Crisis Pregnancy Centers

Objectional Tactics

In addition to medical misinformation, the CPCs engage in a range of objectionable tactics when trying to persuade women to continue pregnancies. They have been known to use emotional pleas such as references to “your baby” and giving women knitted booties. They have also been known to use coercive and offensive tactics such as showing women graphic photos and videos, and equating abortion with “murder” or “killing.”

An equal, though less frequently raised, concern is the role CPCs play in adoption. Several recent exposés, like those in The Nation and Time magazine, reveal the coercive nature of some CPCs in this respect. Not only are there examples of CPCs persuading women not to have abortions, but there are also reports of incidents where women are pushed into rushed and closed adoptions in which the pregnant women are isolated from their families and not properly informed of their rights as biological parents.

The above concerns are exacerbated by the reach and power of CPCs. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that there are between 2,500 and 4,000 CPCs across the United States. Most of these have an affiliation with Christian charities or organizations. Under the Bush administration, many of these CPCs were awarded federal funding under abstinence-only education program guidelines. In 2006, the United States House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform reported that between 2001 and 2005, more than 50 CPCs received over $30 million in federal funding.

The number and affiliation of these well-funded groups acquire further significance when one considers that approximately half of the pregnancies occurring yearly in the United States are unintended and that 40 percent of those will end in abortion. Moreover, unplanned pregnancies have increased almost 30 percent among poor women over the last decade. These are the same women for whom free ultrasounds and pregnancy tests would be appealing. Under the Obama administration, there have been budget cuts for abstinence-only education programs, which covers CPCs, and the Senate defeated a bill that would have seen CPCs directly eligible for federal funding. Yet, CPCs continue to operate and benefit from the resources accrued under the Bush administration.

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