One of my earliest blog entries talked about Crisis Pregnancy Centers, The Clinic Across the Street. I'd like to say that in the last year and a half a lot has changed but unfortunately that is not the case.
Crisis Pregnancy Center's (or CPC's) are defined by Naral Pro-Choice Massachusetts as being centers or clinics which (1) purport to provide education and counseling services and free or fee-based pregnancy-related services such as pregnancy tests and ultra sounds, (2) provide misleading, incomplete, or proven-to-be-false information related to sexuality, abortion, abortion-related risks, and birth control, and (3) will not perform abortions or provide abortion referrals.
In my city we have a CPC not to far from where I grew up. There is a neon sign hang up in the front window advertising "Free Pregnancy Tests"- it isn't a health center and if you are aware of CPC's you would probably come to the conclusion that this is one after spending a few moments on their web site. Some key clues to this is they do not mention abortion except in the case of "post-abortion support." The counseling they offer includes the term "spiritual" and they include abstinence education in their list of resources as well as free maternity and baby clothes. Naral Pro-Choice has a campaign geared towards exposing CPC's. Follow the link above to go to there main page on CPC's.
Women who end up in CPC's are lied to and intimidated into being convinced that they should continue their pregnancies no matter what. In any and all circumstances. If you watch the first video clip on the page above you can hear a training from anti-choice activist Abby Johnson instructing CPC workers on how to get women into their centers by giving the impression that they are entering an abortion clinic. Johnson states "We want to appear neutral on the outside. The best call, the best client you could ever get is one that THINKS they're walking into an abortion clinic." If this isn't deception, I don't know what is. Other comments by Johnson indicates that the goal of CPC's is to deceive women into thinking that they are being given advice from professionals and or medically trained and licensed individuals- "We want to look professional. We want to look business like and yeah we do, we do kinda want to look medical." Johnson goes on to explain how the staffers of CPC's should offer free ultrasounds to women who call asking if the centers provide abortion services because in order to obtain an abortion they will have to get an ultrasound anyway as part of the process. Once the women come into the centers they are then further manipulated into thinking they are receiving medically accurate information.
Another video shows a women entering a CPC in Louisville, KY. for information about her options and how she is given completely false information. A few examples: "I can tell you that everybody that has done it (had an abortion) has regretted it."
"It can make you infertile."
The counselor tells the young women "her own" story and how she cannot have children now because of her abortion. She says, "What happened to me is they did it. And it, and the fetus was still inside of me and they had to do it again." When the women asks her if this happens a lot she replies, "It can happen. It's very common."
The worst part about CPC's is that they feel that their manipulation and coercive techniques are entirely justifiable. That they are blatantly lying to women is not their concern. Women who enter these centers are not independent autonomous human beings to the people who staff these places- they are simply impregnated women who cannot be trusted to be given accurate information so that they may make their own decisions. The health and well being of the mother is not something that is of concern. The greater mission of CPC's is forcing their beliefs and values on everyone who enters the centers by whatever means necessary; including giving completely false and often damaging "information" to women who are often in vulnerable positions and just want to be told the truth.
