Pro-Life Evangelism

The pro-life battle in the era of states again determining the legality of abortion largely will be waged through the media, rather than on the streets or even in the courts. Often whose voice is heard the most is the one who makes a lasting impression.

Brooklyn Tizzano is the young face of the digital pro-life movement these days. For a little over two years, she has been content web creator for Heartbeat International, the world’s largest pregnancy help movement. From the ministry’s headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, the 24-year-old Tizzano helps pregnancy care centers around the globe design websites.

Tizzano’s father, Andy B. Warren, has been an Assemblies of God pastor her entire life, including the past 14 years at Victory Church in Tipp City, 75 miles west of Ohio’s capital city. When Warren became pastor only 22 people attended; now 1,000 regularly worship each week there.

Tizzano and her husband of less than a year, Ben, attend Adventure Church in Lewis Center, a Columbus suburb. Ben owns a detailing company that works on high-end cars. Tizzano graduated in 2019 from Sinclair Community College in Dayton with a degree in communications and marketing. She heard about Heartbeat through Adventure Church, which pastor Kyle Hammond highlighted from the pulpit.

“Heartbeat isn’t focused on politics and legal issues; it’s focused on loving those coming into pregnancy centers,” Tizzano says. A lot of women who seek help in such venues are about Tizzano’s age.

From childhood, Tizzano has been pro-life, embracing the culture her parents, Andy and Beth, modeled for her and her two younger siblings. That includes respecting life from the womb to the grave. Many abortion advocates try to paint a picture of evangelicals not caring for a baby once the child is born, which makes Tizzano’s job more difficult.

“As a young adult Christian, it can be difficult to express my views,” Tizzano says. “In this social media age, it’s not cool to be pro-life because there is the perception we’re not pro-women.”

Consequently, Tizzano has adopted the Heartbeat approach of initially trying to develop a relationship with a pregnant woman — or girl — before presenting the biblical reasons to take a pregnancy to birth rather than ending it by abortion.

“They don’t want someone to scold them or to parent them,” Tizzano says. “So many women who come into pregnancy care centers accept Jesus because they are treated the way Jesus would treat them.”

In her job, Tizzano is a social media specialist with extend web services, which is Heartbeat International’s in-house marketing effort. She curates relevant and effective content for pregnancy centers with the goal of reaching women who are scrolling online.

A holistic pro-life standpoint, Tizzano says, involves even caring about those who are diametrically opposed to her view, from an antagonistic non-Christian neighbor to a rabid abortion-rights advocate.

“Being pro-life is an all-encompassing view, including people who don’t look or talk or think like me,” Tizzano says. “To change their opinion, we must be a friend first, and not just try to convince them we’re right and they’re wrong. Once we’ve established mutual trust, they will be willing to listen.”

Tizzano acknowledges that some of her pro-life peers are intimidated in expressing their beliefs.

“A lot of people don’t want to be unpopular or lose their stature,” Tizzano says. “But at the end of the day, we are called to do what is right, even if it is hard, even if others won’t like us.”

At Adventure Church, Tizzano has volunteered as a youth life group leader and coach the past couple of years. Youth pastor Todd A. Nyerges is glad to have her on the team. Nyerges, a credentialed AG minister and a graduate of Southeastern University’s Ohio extension campus, says girls in the youth group, which has around 75 attendees, feel as though they can go to Tizzano to discuss any issue troubling them.

“Brooklyn is a good influence because she leads by example,” says Nyerges. “She is tenacious in all that she does and she has an infectious charisma about her.”

Tizzano says she relishes opportunities to make her pro-life perspective known.

“This is a good and godly work that we’re doing,” Tizzano says. “I need to be obedient, even if it means difficult conversations.”

PHOTO: Brooklyn Tizzano speaks at a Victory Church youth group meeting.