HuffPo sides with NARAL in misprepresenting Virginia pregnancy centers

NARAL’s history of misrepresenting or lying about pro-life issues is well-documented. Remember when they erroneously claimed that they had expressed dismay at Kermit Gosnell’s actions long before they actually did? Or when president Ilyse Hogue made a plea for an end to violence against children whilst simultaneously running one of the nation’s most prominent organizations in favor of violence against children? Or what about that time NARAL bemoaned the work of pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) in Missouri, where employees and volunteers were – shockingly – unwilling to make abortion referrals?

Well, they’re at it again. Just in time to smear Ken Cuccinelli’s strong pro-life record during his gubernatorial race in Virginia, NARAL, helped out with publicity by the Huffington Post, released another “shocking” report on Virgina PRCs suggesting – among other things – that pro-life clinic staff have a habit of decrying the carcinogenic qualities and inefficacy of many forms of contraception.

These NARAL “investigations” rely on what investigators supposedly were told or read in a given PRC and subsequently relayed to NARAL. Supposed pregnancy center interviews were audio recorded, but there is no video documentation to support the information. Regardless, the information is not shocking, does not discover any illegal activity, and all-in-all is footage that one would expect from pregnancy counselors who are a) generally Christian or faith-based, and b) experienced in dealing with abortion-minded and post-abortive women. Many of these counselors are volunteers or working on minimal salaries because they are passionate about true women’s health.

According to the report, many of the PRCs also informed women of the documented consequences of an abortion decision. These include long-term psychological damage, eating disorders, and addictions. Pregnancy centers witness firsthand the women who come into their facilities seeking help, many of them post-abortive. Their stories, like the thousands found here, affirm the negative consequences of abortion that many women suffer from long-term. Of course, NARAL does not care about these women; it cares about furthering an abortion agenda that turns a blind eye to the actual needs and risks that women face when abortion becomes a part of life.

HuffPo’s Laura Bassett (the same author who got the word out about Planned Parenthood’s campaign against “anti-abortion” Ken Cuccinelli) makes sure to point out, both in the title and several times in the body of her piece, that these centers are “state-funded.” The implication in this repeated phrase seems to be that state-funded entities should not be working from any kind of pro-life agenda. However, nowhere to be found was Bassett’s condemnation of state-funded abortion centers, where the abortion agenda is fed unapologetically to women in crisis. In Virginia, state funding for elective abortion no longer exists. 

NARAL may be grasping at straws with its latest PRC investigation. Perhaps the time and money being spent uncovering the non-shocking information obtained in these pregnancy help centers could be better spent investigating those they work so hard to keep in business, like Douglas Karpen, the “Texas Gosnell.”