Oh No! You're at a Crisis Pregnancy Center! Here's What You Should Know...

If you’ve been driving down the highway or taking public transportation and seen a “Pregnant? Need help?” sign, you’ve likely seen an advertisement for a crisis pregnancy center (CPC). Crisis pregnancy centers are anti-abortion, fake clinics. The purpose is to mislead, shame, and dissuade people seeking abortion care from getting the care that they want and need. We sit down with Erin Matson, co-founder and co-director of Reproaction to talk about how dangerous these centers can be.

CPCs use phrasing and terminology on their advertisements and websites to confuse and manipulate patients into walking through their doors. This language includes words like “woman,” “choice,” and “empowerment,” which are terms typically used by advocates of reproductive health and clinics that actually offer abortion care. CPCs often represent themselves as “mom and pop” shops, and rarely employ people with medical training. Due to the Trump administration’s attacks on Title X, millions of dollars in federal family planning funding has been stripped from clinics offering abortion care and is being given to CPCs instead.

Comprehensive reproductive health care is not provided in CPCs. These centers do not provide contraception and are sometimes explicitly opposed to contraception. Some CPCs have been contracted to teach abstinence-only sex education. Abortion services are not provided. What is provided is “counseling” (although counselors may or may not be licensed). This “counseling” may include a free pregnancy test or an ultrasound. CPCs will often position themselves next-door or across the street from abortion providers, or buy a previous abortion provider’s clinic and maybe not even change the name. This simultaneously tricks people into thinking CPCs are abortion providers, and delays people in getting the care they need.

Medication abortion is safe and effective. Typically, patients will take the first pill, Mifepristone, with an abortion provider, and then follow it up with Misoprostol. Medication abortion “reversal” is an unproven theory, unethical, and has no medical proof of success. CPCs are increasingly saying that they offer medication abortion “reversal.”

If you are seeking abortion care and are unsure if the clinic you are visiting is a crisis pregnancy center, you can use Reproaction’s fake clinic database here to make sure. You can also ask the front desk “Do you oppose abortion?” “Can I get birth control here?” or “Will you provide a referral for abortion if that’s what I need?” If they skirt the question or do not provide a simple yes or no answer, it is likely that you are at a CPC.

Links from this episode

Reproaction
Reproaction on Twitter
Reproaction on Facebook
Reproaction’s fake clinic database

Transcript

Jennie: Welcome to rePROs Fight Back a podcast on all things repro. I'm your host Jennie Wetter. In each episode, I'll be taking you to the front lines of the escalating fight over our sexual and reproductive health and rights at home and abroad. Each episode, I will be speaking with leaders who are fighting to protect our reproductive health and rights to ensure that no one's reproductive health depends on where they live. It's time for repros to fight back.

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Jennie: Hi everyone and welcome to this week's episode of RePROs Fight Back. I'm your host, Jennie Wetter. Happy new year! I hope everyone's new year is off to a great start. So the last couple of years for new year’s I have decided to do less big life changing things for my new year's resolutions and to do more fun things, things that I want to do because they make me happy. You know that has been things like drink more champagne or go out for brunch with friends more. So this year I decided my new year's resolution was going to bake more bread cause that was my new thing I started doing last year that I found I really enjoyed doing and to finally tackle some of the loaves that scare me. I already did my first one recently and I did my first loaf of bread that required braiding and it turned out and it was very exciting to do something that I was a little scared of, but it made me happy. So that is the energy I'm bringing to this year, doing more things that make me happy. But even if they are a little scary. I hope everyone is bringing their new energy to this new year. It's going to be a long year with the election, but I think that we need to find things that bring us joy. With that, I'm going to turn to this week's episode. We're going to talk about something that we have not really focused on as much. We brought it up a little bit, but haven't done a deep dive on it. And we're going to talk about crisis pregnancy centers. So while you know, like I said, we've kind of discussed them. We haven't done a deep dive into what they are and what they mean for people who go to access care there. This week I'm really excited to talk to Erin Matson, the co-founder and co-director of Reproaction. Hi Erin. Thank you so much for being here today.

Erin: Hey, I'm glad to be here. Thanks.

Jennie: So I'm excited to have a conversation about crisis pregnancy centers.

Erin: Let's do this.

Jennie: Okay. So we should probably start with the very beginning. Like what is a crisis pregnancy center?

Erin: Yeah. So a crisis pregnancy center is an anti-abortion fake clinic and the purpose of anti-abortion clinic is to mislead, shame, and dissuade people seeking abortion care from getting the care that they want. So these are basically, if you've seen the billboards that are out, you know, “pregnant? need help?” chances are you're looking at a crisis pregnancy center.

Jennie: Yeah, I feel like you see them, we're in DC. I used to, but I feel like I don't see them anymore. But you used to see the ads on the Metro or on the buses kind of all over.

Erin: Yep, yep. They have a lot of money that they spend on trying to reach what some of them call “abortion minded women”. And again, their, their sole reason for being is to mislead, shame, and talk people out of having abortions. It's a waste of energy.

Jennie: Yeah. And I feel like the other thing is they try to go with these names that are really confusing. So it sounds like you're going to…there's the ones that sound like they're Planned Parenthood but aren't Planned Parenthood or women's health. Then it seems like somewhere that makes perfect sense for you to go for an abortion or to get accurate information and they're absolutely not.

Erin: Yeah. As someone who, before I…before my volunteer life took over my professional life, I was an advertising copywriter and as someone who used to name things for a living, it's very clear that they purposefully choose names that are misleading. My organization has created a fake clinic database. We have independently verified and maintain a database of the more than 2,600 anti-abortion fake clinics in the United States. And if there was a dime for every time they use words like “woman” or “choice” or “empowerment”, there'd be a lot of money in the jar.

Jennie: Well, and I think that's another thing. So 2,600 fake clinics compared to like…what did I see? It was like three times as many fake clinics or is it more than that?

Erin: Yeah, I don't have the exact number on my head so I'm not going to relay that to listeners, but there are a lot more fake clinics than there are real comprehensive health clinics and unfortunately given, um, what's been happening with the Trump administration taking money away from family planning and redirecting it into this ideological religious exercise, you're going to see those numbers continue to move.

Jennie: Yeah. And I think that's something that I didn't include in our original outline and I was thinking about the changes to Title with the domestic gag rule. You're seeing money going to some of these crisis pregnancy centers.

Erin: Oh, absolutely. And I think that's a really important point. So these crisis pregnancy centers or fake clinics often represent themselves as sort of like mom and pop shops. They're staffed often by volunteers, people who don't have, a lot of times, there's no medical background whatsoever. Really what they bring to the table is ideology and a desire to mislead. And so anyway, it's interesting that these places that are volunteer run sometimes take hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in public funding. Where is this money going? I think this is one of the most fundamental questions that's facing us with the anti-abortion movement because what we are not seeing audits of services actually provided and reporting that's come out of various states where they've looked into this a lot of times it's a small number of people who actually go in these fake clinics. So what are we getting back for that money?

Jennie: Yeah, and I always found it was surprising the number of states that give money to them through the license plates, “choose life” or “protect life” or whatever their state version of those license plates are. That goes to fund crisis pregnancy centers.

Erin: Correct. I live in Virginia and we have those license plates and it's, you know, I remember when I was pregnant with my daughter and I would see those license plates. It would like bring on the waves of morning sickness just to see them. Cause I was like, why is my, my tax money going into a religious activity that is against me. Yeah. And I think again, it's the, the um, the misleading.

Jennie: So let's talk a little bit about if you were to go to a crisis pregnancy center and what, what kind of care are you going to get?

Erin: Yeah, well I think the first place to start is actually what kind of care are you not going to get and what is not provided in crisis pregnancy centers is comprehensive reproductive care. A lot of times birth control is entirely off the table. Many times they're actually explicitly opposed to birth control. Sometimes they’ll say that out loud. Sometimes they won't. They absolutely don't provide abortion services. What is typically provided is what they call “counseling.” Although whether the counselors are licensed or have any real background in that is up for debate. So they will meet with people who believe they're pregnant. Sometimes they'll offer what the call free pregnancy tests. So they'll give them a pregnancy test. Sometimes they will do ultrasounds and provide ultrasounds. Sometimes there are medical professionals on staff on the crisis pregnancy centers. One trend that we are seeing is that they are trying to compete with Planned Parenthood and with real reproductive healthcare providers and so they're wanting to provide services. But again, when you're opposed to birth control and reproductive health care, there's not much to give.

Jennie: Yeah, cause I can imagine they're not going to do a lot of STI prevention stuff either.

Erin: Right.

Jennie: Like they're not going to give you comprehensive sex education at a crisis pregnancy center as well.

Erin: Right. In fact, these crisis pregnancy centers and fake clinics are actually in some states have been contracted to lead abstinence only education in the states. We have that. We've seen that in Pennsylvania, for example, group called “In the Know” has a curriculum that comes out of a fake clinic called “Human Coalition.” So again, you know, you're not really able to provide health care when you don't even want people to know the basics about their own bodies and how they work. So yeah, it's not healthcare, it's, it's really, you know, preaching and judgment and shame.

Jennie: And I think, you know, it feeds into the trends in abortion restrictions with the earlier bans. And so you go to this clinic that you think is going to help you and that just delays your timeline on accessing care that maybe you think you're accessing when you go to a crisis pregnancy center.

Erin: Oh thank you for using that word delay because that's actually one of their core strategies. It's important to lift that up. So these crisis pregnancy centers will often position themselves next door or across the street from real abortion care providers. Sometimes they'll buy out buildings after abortion providers close and even keep the name of the clinic that had previously existed. And what I've seen before during clinic escorting as well as clinic defense… so they'll try to make themselves look like the clinics folks are wearing vests so that people know I can walk in with this person to get through the protesters. So then the fake clinics supply their own people. The vest, one trick that I've witnessed firsthand and heard happening in other communities as well… so like offer people going in granola bars, knowing that in many cases having a snack might delay someone's procedure. So they are absolutely trying to run out the clock on people and make it harder and harder for them to access abortion care, which is critical because with mandatory waiting periods that presume that people don't know what they're doing when they absolutely do, there's a concerted effort to try to just run out the clock so that people can't have an abortion.

Jennie: Yeah. And again, all of these things played together, so, you know, yeah, the bans that are an end date, you have waiting periods that mean you have to wait longer up to 72 hours. So you know, all of these things make it so much harder for people to access abortion care and make it, you know, maybe that delay is going to push them to, they can't get a medication abortion now-- they have to get a surgical abortion and now there's a whole new funding barrier for people. So all of these restrictions and the crisis pregnancy centers are kind of all creating this atmosphere where people can't access abortion in it at all.

Erin: But that's exactly what the point is. They're, they're trying to come at people from every angle they can, whether it's laws that enact barriers, taking away funding that people are entitled to through their insurance or through healthcare that we get at the public level to just saying, you know, there's something wrong with you and I'm planting doubt in their minds and making people think that there's something shameful, not just about abortion. It's a much bigger agenda. That this is an agenda that's trying to make people ashamed for having sex.

Jennie: Yeah. I think shame clearly plays a big role in a lot of the restrictions also clearly. And the care you're getting at crisis pregnancy centers that they're trying to shame people out of making a decision that they may have already made by the time they got there or maybe they’re still in the process of making and that can really harm people, their mental health and wellbeing.

Erin: Absolutely, and you know, one of the, one of the things that they'll trot out is they'll try to make people think that having an abortion will make them miserable. While that's not what the facts show, well over 9 in 10 women who had an abortion in a survey reported that that what they felt was not shame but relief. That's not what they're going to tell you at a fake clinic. They're going to tell you oftentimes it's been documented that they'll tell people abortion causes medical problems, that abortion causes mental health problems. It does not. That abortion makes it harder to have additional children. It does not.

Jennie: Yeah. There's lots of lying and now you have the new wave of restrictions we're seeing with pushing pseudoscience and the abortion reversals and you're hearing stories of crisis pregnancy centers, counseling on abortion reversal as well.

Erin: Which research had to be stopped because it was putting women's lives at risk. Yeah, I'm glad you bring that up. Is it okay if I talk a little bit about abortion pill reversal a tiny bit?

Jennie: So let's talk about it more. Cause it was brand new, the study when I first talked about it. Erin: Okay, great. Yeah, so abortion pills, let's just talk about them at a basic level. Abortion pills are just magic. I love them because you know what? No matter what they do to the laws, they can never stop people. They can never stop abortion pills from existing and people will always be able to get their hands on them in ways or another may be harder. It may be easier. But the fact is there's no putting the genie back in the bottle. So abortion pills are safe and effective and they're typically when a person has abortion pills through the medical system, when they work with an abortion provider, they'll take the first pill mifepristone and the second pill misoprostol. Secondarily, this idea of abortion pill reversal. First of all, it's an unproven theory. It's unethical and tantamount to testing on people without their consent. There's a long history of doing that and particularly targeting people of color for that. So there's no proof that this works. And really what's said is about it is inserting this idea that there's something wrong with abortion. And also again, try and run out the clock by putting different restrictions in front of people. Abortion pill reversal is actually deeply tied in with the crisis pregnancy center movement. It was started by someone named Dr. George Delgado who concocted this theory. It didn't test and it's been taken over by Heartbeat International, which was one of the largest crisis pregnancy center chains and it operates both in the United States and around the world. So these crisis pregnancy centers are increasingly saying that they offer abortion pill reversal. What that means we believe varies actually from fake clinic to fake clinic. There is no standard regimen so to speak because this is really just been made up out of whole cloth.

Jennie: Yeah, I think that's really important to point out. It seems to be the new, I mean not completely new because it's been around for a little bit, but the hot new thing that legislatures are trying to require doctors to counsel on, so it's like the new restriction you're starting to see pop up in states. I'm not going to say because I'm not 100% sure the, I'm pretty sure it hasn't been passed anywhere [inaudible]. Yeah, there was a handful of state laws last session. There's been some challenges in the courts. That's kind of where we are right now. I think the movement is something to watch closely and the bottom line is it's not proven, not ethical…and why on earth would you go into a fake clinic with volunteers saying, I'm going to experiment on you.

Jennie: Yeah. That's, that's scary. And it's scary that, let's just say she's just trying to make doctors tell you that that is a thing then when it's absolutely not a thing. It's really upsetting to me.

Erin: Yeah. Total violation of the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm, which real doctors take.

Jennie: Yeah. So we talked a little bit about, so what does this mean for people trying to access care or delaying care? Are there any other things that you're seeing we see with people who go to crisis pregnancy centers and how it's impacting their ability to access care?

Erin: Well, I think another thing about crisis pregnancy centers is, you know, a lot of it is shame and it's, it's putting people in this position where they might not even feel comfortable to say that they went into one.

Jennie: Right. Because nobody likes to admit they've been tricked.

Erin: Right, right. And there's nothing, and it's not, the problem is not with individuals. The problem is this, this entity that's out against you. And they’re trying to misinform you. I think that one of the impacts of crisis pregnancy centers on people also is it's, it really reveals that we've got some problems with our social safety net, which we do need to expand. We should be helping people who are struggling financially and can't afford to care for an infant that they want. And it's insulting that in a crisis pregnancy center sometimes what they'll provide is they'll say “free diapers,” but a lot of times to get a pack of free diapers you have to take a couple hours’ worth of a class in a religion. I mean why are we not just providing and stepping up and providing social services to people who need them? You know, I think it really points out the hypocrisy of the anti-abortion movement writ large. If we really want to support women and babies, which you know, actual reproductive health rights and justice activists really do, then we would provide these things without making people do, do work for it.

Jennie: Yeah.

Erin: It will make it easier for people to have the babies they want. It's all part of the same story and it's not just about preventing people from having abortion, which is where their focus seems to be.

Jennie: Totally. Okay. So we talked a little bit about recognizing a crisis pregnancy center. It's a lot of the, you know, you needed a pregnancy test, but are there other things you can do to recognize one so you don't end up accidentally going to one?

Erin: Yeah, that's a great question. Well first I will say, so my organization Reproaction, under resources, we have a fake clinic database so it can literally look up and see if this is a fake clinic or not. I think you know, if, if an individual is walking into one, I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask, do you oppose abortion? And when they skirt the question, you know, I'm asking for a yes or no answer. Do you oppose abortion? Because that is the fundamental question. The question is not, you know, do you have a doctor on staff that it's, some of them do. Now the question is really, do you oppose abortion? Will you provide referrals to abortion providers if that is what I want to do? Can I get birth control here? Really ask questions about…specific questions about what they provide and if they say no, you know that you're in a place where what's on the menu is ideology.

Jennie: Yeah. And we'll absolutely make sure to include links to all of that stuff in our show notes so it's a little easier to find.

Erin: Right?

Jennie: Yeah. It's so important to be able to know and to know what questions to ask. I think we've had that with other conversations we've had on the show about doctors who maybe will not treat trans patients with all of these new religious refusals. And so knowing the questions that you need to ask to protect yourself to ensure you're getting the care is not just a crisis pregnancy center problem now, which is so unfortunate.

Erin: Yeah, it really is. And you know the I, the intersection between the anti-trans bigotry that's happening around the country and the anti-abortion bigotry. I mean these are unfortunately the same people in many cases. And it's just really sad that we're at a point where individuals have to fend for themselves. Healthcare is a human right. We should be able to get it and no nonsense, no matter where we go. And we certainly shouldn't have these bad actors interfering.

Jennie: Absolutely. So I know you, Reproaction has things that people can do. So what can people do to to change all this?

Erin: Yeah, so first and foremost, I just encourage folks to consider the joys of direct action, which is just simply when we use our own bodies to change our circumstances. And we regularly protest outside of fake clinics. We do this with our organizers around the country. We also have on our website a toolkit that people can use to organize protests in your community if you wanted, you know, to go all the way and take the lead. So I think that's a really great thing to do. Another thing that's really helpful, and we have resources in that toolkit as well to support this, is if there’s a crisis pregnancy center in your community, write letters to the editor about how offended you are about what they're doing. If you see the, you know, the, the candy store has a jar for them taking money, ask them why. I mean really start challenging it, that, that this is just normal and something that we should accept as part of our mainstream culture. And then another thing is I think particularly for either parents or people who are involved in school systems, keep a really close eye on who is teaching your sex ed. Because a lot of times they're increasingly, we're seeing crisis pregnancy centers getting involved and that should be vigorously protested.

Jennie: Yeah. Sex ed is one of my personal, uh, hobby horses that I really get involved in… I went to Catholic school K-8 and had sex ed from a nun. So as you can imagine, it was great. So it's one of those things I'm really passionate about and making sure that people get comprehensive sex education that actually can help them make decisions in their lives to lead healthy lives.

Erin: Right. Knowledge is power. Knowing about our bodies is everything.

Jennie: I'm going to sneak this on you. It is the first episode of the new year. What are things where you're keeping an eye on this year or and, or looking forward to this year? So last year we saw the most proactive bills introduced ever, which is so exciting. But we asked us all, a lot of pretty horrible laws passed. There’s a balance. So what are you keeping an eye out for this coming year and what are you excited for?

Erin: Yeah. Okay. So I guess we'll, let's do wary cause I'm going to keep that short. Actually. There's a lot of gloom and doom and reproductive rights and let's just not stay there. The fact is that there are people in power and the courts are a mess and Trump has had a number of appointees and we can expect that the legal situation is going to get worse and a lot of… in a lot of areas both with federal courts as well as states that are hell bent on banning abortion, I expect the extreme stuff that we saw last year that's going to continue. So buckle up-- the time for activism is now, but on the positive front, there's actually a lot that I'm excited about. One thing as a Virginian, so Virginia is on the brink of becoming the 38th state to ratify the equal rights amendment. This is huge. There are 38 states required to ratify an amendment to the constitution. This simply bans sex discrimination. This is enormous and I don't think it can be understated how much this means for people including for reproductive rights. And certainly abortion opponents know it because this year that's what they seem to be most freaking out about is the equal rights amendment, which is also interesting because a lot of times they try to pretend like, no, we're not against women, but it's like, oh actually we are, so let's just now come out with your problem. So that's really exciting. Also, Virginia has just had some real seismic changes. So as a Virginian, I'm so proud to share, we're going to see bills to repeal our unconstitutional abortion clinics, shutdowns. We're going to see bills to repeal the forcible ultrasound legislation. So I think that's something that can also show people how much organizing can make a difference. Even in the bleakest of places like 10 years ago, I don't think anyone would've guessed that about Virginia. And that's what I hope that everyone will realize about 2020, there's a lot that's going to suck. Okay. Let's just be honest. There's a lot that's going to suck for reproductive rights, but I believe this with my whole heart that you know, if you look back to 10 years ago and where we were with LGBTQ equality, I really believe that 10 years from now, regardless of what happens under the law that we can and we will make it socially unacceptable to identify with this hateful antiabortion movement and culture. So I think it'll all flow from there.

Jennie: That's great. I love ending on hope and that that is hope. And so Erin, thank you so much for doing this. It was fun to talk to you.

Erin: Yeah, this was really fun. Thanks for having me.

Jennie: Okay everybody, thanks for listening. Thanks for listening everyone. And we'll see you on our next episode of RePROS Fight Back. For more information, including show notes from this episode and previous episodes, please visit our website at reprosfightback.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at RePROS Fight Back, or on Instagram at reprosfb. If you like our show, please help others find it by sharing it with your friends and subscribing, rating and reviewing us on iTunes. Thanks for listening.

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