False Hope: False abortion clinics deceive with promise of options
Posted on November 19, 2009 by Renee Slawsky, Staff writer
Pregnant? Scared? Many organizations offer help to guide women through the often difficult process of deciding a plan of action in case of an unwanted pregnancy. Unfortunately, some seemingly helpful resources are not all that they appear. False pregnancy centers, such as the Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs), claim to offer women choices when faced with an unwanted pregnancy, but in reality they only preach the evils of abortion, backed by conservative Christian beliefs.
Graphic by Bobby O’Connor/Old Gold & Black
Regardless of your position on the hot topic of abortion, one thing is plainly clear: lying to scared young women is wrong.
When trying to determine her next course of action, she turns to the internet and stumbles upon one of these false pregnancy centers Web sites, such as Option Line. She knows that she wants options, something this Web site promises.
Option Line claims to “have consultations about all pregnancy options.” So far, so good. She then continues on down the page and sees pictures of fetuses at all different stages of development (such as the embryonic stage where “human life begins”). All of these details make the girl feel skeptical toward one of her options: abortion.
She continues to read about this option and finds descriptions about the procedures where such horrors take place as “the cervix is stretched open and the doctor inserts a hard plastic tube into the uterus” and the fetus is “scraped” out of the uterus. So she looks at the other procedure options, one of which entails “crushing the baby’s skull for easy removal.”
Once the girl gets past the graphic descriptions of abortion procedures, she is confronted with the side effects of abortion, which range from the physiological to the emotional to the … spiritual?
“There is a spiritual side to abortion that deserves to be considered. Having an abortion may affect more than just your body and mind – it may have an impact on your relationship with God,” the Option Line Web site said.
Though scientific evidence supports the possibility of the physical side effects of an abortion, there is not and cannot be any empirical data for spiritual claims made by these organizations.
False pregnancy centers also pose a serious health risk to the women they lure into their examination rooms. A woman comes to a CPC seeking help with her unplanned pregnancy. She goes to the center and thinks she is being examined by a licensed medical professional but she is actually most likely just being looked upon by an anti-abortion volunteer.
According to the Pro-Choice America Foundation’s “The Truth about Crisis Pregnancy Centers,” only around 40 percent of false pregnancy centers actually host licensed physicians.
Even so, both the volunteer and the graduated physician will tell her anything to get her to keep the baby; she does not challenge their claims and drops the abortion option.
She does not know it (nor will she ever unless she goes to a real pregnancy clinic) but due to certain complications, she would be risking her life to keep the baby.
The Feminist Majority Foundation, established in 1975, is a pro-choice feminist organization that speaks out on such issues as abortion and gender equality.
The foundation has around 225 campus affiliates, one of which is at the university.
When asked about false pregnancy centers, university Feminist Majority Foundation member Allie McDonald said “these girls deserve the truth.”
She mentions how the Feminist Majority Alliance and its campus affiliates started the campaign against false pregnancy centers about five years ago.
“The information they give out is false,” McDonald said. She gave the examples of the false pregnancy centers claims that condoms kill you and that abortion leads to breast cancer, which has been continually disproven by such agencies as the World Health Organization and the American Medical Association.
Instead of turning to these false centers, McDonald encourages potentially pregnant women to go to such centers as Planned Parenthood, which houses licensed medical officials and offers the “three true options: adoption, abortion and parenting.”
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David
November 23, 2009 4:40 pm
This article blows things out of proportion. These Clinic’s don’t mascaraed as abortion clinics, they offer services that seek to ease the life of mothers as they journey through an unplanned pregnancy. It is a sad day when people are not responsible for adequately researching organizations they look to align themselves with.
Matt
November 25, 2009 8:31 am
According to Planned Parenthood’s annual report, available on their website, they provided 305,310 abortions in 2007 while only providing 4,912 adoption referrals to other agencies in the same year. These numbers alone clearly show that Planned Parenthood is not giving adoption and abortion the same degree of consideration. No matter what can be said against faith-based pregnancy care centers, Planned Parenthood has a lot of history, allegations, and lawsuits to live down. It is definitely not the beacon of light in the dark world of lesser pregnancy centers.
Emily
November 30, 2009 12:54 pm
Thank you so much for including this article!!! This is such a challenging topic and I applaud our school’s paper for initiating conversation. And full disclosure, I personally trust individuals to make their own choices about their health their decision about when they want to have a baby. That said, I wanted to add that 7% of the services at the PP affiliate I am most familiar with were for abortions. The other 93% for a wide range of other services including pregnancy prevention and planning which is the ultimate goal. The # of adoption vs abortion services not a great measure either because you have to consider that planned parenthood is one of relatively few that provide abortions so women often go there specifically for that purpose. Therefore, even when adoption information is given most have already thought long and hard about the decision when they call. PP does give out all of the information without judgement and they are upfront and honest with who they are. Pregnancy Clinics probably can’t all be grouped together. At least some have hidden motives and use scare tactics, though many others really just look to help women. I think it is a wonderful thing to have faith-based pregnancy centers to support women while they evaluate their decision along with their partner and closest family and friends. Thanks again!!!
Stephen
December 2, 2009 12:26 pm
I don’t really have an opinion on the morality of abortion, but this article seems to imply that providing information to women who are considering abortion is wrong. Providing information about the “procedures where such horrors take place” is simply that, providing information. Hiding information about abortion in general simply buries influences that could be taken into account when a woman is considering abortion as an option. So my question is: should we hide information about abortion simply because it is graphic and harsh, even if it is true?
Additionally, talking about the side effects that “range from the physiological to the emotional to the … spiritual” is simply providing information too. The author of this article pays much attention to the “spiritual”, probably because it is a religious matter, but what about the truly researched emotional effects of abortion?
The only valid points I see this article making about false pregnancy centers are:
1) Some information at these clinics is religiously biased.
2) Not many of the workers there are licensed physicians.
What’s wrong with describing the procedures and talking about possible emotional and physiological side effects? None of that has to do with religion, but much of it is actually proven through research. The information is something that simply can be taken into consideration during the decision. Not providing information leads to… I think the word is ignorance?
There is definitely a good reason to be critical of these clinics, but not in all the ways this article describes. Otherwise, good article!
Sherri
December 2, 2009 1:32 pm
Having worked as a peer counselor for Charlotte Pregnancy Resource Center (NC) for 3 years, and as a liason to Sanctity of Life Ministries in Fairfax, VA for 10 years, I can tell you that these centers provide a place that is nonjudgmental, kind and loving, and truthful about the options which a woman has concerning her unplanned pregnancy. They also provide free pregnancy tests, and often other medical care in clinics staffed by volunteer RN’s and MD’s. Pregnancy Care Centers also provide free parenting classes, free clothing for women and their born children, as well as baby clothes if needed, provides support groups for those suffering from post abortion emotions, and for fathers, among it’s varied services. Peer Counselors have conversations with their “clients” to find out what they want, what they need and how we can help. We are not motivated to sell them anything. No, Pregnancy Resource Centers do not refer women to abortion clinics or sell abortions, unlike Planned Parenthood, the largest purveyer of abortion services in the U.S. Planned Parenthood benefits financially when the choice is abortion. Pregnancy Resource Centers only give more when the choice is life for an unborn child. Which one would you want to go to first?
Harrison Keely
December 5, 2009 4:57 am
Read a letter to the editor of the Old Gold & Black regarding this article:
Sofia Singh
May 25, 2010 3:05 pm
I am always against abortion because it is a sin to kill an innocent child.*,,
Zoe Murphy
August 22, 2010 3:08 pm
we should ban all forms of abortion because it is not right to kill an unborn child.’-
Wow. The lengths of which those with unsubstantiated beliefs will go. The thing is, they think they are right, no matter the damage they cause. This resolve will cause them to do almost anything, as evidenced in this story.