*** Cross-Posted at FeminismFriday - The Blog ***
Pregnancy Care Centres have become the worst part of my existence on the planet from the moment that I discovered what exactly they were. To clarify, Pregnancy Care Centres (PCCs) are usually organizations that claim to be the first stop anyone having an unintended pregnancy should make. Since most of the people who find themselves facing an unintended pregnancy are under 25 years old, much of their target audience could be considered vulnerable due to their age. In my specific town, teenage pregnancy trends have been among the highest in the country for many years.
Crisis Pregnancy Centres (another term for PCCs) look like traditional non-profit agencies in many ways. They often rely on volunteers and never intend on making a profit, all the money they raise goes to the client and a few critical staff members. The main difference is that none of their funding comes from public organizations like the United Way or the Trillium Foundation. This is because they are not a non-profit agency but rather are a religious organization. Check out the grant applications for either agency listed above and you will see that they explicitly state that they will not fund agencies with a religious mandate.
So what is this religious mandate in the case of CPCs or PCCs? To prevent any client who enters their doors (in their hopes this is all pregnant women) from considering or (OMG!) actually having an abortion. That is right! No option of having an abortion with support from the agency. The kicker though, if you do run off and manage to find a way to an abortion provider (either a 1.5 or 3 hour drive, if you have a vehicle and money for gas, etc.) the PCCs will provide you with post-abortion counselling. This I imagine involves a lot of guilt and shame, and minimal actual counselling.
That is where the problem that is specific to the one agency, I actually live right next to in town, comes into play. No one that is employed by the agency has any formal counselling or crisis training at all. The executive director has a business degree and prior to this job, no non-profit experience at all. All of the funds come from local fundraisers and donations from most if not all of the local churches.
So the major problem is that, not everyone knows exactly what these agencies do and how they operate. As a feminist I believe that all women are entitled to know the details and consequences of all available choices before being asked to make a decision. I also believe in being open and honest about services provided and limitations to service up-front. As an example, clients seeking support to leave an abusive relationship are told by crisis workers that should they return to the situation, Children’s Aid will need to be informed.
Luckily in my town and the most up-to-date phone book they have clearly indicated the difference between agencies providing abortions and those providing “Abortion Alternatives” if you search under the heading “Abortion”. Two things to note; if you search under the heading “Pregnancy” it does not clarify the difference and lists one of each type, the only one that is local is the non-abortion provider.
And that brings me to the final straw; there is no local abortion provider. This is an extremely impoverished town where many people are regularly isolated outside of the town limits without access to a vehicle, some with no vehicle or phone. The barriers to what I refer to as “real choice” are so high, we rarely see women break through them. No one in this town is specifically mandated to support and/or transport women for out of town abortions. The closest thing is a women’s resource centre and a health unit that will do the best they can to arrange transportation, depending on the staff member’s own beliefs.
Having never been pregnant before and thus also not having had any previous abortions, I can only speak to what I see and not what I have experienced, but this troubles me greatly. I would like to find a large group of local like-minded women who are willing to volunteer and bring this needed service to the community. We may find that the numbers don’t change and we see only one or two women each year, or we may find that because new options are being presented, many women may access the alternatives they were never given before.
For one of the best and most well known abortion providers/clinics check out this link to the many Morgentaler Clinics across Canada. And since it came up, yeah to Dr. Henry for all his hard work on the issue of choice, which was finally rewarded in 2008 with the Order of Canada award.
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My (Canadian) city has consistently had advertisements for 'Birthright' on the buses, etc, for as long as I can remember. Is this one of the Pregnancy Care Centres? (A quick glance at their website claims that they do not use 'scare tactics or pressure'). These centres are extremely unnerving--if I had gotten accidentally pregnant when I first became sexually active, I would not have known where to go, or what to do. It's quite likely I would have called Birthright (due to their 'Pregnant? Need Help?" advertisements) ... looking for help to make the decision whether or not to abort. It's scary to think that I might have been heavily discouraged. Teenagers (and University students) need to know where to go to talk to people when they are in these dilemmas.
Side note (after perusing the Morgantaler website): I had no idea abortion was fully covered under OHIP. That is excellent! However, it would be nice if the Ontario government hadn't made me pay $90 for my IUD that I got to prevent me from needing an abortion.
I don't know anything about Birthright, but my first reaction is that if they feel the need to point out that they don't use scare tactics, they probably use something close to that. I don't think Planned Parenthood feels like they have to tell people that they won't be pressured into anything.
We have Birthright ads in my town too. They started as a "crisis pregnancy centre" in Toronto in the 1960s when abortion was still illegal in Canada unless the woman's life was in danger.
I think this interview with their co-president explains pretty well where they fit in to things. They won't provide referrals to abortion services, and they actively try to talk women out of having an abortion:
"Webb said the woman asked her where she could get an abortion. Instead of an abortion referral, Webb talked to the woman about the risks of having the procedure, including its potential impact on a woman’s ability to have future children and its psychological and emotional impact."
Thank you. But given how hidden that attitude is from the (excessive) advertising, you can see how insidious the anti-abortion stance is...
I completely agree with you! Why do we all pay for our various forms of birth control if abortions are covered? I usually mention this to people who claim to be anti-choice. I figure if everyone was able to use their preferred form of birth control at no cost to them, there would probably be a lot less unplanned pregnancies and thus abortions happening. Seems logical, huh? Obviously!
As for Birthright - the Ottawa version of the site is not quite clear, which is the whole point of my post above. It does not mention abortion services or post-abortion counselling on the site as far as I can find. It uses the words "non-sectarian" which to me implies that it is not run by a specific church or religion. This could mean it is open to donations from Baptists, Catholics, and United members alike, or it could mean that they are not religious at all (more likely the former).
These sites seems to clarify that it likely is a PCC/CPC; http://www.inform.hamilton.ca/record/HAM0055 or; http://search.hipinfo.info/record/OAK0021
I've browsed several PCC sites (http://www.pscstark.com/) and I've found nothing about manipulation or coercion.
PCCs have a Christian foundation and get their funding from churches or private organization. While being critical of the PCC agenda, I see nothing about the agenda of Planned Parenthood. "A woman has the right to do with their body as they please and control when have a child."
If young women have a choice about whether or not to have an abortion, don't they also have a choice about where their first stop should be?
Would talking with a Christian counselor be so much worse talking to a Planned Parenthood counselor? What I see from PCC is responding to young women in a tough situation by letting them know all of the options, and acknowledging spiritual needs.
Why does this have to be about an agenda and funding? The concern should be about the young women find information, help and make the best choice.
The problem is the crisis pregnancy centers do not let the pregnant woman know all their options. They also perpetrate the lies that abortion raises a woman's risk of breast cancer and fertility, as well as railing against possible 'spiritual consequences' and emotional consequences, though the latest APA study showed no increase in risk for depression in post-abortion women. See below CPC site for details on what they are telling girls and women.
Women deserve to be informed about their options, not feed misleading information by a place with an agenda. If someone doesn't understand what a CPC is or that they have an agenda, the potential for being mislead and manipulated is enormous, particularly for young teens.
http://www.choicesaz.org/pregnancy/abortion_info/
No, you probably would not find anything about manipulation or coercion on their own website, since it would defeat their own purposes. Since their foundation PCCs have actually trained volunteers, who have no background in either the medical field or counseling, to use whatever tactics necessary to convince women not to have an abortion.
I agree that the concern should be about providing the young women with information and helping them to make the best choice for them.
The problem is that PCCs are well documented for providing medically inaccurate information and harassing women who are mistakenly find their way at such a center believing it is a location akin to Planned Parenthood. They should have a choice about where their first stop should be, but these centers do not advertise as Christian anti-choice foundations. It isn't as though women are making an informed choice to visit a religious anti-choice center.
I suggest you check out these sites also:
http://www.prochoice.org/pubs_research/publications/downloads/public_policy/cpc_report.pdf
http://www.alternet.org/rights/35545/
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008/03/28/targeting-the-vulnerable-crisis-pregnancy-centers-deceive-dont-help
I would love to do a personal investigation on these places. See exactly how it is that they go about 'conuseling' women whove had abortions. I think people should get information on these centers and expose how they exploit people and present it to their state governments to shut them down. I talked with a CPC director once in my former hometown and she said that it is a confirmed medical fact that women are too emotional to make decisions when pregnant, inferring that women cant be trusted to decide whether or not they can have abortions.
Isn't one major issue that is developing not just this kind of religiously inspired pseudo-information but the lack of availability of abortion clinics?
To be quite honest, I have no idea about the situation here in my own country. But I have the impression that being a doctor in general, and an abortion provider specifically carries a lot more baggage in the States.