Some Facts About CPCs
While some CPCs offer accurate information and unbiased counseling, reports show that the vast majority rely on deliberate misinformation to steer women away from the decision to terminate a pregnancy. In addition, centers often attempt to delay pregnancy decisions in order to make it more difficult for clients to obtain abortions. Many are run by or affiliated with religious institutions, such as the Evangelical Christian websites, CareNet and Heartbeat International. CPCs deliberately attempt to lure women in through misleading advertisements, and occasionally even by location and name. They may be found in the phone book under ‘abortion’ and ‘abortion services’, though they provide neither of these. CareNet runs OptionLine, a phone service that links women to CPCs; though its advertisement states that it offers options for pregnant women, in reality it does the very opposite. CPCs may choose locations close by actual medical facilities offering abortions, and in some cases choose similar names in order to mislead women seeking abortion services. For example, in Minnesota, CPC Robbinsdale Women’s Center is located less than a block from Robbinsdale Medical Center, a clinic which offers abortion services. In addition, CPCs often target locations close to college campuses. For example, the Pregnancy Decisions Center - a CPC with a focus on abstinance-only education - is located less than a block from the Ohio State University campus, and a few doors down from the campus Planned Parenthood. The most common services offered by CPCs are pregnancy testing and decision counseling. Rather than offering unbiased and accurate information to help women make a fully informed decision on what to do with an unplanned pregnancy, CPC counselors draw from a wealth of inaccurate, misleading, and falsified medical information in order to dissuade clients from choosing abortion. For example, it is common for counselors to emphasize a link between abortion and breast cancer, despite years of medical research indicating that no such connection exists. A counselor may tell a client that abortion causes permanent damage, and may wildly exaggerate the statistic of injury and death resulting from abortion services. They may claim that abortion results in infertility, or that it can cause problems with future pregnancies. Generally these statistics are unsubstantiated at best. Another common claim is the risk of “Post-Abortion Stress Syndrome”. According to anti-choice rhetoric, women who have had abortions risk suffering a form of post-traumatic stress disorder. However, current medical research indicates that women who have had abortions suffer no long-term psychological effects, and are no more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. In addition to counseling, CPCs advertise a number of free or low-cost services to pregnant women, including ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, and adoption services. These services are often misleading. The free pregnancy tests many CPCs offer are usually over-the-counter self-tests, the same kind available at most drug stores. Ultrasounds are conducted by untrained volunteers, and may inaccurately portray the development of the fetus. Adoption services may consist of no more than a list of phone numbers, rather than actual adoption counseling or information about the adoption process. All too often, these services are simply tools employed to further dissuade women from getting comprehensive pregnancy care from licensed providers. CPCs use many of the same tactics employed by anti-choice propaganda, including the manipulation of statistics and the use of biased resources. For instance, AbortionFacts.com (an anti-choice website referred to by many CPCs) lists long strings of supposed percentages relating to the medical risks of abortion without ever stating where the statistics came from. When sources are cited, they are often biased (such as those pulled from anti-choice publications or medical institutions with religious affiliations) or misleading (as when quotes are selectively pared down to alter the author’s original intent). One example of this is when CPCs inaccurately state that even the manufacturers of emergency contraceptives - such as Plan B (R) - advise against pregnant women taking their product because it might cause termination of the pregnancy. In fact, the manufacturers of Plan B (R) state that pregnant women should not take the medication because it simply will not work, and that it will not harm an established pregnancy. http://go2planb.com When examining information pertaining to pregnancy services, it is important to analyze the validity of the facts you are given. If a pregnancy counselor is unable to provide you with honest, unbiased sources (such as the Ohio Department of Health), it is advisable to seek a second opinion.
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