Kirsten Powers writes:
NARAL claims that crisis pregnancy centers — which exist to dissuade women from having an abortion — mislead woman. In New York, abortion rights groups lobbied Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to shut down such centers because they allegedly “scared” women.
As a life-long feminist, I find this approach by so-called women’s rights groups perplexing and more than a little insulting to women.
What really seems to enrage NARAL and Planned Parenthood is when crisis pregnancy centers use ultra-sound devices, or other methods, to show women pictures of their fetuses. To say that this is a “scare tactic” would be like saying it is a “scare tactic” to show a man a picture of clogged arteries to try to get him to understand his health situation. Yes, it may scare him in a certain direction — or not — but it’s an informed decision.
If a woman is seven weeks pregnant and someone shows her this picture, what is wrong with that? How is that “scary”?
Women are not delicate little flowers who can’t handle information, despite what NARAL Pro Choice and Planned Parenthood tell us. They should have the option of having all the information presented to them before an abortion so they understand what they are doing.
[…] as a person who cares about women’s rights, I would be enormously pleased if the people who claim to be “pro-choice” would embrace a wider array of choices for women dealing with unwanted pregnancies, rather than trying to bully any organization offering abortion alternatives out of existence.
Right on.
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Rebecca adds: This reminds me of the never ending argument about parental notification laws. We’re supposed to believe that teenagers must have access to abortion, because they’re too immature to be good mothers, they can’t possibly understand the ramifications of becoming a mother, and they’re not grown up enough to raise a baby. At the same time, they must have the absolute autonomy to choose abortion without their parents even knowing, let alone giving consent, because they are mature enough to know what’s right for them, nobody should be able to influence their decision without their say-so, and the life-long implications of having an abortion will be readily explained to them at the clinic and completely grasped in the ten minute discussion they’ll have before the procedure.
by 
Women are able to make any choice for themselves.
Except the choice between an abortion clinic and a pregnancy centre. On that point, they’re completely incompetent and must be protected.
Even if women try to make informed choices, the methodology of abortion clinics make it very difficult. Take a look at the updated website of the Morgentaler clinic and you will see a list of “facts”. While in themselves they are probably accurate as “facts”, they discount the many areas of difficulty for women, and make it look like abortion is the best thing that a woman could ever do for herself.
Anyone – like a kind sidewalk counsellor who cares enough to share the truth with women – who tries to offer women information that is contrary to that presented by the clinic workers, or more accurately, essential for making a truly informed choice, is given a very hard time by abortion clinic employees. What is it that is so threatening about providing the truth? Perhaps the fact that if more women knew what abortion really does to their bodies and their babies, then clinic workers’ jobs would be in jeopardy. That’s the only explanation that I can think of.
Why are not more of us questioning teens engaging in sex in the first place? the real reason for abortion is the sexual revolution, so why are we not trying to stem that tide? It has caused abortion, rampant STIs, broken families, depressed children, the list goes on and on. Yet everyone’s sexual relationships are considered off-limits to discussion.
I’ve been saying that for years. I’m still puzzled as to how people fall for the idea than an ultrasound viewing is a “scare tactic.” Reality isn’t a tactic.
Suzanne A, that’s about the jist of it. Why else would they be so upset over sidewalk counsellors? Why is a woman deciding not to kill her baby of such concern for them? The only honest answer is that every woman who changes her mind outside the abortion mill means at least $500 less for them. Don’t trust someone trying to sell you something.
Good point Julie – I think one big reason we don’t discourage teens from engaging in sex is that too many of us have been guilty of it ourselves. We don’t want to feel like a hypocrite for saying, “don’t do as I do, do as I say”. But we have to find a way to get past that – to break the cycle and teach them a better way.
Wow, Jeannie, thank you for your honesty. Yours is the first honest answer I have got to that question.
The crisis pregnancy centers could probably improve their respectability a bit if they were to put together some sort of organisation with a commitment providing medically accurate information and not misleading women into entering. As a pro-choicer, I know the rumors that circulate about them – the three major objections are that they trick women into entering (typicially by refering to themselves as ‘clinics’ without disclosing their purpose), that they impart very dubious medical claims to women (Abortion causes breast cancer, their fetus can feel pain, etc – things that are, at best, disputed), and that they will seek to use emotional manipulation (Not just ultrasounds, but 3d or 4d enhanced ultrasound. One famous case includes a machine that was configured to print out photos with the caption “Hi, Mommy!” beneath).
I can’t see this happening though, because trickery, lies and manipulation are three of the most effective techniques at the centers’ disposal. Without that, all they have left is asking politely.