Report slamming pregnancy centers as a ‘public health danger’ is lacking in facts

A coalition of pro-abortion organizations calling themselves The Alliance has released a report attacking pregnancy resource centers (PRCs). Reportedly studying PRCs in nine states, the report issues a blistering condemnation that is heavy on pro-abortion talking points, but light on actual facts.

Focusing on Alaska, California, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington, the report claims PRCs use “deceptive and coercive tactics and medical disinformation, and misleadingly presenting themselves as medical facilities,” as a “well-resourced arm” of the pro-life movement which is rapidly expanding. Numerous allegations were made, including the claim PRCs do not provide medical care, promote false medical information, lie about being independent organizations, and use overall deceptive practices.

Medical care and services

The report denigrated the services offered by some PRCs as nothing more than free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds. Furthermore, they criticized PRCs for making material items available to earn at no cost, through classes and counseling.

While not every PRC is equipped to provide medical care, many do. The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) has helped over 1,000 PRCs convert to medical clinics, which comply with all necessary legal and medical guidelines; other PRCs have medical professionals donating hundreds of thousands of hours.

One notable example is the Mother of Mercy Medical Clinic in Virginia, which previously housed an abortion facility. Staff there have served hundreds of low-income patients at no cost, with annual physicals, disease management, sick visits, prenatal care, health classes, and more. Cardiologists, obstetricians, dieticians, and other health professionals offer their services at no cost. Other PRCs are similar, like the Atlanta Morning Center (ATLMC) and the Obria Medical Clinics.

Still others provide aid far beyond what the Alliance claims. Many PRCs offer otherwise homeless pregnant women a place to live, such as Foundation House Ministries, Good Counsel Maternity Homes, and more. Nearly two million people received free services from PRCs — including diapers, baby clothes, furniture, car seats, and more — from PRCs in 2019 alone.

Many PRCs also help women get connected to local resources, like WIC and Medicaid. Around 85% of CPCs across the country offer prenatal and parenting classes, as well as education help. “Six years after Samantha came to the center, I, with great joy, sat at the back of an auditorium and watched as Samantha walked across the stage and received her college degree,” said Jamie, a PRC director in Illinois. “She is now working in a job that she loves and is able to provide for herself and her daughter.”

READ: Pro-abortion researchers downplay study showing how pregnancy centers help women avoid abortion

Abortion pill reversal

The report heavily attacked the concept of abortion pill reversal. Considering how opposed the abortion industry is to this hormonal treatment, this is not unexpected. The report claims that medical experts say abortion pill reversal is “not based on science and do[es] not meet clinical standards. … Its health effects are unknown; the only credible clinical study was stopped after one-quarter of the participants went to the hospital with severe bleeding.”

Yet the study The Alliance cited actually revealed the opposite of what the group claims; not only that, but the study used biased investigators who have a financial interest in the expansion of abortion. Mitchell Creinin was the principal investigator of the study, despite his jobs as an abortionist and as a consultant for abortion pill manufacturer Danco Laboratories. The study was sponsored by the University of California-Davis and the Society of Family Planning — which both have strong ties to abortion. Laura Dalton, one of the authors, is the Chief Medical Officer for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s managing board, while author Laura Steward is the former chief operating officer for FPA Women’s Health, an abortion chain.

Creinin and his co-authors all have a financial incentive to keep the abortion pill in-demand by the public — yet The Alliance acknowledges none of these conflicts of interest.

While three of the study’s 12 participants were taken to the hospital, as Dr. Christina Francis, Chair of the Board at the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, told Live Action News, framing this as proof of abortion pill reversal’s dangers is massively misleading. “It actually was only one woman who received progesterone that was taken to the hospital and two who received placebo,” she explained. “The one who received progesterone completed her abortion and required no further treatment. The two who did NOT receive progesterone both had to have emergency surgery and one had to have a transfusion.” (emphasis added)

Furthermore, the issue at hand — hemorrhaging — is not a known side effect of progesterone, the hormone used in reversal. It is, however, a known side effect of the abortion pill.

Despite the claims against it, the Creinin study, despite its small sample size, found that the abortion pill reversal method not only is not dangerous, but that it works. Twice as many patients who were given progesterone instead of a placebo saw their pregnancies continue, and twice as many patients who received the placebo were transported to the hospital via ambulance.

The Alliance also fails to mention that progesterone is a well-known hormonal supplement in the medical community. The first hormone ever to be discovered, it has been used to prevent miscarriages since the 1950s. Today, it is estimated to prevent 8,450 miscarriages each year. The abortion pill reversal process is essentially the same process doctors already use to prevent a threatened miscarriage.

This blatant hit piece on PRCs is nothing more than a regurgitation of abortion industry talking points, which do not line up with the facts.

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