Crisis pregnancy center
[12][13][14] CPCs have frequently been found to disseminate false medical information about the supposed physical and mental health risks of abortion;[15][16][17] they sometimes promulgate misinformation about the effectiveness of condoms and prevention of sexually transmitted infections.
'"[28] He formed the Pearson Foundation to help others start their own CPCs, offering detailed instructions for CPC management along with propaganda brochures and images to persuade pregnant women not to get an abortion.
[29] To fulfill their mission of persuading pregnant women to forgo abortions, CPCs advertise and offer pregnancy support services.
[31][32][33][34] An increasing number of CPCs obtain some form of medical certification to be able to expand their abilities and marketing; for example, permission to perform sonograms in an attempt to convince women to carry their pregnancies to term.
[36][better source needed] In 2020, one Texas chain of CPCs began providing contraceptives to unmarried women, stating that they wanted to help reduce unplanned pregnancies.
[47] Organizations such as Colorado-based Focus on the Family and the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, have worked to equip more CPCs with ultrasound machines.
[75][76][77] The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have found that CPCs are "often non medical facilities who have no legal obligation to provide pregnant women with accurate information and are not subject to HIPAA or required by law to maintain client confidentiality.
"[51] A July 2006 report by Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) and his minority members' staff in the House Committee on Government Reform noted that CPCs had received over $30 million in federal funding since 2001, derived mostly from programs for abstinence-only education.
For this report, female investigators telephoned CPCs that had received federal funding, and posed as pregnant teenagers deciding whether to get an abortion.
[2] The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), which works with CPCs on legal issues, "strongly believes that sharing the Gospel is an essential part of counseling women in pregnancy help medical clinics".
Care Net, which "is committed to presenting the gospel of our Lord to women with crisis pregnancies",[95] claims to have effected over 23,000 conversions or restatements of Christian faith.
[83] NIFLA "strongly believes that sharing the Gospel is an essential part of counseling women in pregnancy help medical clinics".
CareConfidential, the largest umbrella network for CPCs in the United Kingdom, runs "Christian-based pregnancy crisis centres"[102] and is a division of the Christian charity CARE.
US-based Care Net and Heartbeat International are the world's two largest CPC networks with about 3,000 associated centers between them in the United States and abroad.
[6][27][110][111] In the 1980s, investigative reporters from the Arizona Republic, the San Francisco Chronicle and CBS News, among others, filed stories about CPCs attracting women by offering free pregnancy tests but then presenting them with religious arguments and scare tactics against abortion.
[51] In one of these cases, the CPC argued that they did not receive money from clients and were therefore not subject to regulations on commercial speech, but the court ruled that they were not exempt because they aimed to provide services rather than exchange ideas.
[124] Several ordinances requiring CPCs to post signs disclosing that they do not provide abortions, birth control, referrals for either, and sometimes other medical services have been enjoined, with courts finding that such "compelled speech" violates the centers' rights.
[133] The law's constitutionality was upheld in federal court, with a judge dismissing a lawsuit from a CPC that had been identified by the city attorney as advertising deceptively.
[138] The Court ruled on June 26, 2018, in a 5–4 decision that the notices required by the FACT Act violate the First Amendment by targeting speakers rather than speech.
[143] In 2002, after an investigation and subpoenas of a number of New York State CPCs alleged to be engaged in deceptive business practices,[144] then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office worked out an agreement with one of the CPCs in question, intended to be used as a model, which sets out practices including informing clients that the center does not provide abortion or birth control, that it is not a licensed medical facility, and that the pregnancy tests it provides are over-the-counter.
[146] By using these grants to support CPCs, funds are diverted away from the intended beneficiaries of TANF, thereby reducing the financial and structural assistance available to low-income families.
[8] Almost immediately after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, 38 Republican legislators in Wisconsin sent a letter to Governor Tony Evers, demanding that he provide $10 million in Federal ARPA funding to crisis pregnancy centers.
[147] The proceeds from the sale of Choose Life license plates are also used to support Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) or other organizations explicitly opposed to abortion in 34 states.
[148] Of those 34 states, 19 of the states donate a portion of the proceeds raised to specific antichoice organizations or CPCs, 18 donate a portion of the proceeds to agencies or organizations that provide adoption assistance, counseling, training or advertising, one uses the funds raised by the plates to pay for roads and road repairs and 10 states specifically prohibit the allocation of funds raised by the sale of "Choose Life" license plates to agencies or organizations that provide abortion services, counseling, referrals or advertising.
[149] In July 2013, then governor of Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee vetoed a bill for the license plates saying that in his opinion it violated the separation of church and state.
[151] Under the Trump administration, CPCs were encouraged to apply for Title X funding, which is intended to go to organisations offering family planning services.
[114] Government sponsored centres' efforts to reduce the number of women who opt for abortion consist primarily of the provision of "services and supports which make other options more attractive.
[166] On 1 February 2019, a CPC in Culpeper, Virginia, was vandalized with spray painted phrases that included "'fake,' 'you hate women,' and other vulgarities", spurring a police investigation.
[168] In the month following the May 2022 publication of a leaked draft opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization U.S. Supreme Court case, several instances of violence against crisis pregnancy centers were reported by the Department of Homeland Security.
[173] A few days later, the ATF and Oregon authorities investigated a fire "suspicious in nature" that damaged a Christian pregnancy center in Gresham on 10 June.
