Each year the Pennsylvania State Legislature appropriates 4.3 million dollars in direct support of Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs). CPCs are the provider arm of the anti-choice movement. They dispense misinformation about abortion and contraception and support deceitful tactics aimed at preventing women from obtaining timely abortion care. There are 127 CPCs in Pennsylvania that receive state funding.
What Are CPCs?
CPCs are the ‘provider’ arm of the anti-choice movement. They usually offer free pregnancy testing, counseling, supplies, and ultrasounds to women with unplanned pregnancies. They do not offer all options (birth, adoption, abortion) to a woman, and they generally refuse to provide referrals to real medical clinics.
Why CPCs Are Bad:
CPCs advertise as ‘clinics,’ have the appearance of medical facilities, but rarely have trained medical professionals. They offer medical testing and counseling but have no licensed doctors, nurses, or counselors on staff. They are not required to register with any state offices relating to health, and are unregulated.
CPCs are not subject to medical privacy or confidentiality standards, and are not covered under HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). As a result, a CPC could publicize health information shared with a CPC or harass a woman, even after her procedure.
CPCs refuse referrals to abortion or medical clinics to dissuade women from learning all of their options.
CPCs give women misleading and false information about the health and psychological risks of abortion. They try to convince women that having an abortion is dangerous and will have severe repercussions on the rest of her life.
CPCs commonly choose a name and location similar to an actual abortion clinic to confuse women seeking abortions into entering their clinics.
CPCs often deliver information to women that is gruesome and is filled with violent images and language. These fear tactics stay with a woman regardless of her situation.
The most common CPCs are Birthright, Catholic Social Services, Catholic Charities, and Lifeline.
For additional information click on the following links:
http://www.ppscm.org/crisis_pregnancy.pdf
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/tgr/05/2/gr050204.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/02/national/02pregnant.html
http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2003/01/ma_218_01.html
