For information about abortion services in your community, or to make an appointment for abortion counseling, services, or referral, call toll-free 800-230-PLAN.
In their zeal to stop women from having abortions, anti-abortion activists have set up "counseling centers" in hundreds of communities around the country. Far from true counseling, these centers are designed to misinform and intimidate women — some will go to any lengths necessary to dissuade women from ending their pregnancies.
Increasingly, women complain about their unwitting encounters with anti-abortion centers. Women describe being harassed, intimidated, and given blatantly false information. They complain that confidential information they provided was used against them. In some cases, they describe instances of medical malpractice which threatened their lives.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the National Abortion Federation systematically surveyed abortion providers and other family planning professionals around the country for information about deceptive anti-abortion counseling centers in their communities.
Hundreds of reports were received by the two national offices — reports that included not only names and addresses but also detailed accounts from women who had attended such centers, news clippings reporting deceptive practices and/or lawsuits, as well as pamphlets and other materials being distributed by the centers.
How to Recognize Anti-Abortion Counseling Centers
Although tactics vary from center to center, the following patterns have emerged as typical of anti-abortion counseling centers:
They falsely suggest or promise a full range of reproductive health services. They list themselves in the yellow pages of telephone directories under any or all of the following headings:
- Abortion
- Abortion Alternatives
- Abortion Services
- Birth Control Information Centers
- Clinics, Medical
- Family Planning Information Centers
- Social Service Organizations, and
- Women's Organizations
Usually the only "service" offered is anti-abortion counseling, and most such centers have no medically trained or medically supervised personnel.
They offer free pregnancy tests but give ambiguous answers about the results. In fact, the Pearson Foundation manual, HOW TO START AND OPERATE YOUR OWN PROLIFE OUTREACH CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTER, urges anti-abortion counselors to give deceptive answers. For example, it cautions, "Do not tell the client that she is or is not pregnant." Instead, counselors are advised to only say whether test results are positive or negative. In California, two weeks after a woman was led to believe by an anti-abortion counseling center that she was not pregnant, she had to undergo emergency surgery and could have died when her undiagnosed tubal pregnancy burst. On the other hand, women who are not pregnant are often led to believe they are pregnant so they will be more available for anti-abortion indoctrination.
They show shocking and deceptive films or slide shows that include pictures of mutilated fetuses and stillborn babies; the testimony of distraught women who claim that abortion caused them emotional disturbances and physical ailments; and distorted statistics about the medical and psychological consequences of abortion. Such films are shown as part of a half-hour "counseling" session which takes place while waiting for pregnancy test results, which should be available within three minutes.
They attempt to induce guilt by engaging women in discussions about their religious views and beliefs.
They refuse or fail to provide contraceptive information. The Pearson Foundation manual explicitly instructs counselors "never to counsel or refer for artificial contraceptives or sterilization." In fact, they advise unmarried women to abstain from sex, presenting abstinence as the only way to avoid further unwanted pregnancies.
They make exaggerated promises of financial assistance, medical treatment, prenatal and postpartum care, adoption or child-care arrangements, and/or psychological counseling all in an effort to induce women to carry their pregnancies to term.
From all accounts, such practices are fairly standard although no two centers use exactly the same tactics.
In Worcester, Massachusetts, an anti-abortion counseling center posted a sign on its door saying "PP Inc." to imply that it was the Planned Parenthood clinic. It then positioned its counselors in the corridors to harass women who were trying to reach the real Planned Parenthood facility. These practices were eventually stopped by court injunctions.
In San Francisco, a staff member of an anti-abortion counseling center is being sued for attempting to hide a pregnant teenager from her parents until she gave birth. The parents were told that the young woman was going to Europe on a special scholarship. Illegal arrangements for the adoption of the child were also being set up before she was reunited with her parents.
Some centers have been reported to go beyond abortion prevention as far as harassing a woman for months after she obtains her abortion. Some go to the length of informing the woman's parents or employers and make threatening, late night phone calls. They have called women on the date they would have delivered to point out their babies would have been born on that day. They then tell these women that they are baby-killers.
Caution: if you find that the facility from which you have sought help is actually an anti-abortion facility, protect yourself from further harassment. Leave the premises immediately and do not return. When you do locate a professional clinic or counseling center that offers all available alternatives, you may find it helpful to share those experiences with your new counselor so that whatever distortions and misinformation you may have received can be corrected.
How to Locate Professional Pregnancy Counseling Centers
If you are seeking counseling to decide whether or not to continue an unintended or problematic pregnancy, you have a right to expect compassionate, competent, professional guidance complete in its review of all available options so that you can make the right choice for yourself. The following guidelines can help you locate the most thorough and complete counseling services:
Select clinics and pregnancy counseling centers that have clearly established reputations. Avoid centers with ambiguous names or descriptions. Ask friends or relatives you trust!
Select clinics that provide the full range of contraceptive alternatives. Avoid clinics whose staff do not provide full, clear answers regarding their services. In particular, ask on the phone if they provide or refer for abortion services, and avoid clinics that refuse to give a straightforward answer.
Select clinics that have or are supervised by physicians, nurse practitioners, or other licensed health practitioners.
For information about whether a particular facility will give you complete information about your options, and for reliable referrals to clinics and pregnancy counseling centers, call
- the Planned Parenthood affiliate listed in your local telephone directory (or call 800/230-PLAN), and/or
- the National Abortion Federation's toll-free Consumer Hotline: (800) 772-9l00, or in Canada: (800) 424-2280, weekdays, 9:30-5:30 Eastern Time
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