Federal and state dollars fund so-called crisis pregnancy centers

Across the country, anti-choice activists are working to limit women's reproductive health options by restricting access to accurate sex education, birth control and abortion. In addition to legislative action, one branch of this movement is targeting pregnant women through so-called "crisis pregnancy centers" (CPCs) that prevent them from making informed choices about birth control and abortion. Family-planning service providers, like Planned Parenthood, offer reproductive health care for low-income, underinsured women, including medical services (like gynecological exams and cancer and diabetes screenings) and counseling on a wide range of topics (including parenting, adoption, abortion and domestic and sexual violence). CPCs provide no medical services at all but simply do not "promote, refer or perform" abortions. The National Abortion Federation (NAF) estimates that 4,000 CPCs currently operate in the US. Some centers provide an honest and supportive setting for pregnant women to discuss reproductive options, but many do not. CPCs often advertise as abortion centers or medical clinics, or claim to provide "pregnancy counseling" and "abortion information," in an attempt to lure in so-called "abortion-vulnerable clients" and dissuade them from having abortions with medically inaccurate information. In 2006, a report was released assessing the scientific accuracy of the information federally funded CPCs or "pregnancy resource centers" provide, titled "Federal Funded Pregnancy Resource Centers Mislead Teens About Abortion Risks," was released by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA). Female investigators, posing as pregnant 17-year-olds seeking advice about an unintended pregnancy, telephoned the 25 CPCs that received funds from the Department of Health and Human Services. Twenty of the 23 centers reached by the investigators (87 percent) provided false or misleading information about the physical and mental health effects of abortion and grossly exaggerated the medical risks. Despite the medical consensus that abortion does not cause an increased risk of breast cancer, eight centers said that having an abortion would increase the caller's risk. Abortions in the first trimester, using the most common procedure, do not pose an increased risk of infertility, but seven centers told the caller that having an abortion would hurt her chances of having children in the future. Research also shows that significant psychological stress after an abortion is no more common than after birth, but 13 centers told the caller that the psychological effects of abortion are severe, long-lasting and common. In North Carolina there are 17 abortion providers, and at least 70 CPCs. Volunteers from National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) Pro-Choice North Carolina called and visited 10 CPCs in NC, presenting themselves as women who thought they might be pregnant and were considering abortion. They recorded multiple instances of CPCs misleading women, documented in another 2006 report, much like those that Waxman's report described. CPCs in NC also misled women about birth control and emergency contraception. Alamance Pregnancy Services, in Burlington, told an investigator that all condoms are defective and have holes in them, whereas Birthchoice, in Raleigh, told an investigator that emergency contraception ("the morning after pill") was not available in the US. When investigators asked about other reproductive health services, such as STD testing or birth control pills, the CPCs responded that they would not or could not provide information about these services. NARAL is currently investigating avenues of legal action against CPCs. Centers that allow volunteers without specialized training to counsel clients could also be seen as engaging in counseling without a license, in violation of the Licensed Professional Counselors Act. In 2006 Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and 46 co-sponsors introduced the Stop Deceptive Advertising for Women's Services Act (HR 5052), which would have required the Federal Trade Commission to regulate false advertising by organizations claiming to provide abortion services, thereby preventing CPCs from presenting themselves as service providers, but it stalled in a House subcommittee. Between 2001 and 2005, over $30 million federal dollars went to over 50 CPCs, and an increasing number of states are providing public funding for them. In 2004, over $82,000 in state tax payer money from a discretionary fund was funneled to Hope Pregnancy Care Center, a CPC in Stokes County, NC. Many states use public funds to subsidize CPCs, Christian homes for unwed mothers and other programs explicitly designed to steer women away from abortion and often contraception. In 2007, states will collectively spend at least $13 million–much of it from welfare or family-planning budgets–to dissuade women from abortion. This alarms women's rights supporters, who assert that the funds would be better spent–and would prevent more abortions–if used to expand access to accurate information and birth control.