By: Elisabeth Seiple and Molly Voit
Abortion and women’s reproductive rights have long been a point of contention in America. The divide between pro-life and pro-choice movements has caused rifts in even the most politically homogeneous communities. With the current administration’s crackdown on abortion providers and policies regarding women’s right to abortion, the issue has only become more hotly debated. However, there is a secret underworld to this debate that receives very little coverage in mainstream media, crisis pregnancy centers.
Crisis pregnancy centers are pro-life “clinics” that aim to trick pregnant women with unwanted pregnancies into thinking they are abortion providers. They masquerade themselves as certified abortion providers; moving next door to known clinics, referencing “abortion counseling” in their advertising, even physically luring women away from real clinics. To explain how these clinics arose, you need to look back at the passing of Roe v. Wade in 1973. The 1960s and ‘70s were the climax of the second wave of the women’s rights movement which was characterized mostly by equal job opportunities, access to childcare, intersections of race, and abortion and reproductive rights. Roe v. Wade was one of the outcomes of this wave, and while it is celebrated today as the beginning of women’s access to abortion, in reality, it wasn’t the end-all solution it’s praised as today. The decision of the Supreme Court stated that a woman’s “right of personal privacy includes the abortion decision.” This means that although women’s choice to have an abortion is constitutionally protected, they still have to meet state requirements, including how far along the pregnancy is.
Later in 1976, when the Hyde Amendment was passed, women experienced more difficulty accessing abortions because Medicaid no longer funded abortions outside of the state requirements. As a result, abortion access was determined by economic status, similar to how it was before Roe. State restrictions on abortion were further increased when the Supreme Court case Webster v. Reproductive Health Services determined life began at conception and abortion would not be offered as a public service, limiting the access and public funding of abortions. Women’s right to choose to have an abortion was still protected but these rulings limited access dramatically and put lower class women at a disadvantage.
Limited access to abortion clinics, in addition to the lack of sex education, leads to women being drawn into crisis pregnancy centers. CPCs tend to be located near real abortion clinics, sometimes even right next door, with similar names in an attempt to get women seeking an abortion to walk into the center accidentally. In a Vice News video titled, The Fake Abortion Clinics of America, a leaked video of a training session for a CPC led by pro-life activist Abby Johnson reveals how these centers trick pregnant women. In the clip, Johnson demonstrates how to manipulate the order of a google search result to try to lure “vulnerable” pregnant women from real abortion clinics. Johnson then explains that the centers should “look professional, business-like and…medical. The best client you ever get is one that thinks they are walking into an abortion clinic, the ones that think you provide an abortion.”
So, what happens when a pregnant woman walks into a Crisis Pregnancy Center? A typical appointment begins with a screening of an “informational” video or a meeting with a pregnancy counselor claiming to explain the risks of having an abortion and encouraging the woman to seek out alternative options. They often lie in order to further their own beliefs and opinions about abortion. Some of the most misleading pieces of information are that women have a higher chance of breast cancer with every abortion they have, and the technique of misdating womens’ pregnancies. A false and earlier date of conception is significant because some states limit abortions to a certain time frame within a pregnancy. Believing that they are farther along in their pregnancy can lead women to thinking they have fewer options. This can frighten those in an already in a vulnerable state, and make an already difficult process even more stressful and traumatic. After these appointments, the women are usually given a free ultrasound which is then frequently used to guilt-trip them out of their decision to have an abortion.
Crisis pregnancy centers are impacting women all around America. Many women who have had distressing experiences with these clinics have launched campaigns or organizations to fight against CPCs. Some of these organizations are the #ExposeFakeClinics Campaign, Lady Parts Justice League, and Reproaction.
Sources:
- The Fake Abortion Clinics Of America: Misconception, VICE, 17 Sept. 2014,
video.vice.com/en_us/video/fake-abortion-clinics/55e0dbc4ca0b0b2c784ce599.
2. Dicker, Rory. A History of U.S. Feminisms. Seal Press, 2016.
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