Information about Crisis Pregnancy Centers

                        Information about Crisis Pregnancy Centers          
          Adapted from NARAL Pro-Choice America's "The Truth about Crisis Pregnancy Centers."

Anyone seeking health‐care services should receive comprehensive, unbiased, medically and factually accurate information.  Women facing unintended pregnancy deserve no less.  

While some Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) may provide appropriate support and information to women facing unintended pregnancies, many do not. 

The Crisis Pregnancy Centers featured in "Pregnant in Arizona" do not offer a full-range of reproductive options, however, they do provide valuable services for parents and women who have decided to continue their pregnancy to term.  

If you are considering abortion, it is advised that you avoid Crisis Pregnancy Centers.

Unfortunately, reports indicate that many CPCs intentionally misinform and mislead women seeking pregnancy‐related information to dissuade them from exercising their right to choose.

In fact, some CPCs may force women seeking objective health‐care information to watch anti‐abortion films, slide shows, photographs, and hear lectures. Some may also refuse to provide information about or referrals for birth control.

The majority of CPCs provide either false or misleading information about the health effects of abortion, such as:

• Abortion increases the risk of breast cancer, despite the overwhelming medical consensus that no such link exists. 
• Abortion could cause “permanent damage” that would affect women's future ability to bear children, when in reality, it has not been proven that abortion causes infertility.
• Finally, many centers continued to advance the myth of “Post‐Abortion Syndrome,” or Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome caused by abortion, even though scientific evidence shows that abortion does not cause significant long‐term psychological harm, and every woman's emotions after experiencing abortion is different.

These practices block women from making fully informed choices about their reproductive health and may endanger women’s health by delaying access to legitimate health‐care services. Even in the cases of centers that are overseen by medical professionals, there are no regulations in place to ensure that women will receive medically accurate information and services that meet an appropriate standard of care with respect to all of the women’s reproductive‐health options.

                        How to Recognize a Crisis Pregnancy Center
                                      Adapted from CPC Watch's "CPC Warning Signs."           
                  
A CPC will often have the following traits:

• They are listed in the phone book under "Abortion Alternatives."
• Advertise free pregnancy tests and/or sonograms.
  
• They won’t provide any straight answers regarding your options over the phone or in person.
• They won’t tell you whether or not they provide birth control or abortions.
• They offer store-brand pregnancy tests (E.P.T, etc) and use vague terms when discussing the results.
• They give you pamphlets that provide only negative commentary about abortions and position adoption as the only positive option.
• They make you watch anti-abortion propaganda videos before hearing the result of your pregnancy test.
• They staff no medical professionals.
• They are located in residential areas or in apartment complexes. In most states, real clinics are legally required to be located in an area zoned for commercial use only.  Non-profits (such as CPCs), however, can be located in apartment buildings, in neighborhoods, and in people's houses.  
• They make you feel guilty about your pregnancy or the options you are considering.
• They use inflammatory and/or fanatical language when discussing abortion with you.

Common Names of Crisis Pregnancy Centers:
Pregnancy Care Center, Crisis Pregnancy Center, Pregnancy Resource Center, Open Arms, CareNet, Birthright, Problem Pregnancy Center, A Better Choice* (also called "ABC Centers"), ABBA Pregnancy Center. While many CPCs have the word "life" in their names, a great number contain word "choice" to fool potential clients into thinking it's a pro-choice clinic.