Crisis pregnancy centers are under constant fire (sometimes literally) from the pro-abortion Left. The Associated Press is now rebranding them “anti-abortion centers” to reflect the AP’s politics.
It’s no secret that the rage and violence directed at these centers is all about the fear that their existence leads to fewer abortions. That’s why Elizabeth Warren and other pro-abortion extremists in Congress want federal legislation, in her words, “to crack down on the deceptive practices these centers use to prevent people from getting abortion care” and to get the government to pressure Google to suppress search results for such centers. NARAL Pro-Choice America gave away the game by listing among the key “lies”: “More than 67 percent of the locations intentionally referred to the fetus as ‘baby’ and told our investigator she was already a mother because she was already pregnant.”
Well, the government certainly can’t tolerate anyone saying “baby.” So, Minnesota Democrats — as part of their full-scale culture war this legislative session — are trying to defund these centers. Their proposed bill would delete from existing Minnesota law the statement that “‘unborn child’ means a member of the species Homo sapiens from fertilization until birth,” remove the availability of funding to “provide each pregnant woman counseled with accurate information on the developmental characteristics of babies and of unborn children,” and add a requirement that recipients “not require a person to receive an ultrasound or counseling, view media, or participate in any other activities prior to or as a condition of receiving information, resources, or other services offered by the agency or organization” (we can’t have women seeing the baby, after all).
The bill will replace funding “for the reasonable expenses of alternatives to abortion programs to support, encourage, and assist women in carrying their pregnancies to term and caring for their babies after birth by providing information on, referral to, and assistance with securing necessary services that enable women to carry their pregnancies to term and care for their babies after birth” with funding “for the reasonable expenses of programs to support and assist pregnant people with their pregnancies, or new parents caring for their babies after birth, by providing information on, referral to, and assistance with securing necessary services.” Note the use of “pregnant people” — we wouldn’t want to say “women,” either.
Democrats in Colorado are next up. As the Denver Post reports:
The facilities — known as crisis pregnancy centers — are staunchly anti-abortion and offer limited medical services and family counseling, with the intent of steering women away from terminating their pregnancies. There are dozens of the facilities in Colorado, more than doubling the number of abortion providers. Critics say the organizations — which they call anti-abortion centers — use deceptive advertising and promote the use of unproven medical treatments. A coalition of abortion access groups, together with Democrats in the Colorado statehouse, are preparing a landmark bill to regulate how the centers operate and confront those concerns.
(Notice that the critics and the Associated Press are, unsurprisingly, singing the same lines from the same hymnal.) The crux of the dispute is alternatives to abortion, and the failure of crisis pregnancy centers to promote abortion: “Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver . . . said the first measure deals with what she calls deceptive trade practices by anti-abortion clinics that she described as ‘fake.’ In particular, Gonzales is targeting crisis pregnancy centers, which counsel pregnant women against having an abortion and to instead choose to carry the pregnancy to term, with parenting or adoption as an alternative.”
The head of Cobalt, the group formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado, complains about the competition: “They’re very deceptive. Oftentimes, they intentionally open up shop right next to an actual abortion clinic.” Worse, they actually provide forms of support that women need and want:
A lot of the services offered and supplies provided by the centers fill gaps that health care isn’t, according to Aurea Bolaños Perea, strategic communication director for Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights. This leads to community members being “manipulated” into seeking care at the centers. . . . Some services discussed on the center’s website appear exclusive. For example, baby showers are offered for expecting parents. . . . The outreach ACPC and centers like it offer competes with abortion providers and makes navigating abortion care harder for patients, according to Bolaños Perea.
Baby showers! The horror.