The Ohio abortion fund named Women Have Options (WHO) recently tweeted an Ohio Capital Journal article disparaging pregnancy help centers (PHCs) in the context of Roe v. Wade almost certainly being overturned with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case.
The article laments how much funding the PHCs get from the state of Ohio just to - according to the author and other abortion proponents - lie to women, mislead them, and coerce them into not getting an abortion.
“Ohio’s anti-abortion fake clinics (CPCs) receive millions in taxpayer funding each year and promise free diapers and ultrasounds,” WHO commented in its tweet of the article.
The abortion fund further responded to a comment on the tweet, saying:
“CPCs have no long-term supports, impersonate clinics, don’t reduce maternal mortality, and leech funds from that could support parents via actual licensed medical facilities and mutual aid collectives.”
Even though that statement contains both blatant falsehoods and completely unverified accusations, I have no doubt the person posting it truly believes that.
Additionally, according to the article, somehow Roe being overturned would, “insert confusion into an already tense reproductive environment in Ohio.” The article goes on to claim that women are already confused about their options for abortion in Ohio - and it’s all the fault of PHCs!
The entire article is a mess of assertions with no data or evidence to back them up, coupled with tired pro-choice talking points that have been recited so often they have been worn smooth and have no bite. It is obvious to anyone that the article is just throwing out every excuse in the book to hate on PHCs and the pro-life, pregnancy help movement in the hopes at least one fallacious accusation will stick.
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Let’s take a look at these supposedly damning assertions.
Oh no, material aid is given to discourage abortion!
“Pro-choice and pro-abortion organizations say these crisis pregnancy centers…are based on the idea of discouraging abortion through the use of support like free baby supplies and charitable donations.”
It's so weird how pro-choice people have to negatively spin the fact that offering tangible, material aid and support does discourage some women from having an abortion.
So what?
If material aid given does discourage abortion, isn't that a good thing?
Doesn't that mean a woman got what she actually needed to make the decision she wanted?
Pro-choice people should not want women to get an abortion simply because she feels she must because she is not prepared, has no baby supplies, doesn’t know how to parent, or has no support system.
Instead of pushing abortion as a Band-Aid fix upon women who are poor or otherwise unprepared for a child so we can sweep societal shortcomings under the rug, how about we actually work to make our society a place that is more welcoming and supportive of pregnant women, babies, and families?
Oh, wait … that’s like, exactly what PHCs are doing.
Oh no, women get referred there for pregnancy verification so they can apply for Medicaid and WIC!
“Amherst resident Kathleen Cooper said she was sent to a CPC for pregnancy verification by her local Job and Family Services office when she was seeking financial help for her pregnancy.”
Yeah … Because they will do the verification FOR FREE. Women seeking abortion don't need to get pregnancy verification for Medicaid or WIC, anyway, so what's the big deal? Why should she visit an abortion provider and pay for pregnancy verification when she can go to a PHC and get verification for free, as well as other free, practical resources and support during and after pregnancy?
Oh no, they receive millions of dollars from the state!
“These centers have been consistently [been] funded through the state, receiving $7.5 million in the 2019 budget and another $6 million in 2021.”
Yeah … to give totally free services to women, like pregnancy verification to apply for Medicaid and WIC.
Are abortion providers giving free services with the state money they get? Uuuummm … no. They charge for abortion. They charge for pregnancy testing. They charge for ultrasounds.
In fact, some women call Option Line to get a free pregnancy test or ultrasound because the Planned Parenthood they called wouldn’t give them one unless they were scheduling an abortion!
It’s almost like PHCs work to provide free services to the women who need them the most, saving communities across America millions of dollars a year.
Oh no, they think ultrasounds are part of informed consent!
“CPC staff who were studied saw the role of a center as a way to provide ‘facts.’ To that end, showing ultrasounds to clients fell under ‘informed consent’ in their minds.”
Uhhh … maybe providing ultrasounds is a way to provide informed consent?
In Ohio, an ultrasound is required before an abortion, but viewing the ultrasound is not required. So, a woman seeking an abortion does not have to look if she does not want to. She could also ask for the volume to be turned down or off if she does not want to hear the heartbeat. In no way does getting an ultrasound force a woman to choose life for her child.
On the flip side, the article makes the implication that providing ultrasounds is not informed consent, and that providing women with more information on what is happening to their body and with the state of their pregnancy is somehow this awful thing to shame and manipulate them.
But if seeing or hearing an ultrasound does convince a woman to choose life, why is that bad? Why would a woman making a decision in line with her personal moral values and beliefs be bad? If she sees an ultrasound and feels a bond to her child, or feels like her child has a life and she should not have that life ended, is that so terrible?
Medically, ultrasounds are very important for informed consent before an abortion!
They can tell the sonographer whether the pregnancy is viable; that is, is the woman at risk for miscarriage? A heart rate that is too high or too low could indicate impending miscarriage. In this instance, abortion is not “necessary” to the woman seeking one. The child will naturally die on their own.
Additionally, checking that the embryonic sac is in the uterus is also vital; an abortion will not do anything for a woman with an ectopic pregnancy.
Women deserve to know these pieces of information before choosing if they want to pay for a procedure they don’t need and could in fact even harm them (by delaying finding an ectopic pregnancy, for example).
The rest of the article just makes claims about women being ridiculed or shamed for deciding to get an abortion and being mad that PHCs offer accurate information on abortion pill reversal and fetal development.
I would find it highly unusual for PHCs, many of which offer after-abortion support too, to run off potential clients by making them feel stupid or ashamed of their decisions. If the goal is to empower women so they can choose life, they’re not going to do something that so blatantly would harm their mission.
While I am tired of pro-choice people constantly saying, “pro-life people don’t actually help pregnant women,” or, “pro-life people only care about women until the baby is born,” and then dumping on any help we do provide (like in this article), I am not surprised.
Roe is likely going to be overturned, and pro-choice organizations will lose a lot of their bite when that happens. They have to work hard to make themselves look like women’s saviors and make us look like bad guys.
But that’s ok. When Roe gets overturned and almost half the states ban or severely restrict abortion, we (the pro-life and pregnancy help movements) will still be here.
Maybe at that point our pro-choice neighbors will consider working with us, instead of against us, to support even more moms and families who face unexpected or unplanned pregnancies.
A girl can dream.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN), Option Line, and Pregnancy Help News.
