimony to growing in grace, and the group of pregnancy help medical clinics is now celebrating 72,000 precious lives saved.
Heartbeat of Miami opened in 2007 in response to the revelation that Miami-Dade County had the highest per capita rate of abortion in the country.
Heartbeat of Miami has its origins in discussions in 2006 between John Ensor, then Development director for Heartbeat International, and Jeanne Pernia, who would become the clinic’s director of Client Services, said Heartbeat of Miami President Martha Avila, as Heartbeat of Miami became what Avila calls “The urban initiative of Heartbeat International.”
Heartbeat International is the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the U.S. and globally.
“Here we are 18 years later and over 72,000 babies saved—it’s just been mind-blowing to me,” Avila told Pregnancy Help News.
[Click here to subscribe to Pregnancy Help News!]
Ensor and Avila had their first meeting when Ensor had spoken at Avila’s church. He would then speak at Pernia’s church. Ensor’s message ultimately recruited the two women as founding members of the organization which would establish and open the first of these pregnancy help centers in Miami.
Today there are five locations, and Avila continues as the president of Heartbeat of Miami.
“Eighteen years of miracles. Eighteen years of hearts transformed, lives saved, families strengthened, and futures made possible, all by the mercy of God,” Avila wrote to supporters of the milestone.
For the past 18 years Avila has witnessed God’s goodness at work through Heartbeat of Miami, as she stated, “God always has a beautiful plan and purpose for every life.”
The initial pregnancy help medical clinic was opened in Hialeah in a location formerly used as an abortion facility.
“It was transformed by the grace of God into a sanctuary of life and hope,” Avila said.
A clinic in North Miami was opened in 2008, however the sale of the building forced a relocation in 2012 with what Avila states was part of God’s greater plan as it was directly across from a Planned Parenthood which soon after would shut down.
While many pregnancy help centers must focus on drawing in women at risk for abortion, this has not been the challenge for Heartbeat of Miami, where the greater on-going struggle has been funding. In 2009 they lacked funds to pay staff and were faced with layoffs.
Rather than put client services at risk, staff members continued to show up and work and for five months endured the personal sacrifice of working without pay.
“The Lord blessed our obedience,” Avila recalled. “God has always provided for us.”
The third clinic opened in 2015 in Kendall, near a college campus, followed the next year with one in Flagler, aka the “little Havanna” clinic. This was the second time Heartbeat of Miami would take over and convert a former abortion facility into a place of healing and redemption.
“The one in Flagler was an abortion business for over 28 years,” Avila said.
Pregnancy help leader Sol Pitchon was the speaker for that clinic’s gala that year and Avila had shared with him the challenge of the opportunity to open the Flagler location, yet they did not know if it was something to bring up at the gala, which was to focus on raising much needed general funds.
As Pitchon was finishing his presentation a staff member came to Avila with the news that a donor had stepped up to cover the rent for the new location.
Avila laughed as she recounted the amazing story.
“That story brings tears and laughter—and to this day they are still paying for that rent,” she said, adding, “God’s goodness—it’s all over those who truly obey Him and trust Him.”
Heartbeat of Miami opened its fifth location in Homestead in 2023 in an area known for immigrants and human trafficking.
Avila referenced the fifth location as a community that had long been in the hearts and prayers of the Heartbeat of Miami organization.
Avila noted that with the exponential increase of chemical abortions, the high abortion rate is no longer tracked as it was when Heartbeat first opened its doors.
“We see the aftermath of girls that have taken the abortion pill,” she said.
As part of the Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN), Heartbeat of Miami provides a second chance for life to those women who have taken the first abortion pill and regret that decision.
From the volume of abortion-determined clients Heartbeat of Miami sees, there remains a huge need to provide the free services and options they provide to rescue innocent pre-born children and their mothers.
“We see girls that are getting the abortion pill through the mail,” Avila said. “We see ectopic pregnancies, we see anembryonic pregnancies, right now over 97% of the women we are serving are at risk of abortion it used to be 85%.”
As Heartbeat of Miami celebrates 72,000 babies who have been saved, the figure represents 72,000 unborn children who were at risk of being aborted and who have been documented as having been rescued from abortion.
“Today we rejoice in the fact that the Lord has used us to help rescue these babies,” Avila told Pregnancy Help News. “And not only that, but so many moms have surrendered their lives and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.”
Tweet This: Here we are 18 years later and over 72,000 babies saved - Heartbeat of Miami President Martha Avila
The Gospel is regularly offered to ultrasound clients as they see images of their unborn children.
“We’re in awe that the Lord would have used us to help this community that was in so much need,” she said.
Avila discussed the ecumenical nature of the ministry.
“Every volunteer, every employee, we follow the Heartbeat International model of Catholics and Evangelicals working together,” Avila shared. “We’re not here to divide or give status to any denomination, we’re here to understand the meaning of salvation in Christ and that’s how we function.”
“This is due to what unites us which is Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the sanctity of human life—salvation through Jesus Christ,” she said. “We have worked like that for 18 years and it has been a beautiful thing.”
While Heartbeat of Miami receives funding through the Florida Pregnancy Support Services Program (FPSSP), which would inhibit the promotion of faith, the Lord has provided them the freedom to share the Gospel.
“He gives us such wisdom,” Avila beamed. “The time where they enter the ultrasound, that is no longer FPSSP time.”
“The success of Heartbeat of Miami is a testament to God’s work in all who have been involved,” said Jor-El Godsey, President of Heartbeat International.
“From the beginning there was a clear vision to address an enormous challenge,” Godsey said. “What was needed most was the right leadership to carry it from humble beginnings to the life-saving powerhouse it is today.”
Avila shared the story of a 15-year-old mom and 16-year-old dad who had planned to have an abortion.
They were very scared, and their parents were leaders at a church. The young man came in pleading for the baby’s life, thinking the center was an abortion business.
After learning they were on the same page, the clinic staff called the teens’ parents, who came in to meet with the staff. The young man gave the $200 that was going to be used for an abortion to the Heartbeat of Miami staff so that another baby could be saved.
“Here’s what I was going to pay for the abortion,” Avila said, quoting the young father. “From that day on, in that baby’s honor we have a donation.”
She continued to recount the story of the seed that was planted by the donation, which many others have duplicated in honor of the baby and the family that was blessed that day.
Godsey noted that Avila was faithful to respond to the call even before the center existed and she and the other founders were anointed and appointed to establish the ministry.
“The numbers are amazing, each a story of its own, and to be celebrated,” Godsey said.
“Growing in Grace” is the theme of the upcoming annual fundraising gala for Heartbeat of Miami set to take place on September 13, 2025.
Godsey noted the growing in grace evident through the years at Heartbeat of Miami, concluding, “But the numbers reported only scratch the surface of the impact of such a Spirit-filled, God-honoring ministry.”
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and Pregnancy Help News. Heartbeat International is currently the subject of two lawsuits brought by state AGs concerning sharing information on Abortion Pill Reversal.
