Posted by QuickReadAbout.com Staff in Crisis pregnancy centers, also known as CPCs, are nonprofit organizations that are known as pregnancy resource centers. However, at a crisis pregnancy center there is a distinct way of thinking that mirrors the values and beliefs of those pro-life supporters who set up the center. Women who choose to go to a crisis pregnancy center will find the people working there will try to persuade her into giving birth rather than having an abortion, therefore ridding her of her power of choice.
Crisis pregnancy centers are different from pregnancy options counseling in that they only offer one choice: the choice that is best for the pro-life supporters. Most crisis pregnancy centers are located in the United States and are run by Christian organizations, while others operate as organizations that Christians use to work outside and across their denominations in evangelism and social welfare, functioning within the guidelines of the church the center is associated with. These parachurch organizations usually don’t have sponsorship of any particular church or association, and they attempt to avoid taking on roles that traditionally belong specifically to a church. The Billy Graham Association, an association on an evangelistic crusade, is one of the more commonly known parachurch organizations.
Counseling services that are typically offered by crisis pregnancy centers advise women not to have an abortion and promote alternative pregnancy decisions, like raising the child or putting he or she up for adoption. One way workers and counselors try to do so is to conduct sonograms to allow pregnant women to see the embryo inside the uterus, a way of guilting the expectant mother into making a decision that may not be right for her. This must work, because studies have shown that once a woman has seen her unborn child on an ultrasound, she can be convinced to remain pregnant even though she may have gone into the sonogram with a different idea. Other times, a crisis pregnancy center will offer Bible study sessions or peer counseling sessions for women who have recently had an abortion. Often, the center will follow the teachings of its religious denomination, while pregnancy options counseling provides women with a variety of choices about pregnancy that are medically-based and secular, including abortion.
The main criticism among outspoken individuals about crisis pregnancy centers is that they are dishonest and use false advertising, misrepresenting themselves as a provider of a complete range of health services that include abortion, adoption, and parenting. Unfortunately, women who are attracted to these crisis pregnancy centers are often vulnerable and disillusioned, such as teenagers who need medically accurate information to help them make an informed decision without the assistance of their parents or guardians. Many CPCs lie to their clients about false risks involved in an abortion that could push the client into making the choice that the pro-life supporters are pushing upon her.
The majority of crisis pregnancy centers don’t even offer medical services. Instead, they give out pro-life information like adoption services, abstinence until marriage pamphlets, religious literature, and Bibles. CPCs are also known to provide information on childcare and child safety issues, career development, and baby and maternity clothing. They also provide women who come to the center seeking answers with organizations that provide medical care, legal aid, and social services. Unlike reproductive health centers like Planned Parenthood, which does not provide abortion services contradictory to what many people believe, a crisis pregnancy center may point women to groups that give mothers scholarships if they give their babies up for adoption. Abortion providers and emergency contraception are not part of a crisis pregnancy center’s agenda, hence the reason why one is likely to find a CPC under “abortion alternatives” instead of “abortion services” in a phone book or Internet search.
As of September 2006, there were more than 2,200 pro-life crisis pregnancy centers in the United States, including Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Missouri, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Louisiana, where the states subsidize crisis pregnancy centers. More than $60 million in federal funds were given to crisis pregnancy centers during 2001 and 2006. Most of the CPCs fall under the affiliation of three umbrella corporations: Care Net, Heartbeat International, and Birthright International. More than 350,000 women go to these three major pro-life Fundamentalist Christian and Roman Catholic organizations that provide funding for crisis pregnancy centers per year just in the United States alone.