In Defense of Crisis Pregnancy Centers
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has sunk to a new low. In a recently released video (paid for with your tax dollars by the way), the MDOPH warned pregnant women not to fall for the schemes of evil “anti-abortion” centers.
“Whether you need pregnancy care or anti-abortion care, avoid anti-abortion centers” cautions our narrator in a deeply concerned voice. “They may look like medical clinics, but can put your health at risk. They mislead you about your options if you’re pregnant,” the narrator continues. But worst of all, “They don’t offer abortion care.”
It’s a despicable use of public funds to push a blatantly political message against crisis pregnancy centers. But it’s also the latest in a barrage of assaults against these essential institutions as the radical left tries to convince women the only way to handle an unplanned pregnancy is murder.
Crisis pregnancy centers have long been a target of the antinatalist left. Massachusetts’ own execrable senator Elizabeth Warren has called to “shut them down all around the country” following legislation she introduced that would fine and penalize the centers for undefined “misleading statements” related to abortion.
During the violent and chaotic summer that saw the end of Roe v. Wade and pro-abortionists attempt to assassinate a Supreme Court justice; two crisis pregnancy centers in Worcester, Massachusetts were vandalized. Per local reporting, one center had its doors and windows smashed in and pro-abortion graffiti spray painted on the sidewalk outside, while a second had paint splattered on it and the same graffiti spray painted on the door.
Despicably, while Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey released a statement condemning the vandalism, one could argue she was responsible for the attacks in the first place. The day before the centers were vandalized, Healy released a statement claiming crisis pregnancy center’s “goals [are] to prevent people from accessing abortion and contraception,” and that the state wanted “to ensure that patients can protect themselves from deceptive and coercive tactics when seeking the care they need.”
Except there is nothing deceptive about how these centers market themselves. They are quite clear that they do not provide abortions, and that they instead provide information to mothers about what an abortion truly entails and the alternatives that exist.
Clearwater Clinic, one of the Worcester centers that was vandalized, explicitly says on its website that it does “not provide, prescribe, or refer for abortions.” This message is posted in both its abortion information section and the FAQ.
Radical pro-abortionists will often claim that pro-lifers only care about birthing babies and then couldn’t care less once the actual baby is born. They claim that conservatives ignore the plight of scared women who, terrified at the prospect of raising a baby while poor or without a husband, must turn to abortion to fix their problems.
Crisis pregnancy centers prove that a lie as well. The Clearwater Clinic provides pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, Customized referrals for insurance, housing, OB referral, domestic abuse help, material needs, and STI testing amongst other services. All free.
Indeed, the centers provide free access to proof required for low-income pregnant women to receive state and federal support. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also known as WIC, often requires proof of pregnancy to receive funds.
And even if a woman gets an abortion and suffers from some of the well-documented psychological injuries that can result from it, crisis pregnancy centers can help. Most centers, including the vandalized ones in Massachusetts, offer some form of one-on-one or group counseling to allow the woman to heal.
But while crisis pregnancy centers are providing these life saving services, state governments are trying their hardest to kill them. In neighboring Vermont, Gov. Phil Scott signed a law that restricts crisis pregnancy center’s ability to do their essential work because they refuse to refer women for abortions. The state can fine them up to $10,000 if it provided undefined “misleading” information. As the ADF notes, The law applies only to pro-life pregnancy centers—an abortion clinic that provides identical information would not be subject to the law.
Why is the left so hellbent on eliminating crisis pregnancy centers? Is coercing women into murdering their children truly so essential to the leftist worldview? Whatever the case, Massachusetts should refrain from wasting taxpayer funds on attacking crisis pregnancy centers that help women. The state should instead assist them in their noble mission.
Abortion is not the way, and crisis pregnancy centers just prove it.