Are "pregnancy counseling centers" misleading and should they be more direct about what they offer?

It would be great if they had a list of their services and what they don’t offer readily available so that people could determine if this was the right place for them or not (honestly, that would be nice in a number of places, not just pregnancy centers), but honestly, I don’t see why it’s an issue. If someone wanted an abortion, once this place said, we don’t do those here, they can leave and find a place that does. Sure, it sucks that the person wasted a bit of time there, but someone intent on an abortion is going to mention it and then leave when they are told they don’t do abortions or help people find a place to go to for an abortion. If they don’t disclose that information when asked and stall it so that the person misses their timeframe for an abortion, that is wrong and definitely needs to be addressed.

Yes. They are. Full stop.

Seaofclouds I think there may be some pressuring going on. Once a woman is there and in a vulnerable postion, the emotional play on her could be very traumatic. They know how to work that. Hence the flowers in baby clothes they put on the walls.

I think they are being singled out by secular abortion advocates. City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin and Speaker Christine Quinn are pushing their own agendas and singling out EMC while siding with Planned Parenthood and NARAL. From what I’ve seen and read, EMC clearly says on their storefronts and in their advertising they are an abortion alternative and they don’t hide their Pro-Life beliefs.

@Earthgirl That’s probably true and should be addressed, but their website is very blatant about the fact that they are trying to prevent abortions, so I’m sure it’s a well known fact in the area as well. From what I read about the actual EMC, they do provide numerous services for pregnant woman and they boast about the number of abortions that have been stopped. So to me, it sounds pretty obvious where they stand on things. I don’t think hanging a sign inside saying, “we don’t do abortions here” changing anything and I really don’t see why they should be forced to do so. I don’t agree with pressuring people, but that’s more about how they run things and not about disclosing what services they do and don’t offer in their window front.

Seaofclouds I don’t think a sign is necessary either. I agree with you there. I just hope there’s not undue pressuring going on.

@Earthgirl the signage would be required according to the bill proposed by Lappin and Quinn.

bkcunningham Yes, I know and I don’t necessarily think it’s needed. But honesty and transparency is.

Exactly what @iamthemob said.

Bear in mind that many of these centers get around HIPPA laws by not employing actual medical staff. They do not, however, tell you that you have no privacy rights regarding what you say in their offices. So if you leave to go get an abortion elsewhere, they can use the information they gathered from you to call people you know and tell them you are considering an abortion. They can call your parents. They can call your husband or boyfriend. They can call your priest.

I’m sorry, but anyone claiming to be on the side of God should show it by using better tactics. These centers are filthy proof that religious fanatics have no morals. They just hide behind a veneer of superiority while abandoning their own principles.

Uberwench That’s terrible! I had no idea they could get away with that kind of shit.

“I’m sorry, but anyone claiming to be on the side of God should show it by using better tactics”
Yeah, it’s called compassion. But I believe they feel the end justifies the means. That’s why we need laws to protect us from unfair practices and invasion of privacy and undue harassment.

They offer counsel regarding pregnancy, don’t they? Hence the name. I think that they’d be horrified to think that people would go there expecting an opportunity to abort.

@Uberwench It may not matter much to you, but to the pro-life crowd, the life of an unborn child is as valuable as that of anybody else. The reaction that you describe ought to make more sense to you if you think of them as a murder-prevention group in a world where it is legal to shoot people for being in your way.

@Earthgirl In fact, it is compassion for the unborn that drives the entire pro-life movement.

@Nullo Why must compassion for the unborn come at the expense of compassion for the mother?

One issue here that I don’t think has been mentioned is that a lot of these Crisis Pregnancy Centers situate themselves in buildings very close to clinics that DO provide abortions, and they often have very similar names. Women who have appointments at the real clinic may become confused and enter the wrong building. Once inside the CPC, the staff there will neglect to tell the woman that she is in the wrong place and will talk with her until she misses her appointment at the real clinic.

Also, a lot of these places actually do NOT advertise their pro-life mission. For example, there is a Planned Parenthood clinic close to my campus (they don’t provide abortions there, though) and directly across the street from it is a CPC called “Pregnancy Decision Health Centers” that promotes itself in advertisements as a simple, unbiased information resource. You don’t find out until you go on their website that they are strictly and strongly pro-life. Pregnant women looking for information may see their advertisements and go to the center or call the hotline without thinking to check their website first, because they think they will get unbiased information, as the centers make sure to not advertise that they are actually pro-life.

Maybe these tactics are legal (for now), but it is deceiving women when they are in a very vulnerable position, and it is wrong.

@MyNewtBoobs Who’s to say that it does? After all, some women don’t handle the aftermath of an abortion very well at all.

@Nullo And which women are these? Plus, that doesn’t even mean anything – some children don’t handle a parent going away to war very well, but that doesn’t mean we should outlaw it. There’s always going to be someone who doesn’t handle it well. But really, taking a woman’s info under false pretenses so that you can harass her and stalk her until she does what you want is treating her pretty badly.

@MyNewtBoobs When did this become stalking and harassment?
Tell me: what sorts of things are the people on the other end of a suicide hotline allowed to do?

@Nullo From @Uberwench‘s post “they can use the information they gathered from you to call people you know and tell them you are considering an abortion. They can call your parents. They can call your husband or boyfriend. They can call your priest.”

People on the other end of a Suicide Hotline have, at best, your real first name and phone number – not where you live or who to call in an emergency, etc.

@MyNewtBoobs do you honestly mean to tell me that there are documented cases of these things happening? No offense, but just common sense tells me it simply isn’t true. As hot and heavy as the city council and the Pro-Abortion groups are to shut these places down; if they had proof this was an on-going practice, they would help file charges. The things you are accusing these groups of doing are illegal and would be enough to shut their doors.

@Nullo First, “pregnancy counseling centers” is a name used by the media for the group. They often do not call themselves that. Some call themselves “crisis pregnancy centers.” Others list themselves as abortion providers. It is not at all a question whether or not they are purposefully deceptive in their practices. They are specifically looking for people who want an abortion so as to harangue them, and not all of them offer genuine counseling of any sort.

Second, I know that they see themselves as a murder-prevention group. But where I’m from, every five-year-old knows that two wrongs don’t make a right. So no, I won’t accept that justification (and not just because I think it’s both factually incorrect and fucking stupid).

Finally, the vast majority of the so-called “pro-life” movement is motivated by something they think is compassion—but only right up until the thing they claim is a child gets legal protection. Then it’s all “Healthcare? Fuck that!” They seem to have no problem with metaphorical abortions that occur post-birth. So let’s call a spade a spade: these people aren’t pro-life, they’re pro-life-until-birth. (No, it’s not all of them. But it’s enough of them that individual exceptions are beside the point.)

@bkcunningham Yes, there are documented cases of these things happen. The problem is that they are not illegal due to various technicalities. That’s what’s so fucked up about the situation. Some cities are considering legislation to make the activities of these centers criminal, however, so maybe things will get better soon.

No, they should not. At least this is how it’s handled in Germany. Women cannot have an abortion without visiting a certified pregnancy counseling center which are called Schwangerschaftskonfliktberatungsstellen. In many cases the result of this is the decision by the pregnant woman not to have an abortion. But the woman can decide. The actual abortion takes place in a clinic.

Because it’s always very difficult for a woman to deal with the overwhelming situation of an unwanted pregnancy it would be cruel to rename the counseling centers. In fact, it would be counterproductive. Some women would try to bypass counseling and even resort to illegal black market quack doctor procedures.

I said this before: most pro-choice people like myself are aiming for zero abortions because of zero unwanted pregnancies, while many pro-life advocates don’t support better sex education, don’t support better access to contraceptives and above all don’t support better education in troubled neighborhoods paid for by taxpayer who can afford paying taxes. Usually they also ignore the potential risks associated with climate change which means they are not really worried about born life in the year 2050. And they don’t care whether a pregnant woman has got health insurance or not.

It is clearly a violation of their free speech. As it said in the sidebar a similar action was struck down so I don’t see this one standing if it gets ramrod through. It is no more deceptive than Planned parenthood when the operative word being ”parent” meaning there is a child yet many of the services they provide is in avoidance of that.