Crisis pregnancy center

A CPC in Lincoln, Nebraska (foreground) intentionally located across the street[1] from an abortion clinic (background)

A crisis pregnancy center (CPC), sometimes called a pregnancy resource center (PRC)[2] or a pro-life pregnancy center,[3][4] is a type of nonprofit organization established by anti-abortion groups primarily to persuade pregnant women not to have an abortion.[5][6][7]: 1 

In the United States, there are an estimated 2,500 to 4,000 CPCs[8] that qualify as medical clinics that may also provide pregnancy testing, sonograms, and other services;[9] many others operate without medical licensing under varying degrees of regulation.[10] For comparison, there were 807 abortion clinics in the United States as of 2020.[8][11] Hundreds more CPCs operate outside of the U.S., including in Canada, Latin America, Africa, and Europe.[12][13][14]

CPCs have frequently been found to disseminate false medical information about the supposed physical and mental health risks of abortion;[15][16][17] they sometimes promulgate misinformation about the effectiveness of condoms and prevention of sexually transmitted infections.[18] CPCs are sometimes called fake abortion clinics by scholars, the media, and supporters of abortion rights, due to deceptive advertising that obscures the centers' anti-abortion agenda.[19][20]

Many CPCs are run by Christian groups that adhere to a socially conservative and anti-abortion viewpoint,[21] and they often operate in affiliation with one of three non-profit organizations: Care Net, Heartbeat International, and Birthright International. In 1993, the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) was formed to provide legal advice to CPCs in the U.S.[6][22][23] During the presidency of George W. Bush (2001–2009), U.S. CPCs received tens of millions of dollars in federal grants.[24] As of 2015, more than half of U.S. state governments helped to fund CPCs directly or through the sale of Choose Life license plates.[25]

Legal and legislative action regarding CPCs has generally attempted to curb deceptive advertising,[26] targeting those that imply that they offer abortion services by requiring centers to disclose that they do not offer certain services or possess certain qualifications.[27]

  1. ^ Conley, James (February 9, 2021). "Bishop Conley: Women's Care Center is a Great Gift to Lincoln which Saves Lives" (Interview). Interviewed by Russ Barger. Lincoln, Nebraska: Lincoln Right to Life. Archived from the original on October 27, 2022. Retrieved October 27, 2022. It's right across the street from Planned Parenthood, an abortion clinic. Which is another reason why they came here; they always like to be as close as they can to an abortion facility.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference aboutheartbeat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Brown, Lauretta (July 8, 2022). "Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Help Women – Why Are They Being Targeted?". National Catholic Register. Archived from the original on October 12, 2022. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  4. ^ Pavone, Frank (March 20, 2018). "Why should a pro-life pregnancy center be forced to advertise abortion?". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 5, 2019. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  5. ^ Chandler, Michael Alison (2006-09-09). "Antiabortion Centers Offer Sonograms to Further Cause". The Washington Post. p. html. Archived from the original on 2006-12-31. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  6. ^ a b Bazelon, Emily (2007-01-21). "Is There a Post-Abortion Syndrome?". The New York Times. p. cover story. Archived from the original on 2009-04-24. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference statefunding was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Montoya, Melissa N.; Judge-Golden, Colleen; Swartz, Jonas J. (2022). "The Problems with Crisis Pregnancy Centers: Reviewing the Literature and Identifying New Directions for Future Research". Int J Womens Health. 14: 757–763. doi:10.2147/IJWH.S288861. PMC 9189146. PMID 35706995. Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are nonprofit organizations that present themselves as healthcare clinics while providing counseling explicitly intended to discourage and limit access to abortion. These facilities engage in purposefully manipulative and deceptive practices that spread misinformation on sexual health and abortion.
  9. ^ "The Truth About "Crisis Pregnancy Center"" (PDF). Lansdowne, VA: Care Net. 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 April 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  10. ^ Redden, Molly (12 October 2015). "One State Finally Cracked Down on Deceptive Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  11. ^ "Guttmacher Institute Releases 2020 Abortion Provider Census with Important Data on US Abortion Landscape Before the Fall of Roe". Guttmacher Institute. December 1, 2022.
  12. ^ Mehler Paperny, Anna (May 20, 2016). "Crisis pregnancy centres mislead women, report says". Global News. Archived from the original on 2020-04-16. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  13. ^ "Worldwide Directory of Pregnancy Help". www.heartbeatinternational.org. Archived from the original on 2020-04-22. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
  14. ^ Albaladejo, Angelika (2017-10-26). "US groups pour millions into anti-abortion campaign in Latin America and Caribbean". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2020-01-13. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference star was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Bryant AG, Levi EE; Levi (July 2012). "Abortion misinformation from crisis pregnancy centers in North Carolina". Contraception. 86 (6): 752–6. doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2012.06.001. PMID 22770790.
  17. ^ Rowlands S (2011). "Misinformation on abortion". Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care. 16 (4): 233–40. doi:10.3109/13625187.2011.570883. PMID 21557713. S2CID 13500769.
  18. ^ Bryant-Comstock, Katelyn; Bryant, Amy G.; Narasimhan, Subasri; Levi, Erika E. (February 2016). "Information about Sexual Health on Crisis Pregnancy Center Web Sites: Accurate for Adolescents?". Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. 29 (1): 22–25. doi:10.1016/j.jpag.2015.05.008. PMID 26493590.
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference Eisenberg1994 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Multiple sources:
    • Shah, Khushbu (2019-08-16). "Inside the 'fake clinics' where women are persuaded to carry pregnancies to term - Crisis pregnancy centers' give counseling, pregnancy tests – and outnumber abortion providers three to one in Georgia". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2022-09-15. The Crossroads facility is one of thousands of "crisis pregnancy centers" that have appeared all over the US as a controversial part of the ongoing fight over women's reproductive rights. Known as "fake clinics" by pro-choice activists, and coined pregnancy resource centers by anti-abortion supporters, they are accused of posing as medical centers aimed at helping pregnant women, or even looking like abortion clinics.
    • Mertus, J A (1990). "Fake abortion clinics: the threat to reproductive self-determination". Women's Health. 16 (1): 95–113. doi:10.1300/J013v16n01_07. PMID 2309498. Archived from the original on 2022-09-15. Retrieved 2022-09-15. The establishment of "fake abortion clinics" poses a great threat to women's ability to make free and informed procreative decisions. Such clinics intentionally deceive pregnant women into believing that they provide a full range of women's health services when, in reality, they provide only a pregnancy test, accompanied by intense anti-abortion propaganda.
    • Dawson, Bethany (2022-08-21). "Fake abortion clinics now outnumber real ones 3 to 1, campaigners say, as pro-life activists try to pressure and shame women into abandoning terminations". Insider Inc. Fake abortion clinics that try to trick pregnant women in states where abortion is now banned and are searching online for termination options were given an unprecedented boost after Roe v Wade was overturned earlier this year, campaigners argue. Research shows that thousands of clinics posing as health centers offering abortions are ideological pro-life hubs that aim to pressure and shame pregnant women into abandoning their termination plans.
    • Goodwin, Shaun (2022-06-21). "Anti-abortion 'fake clinics' exist in Idaho. Here's what they are and how to spot them". Idaho Statesman. A "fake clinic," also known as a crisis pregnancy center, is a clinic that advertises services similar to an abortion clinic, but with a different agenda. Instead of performing abortion services, the staff talks women through their options but ultimately attempts to discourage them from having an abortion. Fake clinics are often set up close to abortion clinics, according to Planned Parenthood, and advertise a range of services such as STD testing, but more often than not do not provide any substantive health care services. Although not outwardly offering abortion services, the clinics will advertise solutions for unintended pregnancies, pregnancy consultation and post-abortion care.
    • Solis, Marie (2017-11-10). "Massachusetts Women's Health Center Actually a Fake Abortion Clinic, Says Watchdog Group". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 2022-09-15. Retrieved 2022-09-15. A Massachusetts health clinic is posing as an abortion provider to deliberately deceive women into not terminating pregnancies, a pro-choice group claims. The Attleboro Women's Health Center does not provide abortions, but rather uses underhanded tactics in attempts to prevent them, according to the Campaign for Accountability, which filed a complaint on Thursday with the state's attorney general. The health center's website prominently features headings on the "abortion pill" and "surgical abortion," includes extensive information on both pregnancy-terminating methods and offers the option of making an appointment at the top of the page. The site even includes price estimates for abortion procedures and advertises free abortion consultations. Users have to scour the site to find out that it actually does "not offer, recommend or refer for abortions or abortifacients."
    • "NARAL identifies 59 'fake' abortion clinics in Virginia". WTVR-TV. Richmond, VA. September 16, 2020. Archived from the original on September 15, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2022. NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia released the findings of a decade-long study examining the strategies of "fake" abortion clinics known as "crisis pregnancy centers." The study identified 59 "fake clinics" throughout the Commonwealth, compared to only 16 licensed abortion providers. "Fake clinics" are not-for-profit centers that often advertise free pregnancy tests and other services to people facing unplanned pregnancies while "deceptively promoting an anti-abortion, anti-reproductive rights agenda."
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference grassroots was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference silverstein was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ NIFLA Archived August 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference Edsall was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Ludden, Jennifer (March 9, 2015). "States Fund Pregnancy Centers That Discourage Abortion". NPR. Archived from the original on April 2, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  26. ^ AP (21 September 1991). "Congressional Inquiry Examines Reports of Bogus Abortion Clinics". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference nyt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).