NEWS STORY, "ABORTION ACTIVISM ON WHEELS IN BX," BY JORDAN LITE, THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS (02/26/07)
An anti-abortion group, once investigated for unauthorized medical practices, today is launching a new front in the battle: free sonograms in front of South Bronx abortion clinics.
Women coming to the clinics will be met by sidewalk activists from EMC Frontline Pregnancy Centers, who will invite them into a 32-foot, ultrasound-equipped van for a hot drink and the not-so-subtle suggestion they change their minds.
"We want them to see the baby, hear the heartbeat and think seriously about what they're doing," said EMC President Chris Slattery.
While mobile "crisis pregnancy centers" are familiar to rural America, New York's would be the first, Slattery says, in a big American city.
Slattery wouldn't disclose the unit's planned route. "We want the element of surprise," he said. The borough has seven abortion clinics.
"It's definitely a new tactic to get themselves right in front of women seeking abortion services," said Mary Alice Carr, a spokeswoman for NARAL Pro-Choice New York.
EMC already has 15 offices in the metro area that are among approximately 2,300 such "crisis pregnancy centers" across the country that advise women grappling with pregnancies.
Many of these centers have come under fire for what abortion-rights groups say are biased tactics that pressure women into continuing pregnancies they may not want.
Opponents say the group's representatives mislead clients into believing they will get objective information about abortion and family planning, promote a disproven link between abortion and breast cancer, exaggerate the dangers of the procedure and administer ultrasounds without proper training.
EMC and other such groups are often located near abortion clinics, and some women unintentionally go inside.
"Our clients have gotten confused, gone there first and come out very, very upset," said Joan Malin, president of Planned Parenthood of New York City.
EMC, also known as Expectant Mother Care, was among nine "crisis pregnancy centers" scrutinized in 2002 by then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for allegedly practicing medicine without authorization and deceptive advertising. He ultimately settled with one center and ended his investigation of the others.
The state does not regulate the centers. But former state Attorneys General Robert Abrams and Dennis Vacco negotiated agreements with them that require centers to be clear in their advertising materials and contacts with women that they don't provide abortions or referrals for them.
Slattery believes his mobile center is legal: "They will be told that this is a place to avoid an abortion," he said.
