Crisis Pregnancy Centers Are a Scam

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) has introduced a bill in the House of Representatives, the Stop Deceptive Advertising for Women’s Services Act, which would force the Federal Trade Commission to crack down on what some, no doubt, see as deceptive advertising by "crisis pregnancy centers." This proposed legislation is responding to a growing problem that may have been flying under the radar for most folks.

From Planned Parenthood here’s an example of why it is now reaching out with an information campaign. It wants to inform those citizens who still care about an American woman’s right to make her own choices to do with her own body, as well as those who simply still care about decency and honesty.

"An Indiana mother recently accompanied her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend to one of Indiana's Planned Parenthood clinics, but they unwittingly walked into a so-called "crisis pregnancy center" run by an anti-abortion group, one that shared a parking lot with the real Planned Parenthood clinic and was designed expressly to lure Planned Parenthood patients and deceive them.

"The group took down the girl's confidential personal information and told her to come back for her appointment, which they said would be in their 'other office' (the real Planned Parenthood office nearby). When she arrived for her appointment, not only did the Planned Parenthood staff have no record of her, but the police were there. The 'crisis pregnancy center' had called them, claiming that a minor was being forced to have an abortion against her will.

"The 'crisis pregnancy center' staff then proceeded to wage a campaign of intimidation and harassment over the following days, showing up at the girl's home and calling her father's workplace. Our clinic director reports that the girl was 'scared to death to leave her house.' They even went to her school and urged classmates to pressure her not to have an abortion.

“The anti-choice movement is setting up these 'crisis pregnancy centers' across the country. Some of them have neutral-sounding names and run ads that falsely promise the full range of reproductive health services, but they dispense anti-choice propaganda and intimidation instead. And according to a recent article in The New York Times, there are currently more of these centers in the U.S. than there are actual abortion providers. What's more, these centers have received $60 million in government grants. They're being funded by our tax dollars.”

Here’s more: This article, “Stopping Crisis Pregnancy Centers,” by Amy Bryant will give you more of an overview of the situation. If you’ve been worried, in general, about what religious nuts and anti-abortion crazies have been up to, please take the time to read this. You’ll be glad you did. And, to take action on this front go here.

Hey, and this time the shameless zealots are doing their twisted mischief with tax money!