As states pass ever-expanding abortion restrictions and people search online for how to find abortion services, reproductive rights advocates are fighting false abortion information online and encountering headwinds with promoting their own accurate, science-based information on social media.
Tag: Crisis Pregnancy Centers and Fake Clinics
Enforcing Criminal Abortion Bans Post-Roe: ‘A Massive Escalation of Surveillance’
Anti-abortion governments and private entities are already using cutting-edge digital technologies to surveil women’s search history, location data, messages, online purchases and social media activities by using geofencing, keyword warrants, big data and more.
“Every aspect of pregnant people’s digital lives will be put under the microscope, examined for any hints that they sought (successfully or otherwise) to end their pregnancy.”
Hana’s Story: Tricked and Traumatized by a Fake Abortion Clinic
When Hana found out she was pregnant, she was five weeks along. As a college student living near Boston, she had numerous options for abortion healthcare. But she ended up at an anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy center” she thought was an abortion clinic. Despite the lies and coercion she experienced at the CPC, Hana persisted in her search for an abortion and eventually found real healthcare, but she worries about CPCs harming other people. Ms. spoke with Hana about her CPC experience, the effect it had on her, and why she’s speaking out now.
“When I found out I was pregnant, I was absolutely terrified. I am a teenager, in my first year of college, and far away from home—the one thing I knew was that I could not bring a child into my world. I felt so lost, like a child who lost their mother in a supermarket. I needed someone to help guide me through this, someone I could trust. I made the mistake of trusting these people, who did not hesitate to abuse it, and it has forever changed me.”
New Report Reveals Six ‘Sinister’ Tactics of Extremist Anti-Abortion Centers
Anti-abortion centers target young, low-income populations who face difficulties accessing abortion care, further endangering them by delaying their access to necessary healthcare. A new report, “In The Grand Scheme: Six Sinister Tactics Employed by Anti-Abortion Centers,” documents the tactics used to aggressively spread anti-abortion propaganda and interfere with access to reproductive healthcare.
The Threat of Crisis Pregnancy Centers Will Escalate in a Post-Roe U.S.
If you Google “abortion services near me,” chances are the top of your search will show an anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy center.”
With the Supreme Court poised to reverse Roe v. Wade and states racing to pass increasingly draconian abortion restrictions, many people are unaware that fake abortion clinics now blanketing the country are an equal and escalating threat to abortion access.
Kelly’s Story: Overcoming S.B. 8 and a ‘Crisis Pregnancy Center’ to Have an Abortion in Texas
Through ingenuity, persistence and a little luck, some Texans are wading through the state’s six-week abortion ban and a sea of anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers” to find abortion healthcare in a safe and affordable way. Kelly is one of them.
“My heart goes out to those women who feel like they have no choice and they get swindled into this. I really want to prevent that from happening. … I’m telling my story because I had no idea about these ‘pregnancy health clinics.’ Women should not feel obligated to keep a pregnancy. I don’t think those women at CPCs should be saying, ‘Oh, I’m here to help women.’ They’re not helping if they’re making women feel bad for their decisions, period.”
Crisis Pregnancy Centers Endanger Women’s Health—With Taxpayer Dollars and Without Oversight
The “modernized, proliferating, and mostly evangelical” crisis pregnancy industry uses deceptive tactics and medically inaccurate information to delay and obstruct access to abortion and prenatal care. CPCs today outnumber abortion providers by three to one nationally—and in some states by, as many as 11 to one.
Feminists Fight Fake Abortion Clinics: “No One Should Be Lied To”
Organizations like SPARK, ReproAction and Abortion Access Front are exposing the deceptive tactics of fake abortion clinics and organizing to stop them from harming women.
New Research Shows States Diverting Federal Anti-Poverty Funds To Deceptive Anti-Abortion Centers
Lawmakers are diverting taxpayer money earmarked for impoverished mothers and children to fund anti-abortion centers (AACs) that mislead and shame pregnant people into continuing unwanted pregnancies.
As Coronavirus Rages On, So Does Anti-Abortion Harassment and Extremism
In clinics in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Kentucky, anti-choice protesters have continued to show up, refusing to comply with the pressure for people to practice social distancing and shelter-in-place. Protesters are gathering in front of clinic doors, walking up to patients, and even shoving unwanted pamphlets and gift sacks into patients’ hands and through car windows.