Taking CPC Awareness to the Streets

The following was first published as a ChoiceActivism submission at ChoiceUSA's ChoiceWords blog.
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Anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers continue to pose an affront to informed choice in our country. Outnumbering real abortion clinics 2-1 nationwide, CPCs often advertise themselves as abortion providers or places where women can obtain unbiased information about their reproductive options. They are known for misleading women with bunk statistics about a purported link between abortion and breast cancer/infertility/depression and for effectively delaying a woman's decision past the point where she would be able to choose a medical, non-invasive abortion procedure. While disclosure requirement efforts by activists in Baltimore, MD, Austin, TX, and New York, NY would help to stave off confusion, a group of grassroots activists in Greensboro, NC are taking public awareness into their own hands.

Organized by simple word-of-mouth, monthly demonstrations take place in front of the Greensboro Pregnancy Care Center, an affiliate of CareNet. They hold signs reading, "FAKE CLINIC," "Honk 4 Choice," and others in order to educate passing cars about the Pregnancy Care Center. They do not engage with people going in and out of the center. The participants are students, workers, and retirees. What brings them together each month is their continued concern over the information given out by the CPC.

During an appointment, a staff member at the center told a UNCG student that abortion is linked to higher instances of breast cancer, a claim that has been continually repudiated by the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and others. When I personally called the center to inquire about emergency contraception (they call it simply the "morning after pill"), the woman on the phone told me I would have to make an appointment, and that the next available appointment was in three days. Had I really needed emergency contraception, this would have put me past the point where the drug would have been effective, possibly leading to an unintended pregnancy and possibly an abortion. What's more, the woman on the phone never told me the center did not carry the medication.

It's not just personal experiences that led to concern over this particular CPC's operation. While they recently added a disclaimer that they do not provide or refer for abortions, their website continues to claim that they offer "accurate information about all pregnancy options." Or do they? Under "Abortion Education," they claim that medical abortion ("abortion by pill") can only be used up to seven weeks since the last menstrual period (LMP), when in fact it is effective and prescribed up to nine weeks LMP. Another page ("Morning After Pill") claims that emergency contraception can cause "an early abortion," which is not only a medically inaccurate claim, but could dissuade a woman who is morally opposed to abortion from taking steps that could prevent pregnancy in the first place.

Until these centers are held accountable for the misinformation they provide, policy-based activism and grassroots activism alike will continue. The concerned citizens of Greensboro, NC are no exception. From a press statement:

We hope to alert women to seek help for their pregnancies or suspected pregnancies at proper clinics and OB-GYN offices. As advocates of the pro-choice movement we believe that every woman deserves the right to be informed about every option (abortion, motherhood, adoption) truthfully and without coercion or intimidation.