When Crisis Pregnancy Centers get their hands on millions in federal and state dollars, they're not supposed to use that money to lie to women and promote religion. In practice, however, that's exactly what they do.
The video, from RH Reality Check and the Feminist Majority Foundation, looks at the lying lies of CPCs, including footage from inside one center where a counselor falsely tells a young women that an abortion will harm her long-term health and pressures her to turn to God. While these "fake clinics" go to great lengths to pass themselves off as legitimate medical institutions, setting up shop next to real doctor's offices, in fact most of their staff do not have medical training.
One college student points out in the video the alarming tactic of telling a woman she's not pregnant, when she is, endangers the health of the fetus - until a woman realizes she's been duped, she might engage in risky behaviors, such as drinking and smoking. The CPC wants to make it impossible for her to have an abortion within the legal time frame, but they don't even know that she would choose an abortion; if she's keeping the pregnancy, she wants to know the truth so as to protect the fetus' health.
Despite a Congressional report that found 87% of CPCs give out false or misleading information, they continue to get government money with little oversight. That's why we need to pressure Congress to pass truth-in-advertising legislation - requiring these Centers to own up to what services they actually provide and to stop lying to women - and to strip funds from "fake clinics" that exist to proselytize and manipulate women, while not providing any actual reproductive health support.
After months of deliberations and delays, the Senate Finance Committee has
released its framework for a health care reform bill. Here is the bottom
line for women and our families: we can't make any more concessions.
Anti-choice groups want to use health care reform to eliminate reproductive
health care coverage - and Congress is listening. They are listening to
smoke-screen type amendments like the Hatch Amendment (#C14) which would
prohibit private insurers operating through state-based exchanges from
offering coverage for abortion care, except in cases of rape, life
endangerment, or incest in any benefits package. It suggests that private
insurers that wish to offer coverage could do so through a supplemental,
single-service rider.
Here are the facts, which seem to be elusive to the anti-choice ideologues.
As more women lose their jobs and lose health insurance, our doctors and nurses hear stories everyday about the tough choices women are making between basic needs and health care. How reproductive health care is dealt with in national health care reform is no small matter. And who provides this care is still to be determined.
For communities like ours, local health centers are where many people turn for trusted health care. Community health providers, like Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE), often serve as an entry point for essential health care needs. Of PPNNE services, 95 percent are prevention-oriented.
Today, one in four women who receives contraceptive care does so at a women's health center. One in six who obtains a Pap test or a pelvic exam does so at a women's health center, as do one-third of women who receive counseling, testing or treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. This basic health care is essential, particularly during difficult economic times, to give women the tools they need to protect and support their families. This is particularly true when you consider that women of childbearing age spend a remarkable 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men, in part because of reproductive health-related needs.
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