If I had to make a wild guess, I would say that most people oppose false advertising and support agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission, in uncovering cases of false advertising.
So why are Crisis Pregnancy Centers allowed to slip on their sheep’s costume every day — even protesting legislation that would force them to declare their true motives and offered services? No matter your individual beliefs about abortion and choice, we all need to join forces to reveal CPCs for what they really are.
Often CPCs purposely locate themselves near legitimate clinics and use similar names and display colors, but they are not actual clinics or women’s centers. Run by reproductive rights opponents, CPCs provide pregnancy-related services that don’t constitute the practice of medicine and don’t provide women with or refer women to abortion services, nor do they offer comprehensive contraceptive services.
Once inside a CPC, women can obtain pregnancy tests and counseling on abortion alternatives but cannot obtain abortion care or birth control. Some women have reported being intimidated, harassed and fed misleading, if not entirely inaccurate, information.
Many women have taken advantage of the free pregnancy tests CPCs usually offer, having been incorrectly told that the CPC’s pregnancy tests were more accurate than generic pharmacy tests. Unfortunately, some of those women were purposely given false negatives by the CPC workers, causing them to miss the deadline by which they could have an abortion if that had been their decision. Others have made appointments for abortion services and mistake the CPC for the clinic. Then the CPC workers gave the women food and drink, which is not allowed before surgery. So even if the women discovered their mistake and eventually went to the actual clinic where they had scheduled an abortion, they couldn’t follow through with their original decision to terminate the pregnancy.
What is particularly appalling to me is that some of the workers and volunteers at CPCs have no medical training at all. When patients visit a health clinic, they expect services and information from someone who has training in the medical field. What if you found out you were treated by someone with absolutely no medical training and also had been given false information?
Astonishingly, some leaders in our government condone this cycle of harassment and misinformation. According to Legal Momentum, the nation’s oldest legal defense and education fund dedicated to advancing the rights of all women and girls, “CPCs are increasingly receiving federal and state funding for these activities — with dangerous consequences for women’s health and well-being. ... The largest source of government funding for CPCs is federal abstinence-only program grants. This funding has brought inexperienced CPC employees and volunteers into schools to teach abstinence-only programs, replacing trained sexual health educators who had provided comprehensive sexual education.”
Every person, especially a pregnant woman, deserves and needs to have access to accurate, comprehensive information regarding their health and options -- no matter their eventual decision. I urge everyone to support legislation — as absurd as this may sound — challenging CPCs to be honest and upfront in their advertising and information.
Duchy Trachtenberg, a Montgomery County, Md., council member, introduced such legislation, requiring CPCs to provide a verbal disclaimer or post at least one sign in their waiting rooms in English and Spanish explaining the center doesn’t have any medical professionals on staff. The law also requires that women who are or may be pregnant should contact a licensed health care professional. This legislation would not, however, require the CPCs to close down or stop providing services.
Furthermore, the posted sign won’t require any large effort or financial expense. It can be a simple statement printed from a computer.
Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, wrote a letter to the editors of the Washington Post: “Health care providers are already required by their oaths to tell their patients the truth, and this is supported by the licensing practices of the state. A doctor asked by a patient for a referral to an adoption service will receive one, and no physician or assistant needs to be told to inform their patients truthfully. The same cannot be said by those set up specifically in pursuit of a political agenda.”
I don’t advocate for abortion nor do I believe that abortion is for everyone; none of the decisions regarding an unplanned pregnancy are easy. I do advocate for accurate, upfront information that helps women make a fully educated decision about all of their options. Make CPCs take off their sheep’s costume and finally tell the whole truth.