UPDATE, JULY 11: U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan has ordered an extension of the temporary order, allowing the Jackson Women’s Health Organization to stay open. He will now review rules from the Mississippi Department of Health on how they will administer the state’s new abortion law, and then determine whether the abortion clinic can remain […]
Tag: CPCs and Fake Clinics
The Anti-Abortion Game of Life
To bring down the high chlamydia infections rate among Tennessee teenagers, an anti-abortion pregnancy center in Athens, Tenn., has proposed spending federal tax dollars on a life-sized version of the Game of Life. The “Teen Life Maze” is just one of the ideas put forth by a cluster of crisis pregnancy centers that are receiving government […]
1,000 Reasons To Trust Women
As a clinic assistant at two Planned Parenthood clinics, I’ve listened to approximately 1,000 women tell me about their abortion decisions. These women came from all over the world. Some were mothers, students, wives or girlfriends; some were only girls. They were different in many ways, but what they wanted was the same: a safe […]
Crisis Pregnancy Centers Play Fast and Loose with Church and State
An investigative report into the nation’s crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) by Sofia Resnick of the American Independent has raised red flags, suggesting that the organizations may be violating separation of church and state in their use of government funds. That’s actually quite hard to do. In 2002, via two executive orders, President George W. […]
Would I Lie To You? CPCs Claim Protection Under First Amendment
On Friday, a federal appeals court heard arguments over the constitutionality of two Maryland ordinances which require crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) to provide clear and public information regarding the services they offer to women. For those who are unaware of them, CPCs are anti-abortion organizations masquerading as women’s healthcare centers. They often use misleading advertisements […]
Steered Wrong By Googling “Abortion Services”? It’s No Accident
In the seemingly endless war over abortion rights in America, battles are waged in legislatures, in courts and, most recently, on the Internet. The strategy of using abortion-related keywords to send a woman searching the web for abortion information to a nearby crisis pregnancy center is already a few years old. But the scheme only […]
Need Birth Control? Don’t Bother Asking Apple’s Siri
Want to use Apple’s new interactive “Siri” on your iPhone? “She” has tons of information–just as long as you don’t ask about birth control, abortion, emergency contraception or even mammograms. In asking Siri a few easy reproductive-health questions, it was discovered that she appears to have a blind spot when it comes to women’s health. […]
Things That Make You Go Aaargh: Reproductive Rights Edition
Was it Thomas Jefferson who said “eternal vigilance is the price of freedom” or Mad Eye Moody? Oh that’s right, it was actually a woman–suffragist and anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells–though she rarely gets credit for it. I evoke her fightin’ spirit here and beg your patience as I point out a few bits of […]
New York City Mandates Comprehensive Sex Education in Public Schools
You have to hand it to New York City for doing the right thing(s) for sexual health and rights lately. First, the city passed a law mandating that crisis pregnancy centers, which use misinformation and ideology to misdirect women trying to make a life-changing decision, disclose whether or not they have medical staff and/or offer birth […]
San Francisco Stands Up to CPCs
The fight against crisis pregnancy centers’ (CPCs) false advertising continued in San Francisco this week. On August 2nd, a bill was introduced before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors that would make it illegal for CPCs to falsely advertise pregnancy-related services as abortion services. CPCs are primarily religious or ideologically based anti-choice facilities that have […]