From FeministCampus.org:
…so-called “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” or “Pregnancy Resource Centers” on your campus or in your community. They pose as legitimate health centers and offer “free” pregnancy tests. In reality, most crisis pregnancy centers (CPC’s) are not medical facilities at all.
Some fake clinics coerce and intimidate women out of considering abortion as an option, and prevent women from receiving neutral and comprehensive medical advice. They are typically run by anti-abortion volunteers who are not licensed medical professionals.
Today there are an estimated 2,593 CPCs nationwide. Most fake clinics are affiliated with one or more national umbrella organizations. Two of the largest networks are Heartbeat International describing itself as “pro-life” and providing alternatives to abortion, and Care Net, “a Christian ministry assisting and promoting the evangelistic, pro-life work” affiliated with the fundamentalist Christian Action Council.
A Congressional investigation of CPCs receiving funding through President Bush’s faith-based Compassion Capital Fund revealed that 87% provided false or misleading information about the health effects of abortion. The Congressional report found many of these federally funded centers grossly misrepresent the medical risks of abortion by telling women that having an abortion could increase the risk of breast cancer, result in sterility, and lead to suicide and”post-abortion stress disorder.”3 Abortion is not associated with an increase in breast cancer risk or infertility, and a longitudinal study of 13,000 women over 11 years found that women who give birth have the exact same rate of need for psychological treatment as women who have abortions.
Learn more here. See also this post at Viva La Feminista.
–Ann Bartow
Maybe all heaith facilaties should be required to PROMINENTLY post things such as the sources of funding, the owners and afiliates, medcal education of all employees, lists of purposes AND BELIEFS, etc., with the intention of transparency and disclosure so that the patient is capable of excercising truly informed choice. Faith-based monies are by definition skewed. The meaning of faith should include faith in non-religeous science and medical practices unless faith means only belief in particular doctrines of particular religons.