Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs)

The legislation provides funding for “community based pregnancy help medical clinics.” These are so‐called “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs). While some centers provide an honest setting for pregnant women, many do not: they entice women to the center under the pretense of providing the full range of reproductive options, including abortion. Instead, the volunteers at these deceptive centers use anti-abortion propaganda, misinformation and intimidation to dissuade women from exercising their right to choose.

The sponsor of the bill announced on the floor that the “goal of the legislation is to

provide women who find themselves with an unplanned pregnancy with the full scope

of information such that they may make a fully informed decision.”

However, CPCs – the only beneficiaries under this bill – do not give women full information about their reproductive choices. Instead, many are designed to do exactly the opposite:

* they subject women to anti-abortion films, slide shows, photographs, misinformation and

lectures,

* and refuse to provide information about or referrals for birth control or

abortion.

One woman, in defending the CPCs’ lack of information, stated, “If you advertise yourself as an abortion alternative and you are an advocacy group, then you are not bound to present women’s choices.”The anti-choice Pearson Foundation, which published a manual on how to set up a CPC, instructs people to evade answering whether they provide abortion care in order to get women in the door and have the opportunity to persuade them not to terminate a pregnancy.

New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer even conducted an investigation into CPCs after receiving complaints that they deceive women into believing they offer a variety of reproductive services, including abortion, when they neither offer such services nor refer women to a legitimate provider

Section 2(b)(5)(C) requires that:

* “Each pregnant woman will be given information on abortion and alternatives to abortion such as childbirth and adoption and information concerning public and private agencies that will assist in those alternatives.”

By including a provision that women be given information “on abortion,” the bill gives the impression that it is neutral on the issue of abortion and simply concerned with giving women information. The problem, however, is that the language specifically does not require nondirective options counseling. This counseling, required of all recipients of Title X funding, is the appropriate standard of care for a pregnant woman who, in a legitimate medical facility, inquires about her options: it ensures that she is given non-biased, nondirective counseling on all her options and referrals for any option she chooses.

Under this bill, the organization receiving the funds is subject to no directive as to what information “on abortion” is to be given. The bill does not require that it be medically accurate information, or even that a woman be told she has a constitutional right to an abortion. A crisis-pregnancy center could comply with this requirement by passing on anti-abortion propaganda – such as the disproven claim that there is a link between abortion and breast cancer. Moreover, the legislation is worded carefully so that grantees can deny women referrals to abortion providers, even upon request – referrals are only required for “alternatives” to abortion.

In sum, therefore, the legislation is deliberately designed to evade and undermine the
standard of care for pregnant women: nondirective options counseling

For years CPCs have disguised themselves, through advertising and appearances, as medical clinics.

Several times they have been investigated and injunctions have been issued preventing them from presenting themselves as such. This legislation would lend congressional and federal government “endorsement” to these centers, furthering their drive for credibility and future funding. These centers are not – and should not be – recognized as legitimate medical centers.

Furthermore, the bill’s requirement that the recipient organization be in compliance with all federal, state, and local requirements does not mean that the organization is a medical center. Importantly, the bill does not require that CPCs provide any specific clinical health-care services; it only states that if they do, those services are subject to the laws, regulations, and standards governing the delivery of those services. Crisis pregnancy centers do not typically offer medical services; therefore, this provision is an empty promise.

Its only benefit is a rhetorical one for its sponsors, who want to claim the mantle of protecting women’s health. While initially appearing beneficial, this language provides no additional protections or assurances for women.

Furthermore, this legislation would not only lend the government’s recognition to these
centers; it would also fund their propaganda. Rather than serving any public-health mission, CPCs’ fundamental purpose is to dissuade women from choosing abortion, often through misleading advertising, propaganda and misinformation. Many CPCs use sonograms as part of their propaganda.

Ultrasounds are good tools and can be medically important. However, this bill is not about ultrasounds and maternal health; it is designed to fund CPCs’ efforts not only to dissuade women from choosing abortion, but also to prevent them from even learning about all their options.