(Daily Caller News Foundation) As attacks against pro-life pregnancy centers continue, Democrat lawmakers are framing the mission of these centers as tricking women out of getting abortions. Multiple pregnancy center workers and pro-life experts disputed these claims to the Daily Caller.
Pro-life pregnancy resource centers (PRC), or crisis pregnancy centers, provide a wide array of resources both during and after pregnancy, including ultrasounds, medical exams, parenting classes, STD testing, diapers, and baby food.
An agreement between the three major affiliation groups for pro-life centers — Heartbeat, Care Net and NIFLA — affirms that the groups “do not offer, recommend or refer for abortions, abortifacients or contraceptives. We are committed to offering accurate information about related risks and procedures.” The “Commitment of Care and Competence” is signed by 80% of pregnancy centers in the US.
Yelp added a consumer notice in August to pro-life pregnancy resource centers warning there may not be a licensed medical professional on site.
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“Everything we do here is designed to give [a woman] free information, free services, free medical care, so she can make a fully informed choice,” Becky Sheetz, executive direct of First Care Women’s Health, told the Daily Caller. “Like that’s the irony and the evilness of all of this is when the other side tries to harm us and lie about us and do us damage. They’re damaging women who really are coming here.”
First Care Women’s Health was vandalized by pro-abortion demonstrators in May 2022.
A bill in Colorado denotes as “deceptive practice” any PRC that “indicates directly or indirectly, that the person provides abortions, emergency contraceptives, or referrals for abortions or emergency contraceptives.” A similar bill in Illinois targets what some claim are the “deceptive practices” of PRCs.
“Our website has a disclaimer that we do not provide or refer for abortions. We will tell women that on the phone, so we never, ever tell somebody that they’re going to come in for abortion,” Sheetz said.
Pregnancy Center CEO Responds To Government Ramping Up Efforts To Identify Perpetrators Of Pro-Life Attacks https://t.co/h8jRAE8d5S
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 3, 2023
Tweet This: Pregnancy center workers and pro-life experts dispute claims by Democrat lawmakers that these centers trick women out of getting abortions
“None of these centers are claiming to do things that are not authorized or licensed to do,” Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, told the Daily Caller. “This is a wildly specious claim that somehow these centers that provide diapers and counseling and formula and encouragement to women who want to keep their children are somehow not medically qualified to do so. There’s there’s there’s nothing medical about a woman who needs a hug.”
CatholicVote has kept a running tally of the PRCs that have been attacked, firebombed or vandalized since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. To date, at least 83 have been attacked, according to the group.
“We’re marketing ourselves. We’re putting ourselves out there so we can attract young women and even young men who need our help,” Rita Reyes, executive director of Choices of the Heart Network, told the Daily Caller. “And so we’re easy targets because we want everyone to come to us who has a need.”
Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren has taken direct aim at PRCs, claiming that they “deceive” women.
“Deception is wrong. No one should be deceived — directly or indirectly — about the services they can access or the risks of receiving care,” Warren said. “That is particularly true for someone under great stress and time constraints who is coping with an unplanned pregnancy.”
Genevieve Plaster, Senior Editor and Director of Publications for Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), said these claims are “not true.”
“I think that women who really are looking for options or who are undecided — and a big part of their decision comes comes from having support material or financial or just even emotional — will seek them (PRCs) out,” Plaster told the Daily Caller. “I just think it’s natural, you know, as you’re Googling or looking for your own information, that you’ll find the pregnancy centers.”
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