How Crisis Pregnancy Centers mislead women

[10pemma]

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/18/misconception-vice-documentary_n_5843482.html

Here's a hypothetical scenario: An unmarried young woman finds herself pregnant after a contraception malfunction. She is not emotionally or financially stable enough to raise a child, and she is without options except to terminate the pregnancy. She googles "I'm pregnant" and her zip code, and an ad for a crisis pregnancy center is one of the first results. She goes to the center expecting a confidential, professional abortion, but instead is met with false tales of the dangers of abortion, and is practically harrasssed into carrying to term. Many of these CPCs advertise as abortion facilities, to trick unknowing women into coming to them for help. They are met with lies and ruthless guilt, and emotional manipulation. The short film "Misconception" reveals the true motives of these centers. It is captured on film the medical lies that are told. " "[Abortion] could never be safe, because it's so totally unnatural," an anonymous "counselor" tells Stack and Aslam. "Your body is meant to keep that baby, not to have someone put an instrument in and rip it out." " In all factual evidence, only .001% of abortions in America are fatal, compared to .01% of childbirth that result in the mother dying. Google and a few other large companies have agreed to prohibit misleading ads for CPCs. It's fine to have these centers, but they shouldn't be allowed to trick women in such vulnerable positions, or be so prying into a woman's right to become a mother when SHE so chooses to. 
   We're all entitled to our own view on abortion, but anyone with a shred of decency should know that manipulating someone with lies and harrassment in order to protect somthing that you personally have nothing to do with, is wrong.     

[6pwallis]

Wow! I had no idea that this was happening and I find it disgusting. Everyone is entitled to their own view on abortion and what ever you think is you're choice, but it is definitely very wrong to trick someone. As a women I feel very strong about this, we should be able to excersie our rights, regardless of society's opinions. We have created a stigma that comes along with abortion that is just wrong. Many people automatically make assumptions about those who do wish to terminate their pregnancy. I can't speak for every women but I do not believe that a woman enjoys the idea of getting an abortion but they base their decisions off of what is best for the child. So, who are you to try to change someone's mind over the well being of their child?

[6mkaira]

I had no idea that this was going on either and I'm really appalled. The argument that I found especially ridiculous was - "Your body is meant to keep that baby, not to have someone put an instrument in and rip it out." Carrying a baby to term may be the typical and expected thing to do, but given the situation, it isn't always the best decision. The idea that your body is "meant to keep that baby" is not enough to make up for the lack of financial and emotional stability the mother and her child may very well have to endure in this type of situation. If a woman finds herself pregnant but does not believe that she can sufficiently provide for this child, then it is ultimately up to her to make the final decision - after all, it is her body. The fact that people are manipulating these vulnerable women into doing something potentially harmful for themselves and their future children is really disgusting. They are essentially inflicting their opinions where they aren't wanted or necessary - it is not up to anyone but oneself to make such a personal decision, and external opinions should not hold any value.

[6qisabela]

It's honestly shocking to know that this is actually something that's happening. After watching the video and that scene where people are outside "praying" for the person walking into the clinic, I can't help but think that this is a way of public shaming. It's disgusting that there are people who deceive those who ask for help like the girl in the video said when she mentioned her own experience. The misinformation given to these women is almost laughable. The counselors in the crisis centers make it seem as if every abortion clinic is unsafe and will definitely lead to death. One of the counselors even said doctors who perform the abortions are unethical, as if what they do-deceiving others-is morally and religiously ethical. I think it's terrible that they try to force information and make them feel guilty with some type of pretext, like the woman who physically showed the size of a fetus and said she could keep it to instill some type of guilt. It's as if they think these women don't think about what they're doing, as if they're happy to terminate their pregnancy. The people involved with crisis centers believe that what they do for these women and their "babies" are the right thing to do but they don't think about how wrong it is for them to deceive people.

[10solivia]

Oh my god! I was totally unaware that this is happening!! I'm extremely pro choice, and think that people need to learn to accept that. I agree with Wallis' comment that a woman is not happy to be terminating her pregnancy, but she does it because she feels like it's the best option. The fact that people would try and scare others to sway their opinions baffles me. People have no say in how others handle their own bodies. Everyone has their own beliefs. Lots of hard, agonizing thought goes into making a decision like this, and no one should feel guilty that they had made the "wrong" decision. I feel like in this situation, no one is in a place where they can tell you what's right and what's wrong. You know the circumstances best, and the only right thing you can do is to act with both you and your child's well being at heart.

[3cdelia]

These centers are rampant across the US, and fight the woman's right to choose. This whole system is appalling and very upsetting to me because women approach these clinics looking for help and a safe, clean, hygienic abortion. Prospective mothers get abortions for different reasons all the time, whether that is due to them knowing they cannot support the child financially, cannot afford the medical costs, have been raped, are sick and don't want to endanger the child further, or simply just know its not an option to have a family at that point in their lives. These are reasons and choices that we as the american public have to respect and support. Programs like planned parenthood help women make choices and stay safe no matter what. Why are tax dollars not supporting these organizations? Why are we allowing for programs like this to exist? Why haven’t these centers been shut down?
These centers only promote the woman's lack of a voice in the political playground that her own body has become. It honestly boggles my mind that abortion is a political issue. This concept of banning abortion is one thing, while the concept of tricking a woman into not having an abortion is an entirely different issue. To me it is clear that it should be a woman's decision either receive the abortion of not, a choice made of her own volition. This use of deceit and trickery is disgusting. The fact that centers like this exist to shame and coerce women into making choices they don't believe in horrify me. The only way to fix these problems is to bring this into legislature. I think this constitutes as dangerous false advertising. This is a practice and a setup that should be outlawed and enforced strictly so as to protect the rights and mental health of the women visiting these clinics. If we can make a woman's body and her choices pertaining to her health a political issue we certainly can make these clinics one.

[6mhalle]

It is horrible to know that this is actually happening. As a woman, I strongly support a woman's right to choose and believe that no one else should have a say in this decision besides herself, especially a group of people at a 'Crisis Pregnancy Center' who know nothing about her or her situation. After watching this video, it's horrifying to know that workers at these centers go so far as lying to pregnant women about abortion risks, such as saying that having an abortion increases a woman's risk of breast cancer or can lead to mental health problems. I believe that everyone has a right to their opinions, including those who are Pro-Life, but this does not give them the right to lie to and trick pregnant women out of getting abortions. No human being has the right to decide for another what is best for themselves or their body and it angers me to know that we live in a world where having an abortion is still such a huge issue. Once again, the only person is concerns is the pregnant woman and she alone should assess her choices and make her decision.

[6CJohnnie]

I had heard about this and I also heard that these Crisis Pregnancy Centers are rapidly increasing in number and influence. Crisis Pregnancy Centers strategically place themselves in low income neighborhoods, near actual abortion clinics and organizations like Planned Parenthood, and in areas with little access to reproductive health care. Crisis Pregnancy Centers are a horrifying reality; they provide FALSE information to women seeking abortions or pregnancy counseling (see here) and essentially guilt women into bringing their fetus to term (see here). They give sensationalized and false information to expectant mothers (click on the "Options" page in the second link). The right to abort is a fundamental woman's right in that nobody should have power over the body of another.

Many state governments are working hard to enact laws to essentially close all abortion clinics in their states. These bills, called Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP Laws, essentially demand arbitrary and impossible-to-meet regulations of abortion clinics, and if these clinics cannot meet them, they must close. These TRAP Laws are designed to ban abortion; however, governments can not officially ban it because of Roe v. Wade. Governments can make it impossible for abortion clinics to open though, which is exactly what Alabama is doing. Their governor is expected to sign a bill (HB 57) that would close the last five abortion clinics in the entire state due to arbitrary and unfair regulations. In Texas, 90% of women already live in counties with no abortion clinics. The list goes on and on, and women are increasingly left without options.