Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains and New Era Colorado recently released a “fact” sheet to disrepute and shut down pregnancy health clinics. This counter fact sheet serves as answers, or the “truth”, to every claim made.
PRO-ABORTION CLAIM: People of color, low-income folks, young people, LGBTQIA+ communities, and immigrants still struggle to obtain the care they need due to misinformation and other systemic barriers to care.
TRUTH: Pregnancy health clinics are located in areas where minority neighborhoods are more prevalent. One thing these clinics do provide for respondents was a place where “their desire to have a child was supported and encouraged.” Low income women, especially women of color, are sometimes actively discouraged from having children, including by their health care providers. A 2010 Census results reveal that Planned Parenthood is targeting minority neighborhoods specifically for abortion. 79% of its surgical abortion facilities are within walking distance of African American or Hispanic/Latino neighborhoods.
PRO-ABORTION CLAIM: For people who have to take time off work, use public transportation, find childcare, and must overcome other obstacles, a trip to an Anti-Abortion Center (AAC) delays critical access to care or pushes care entirely out of reach.
TRUTH: Save the Storks’ Mobile Medical Clinics make critical access to care MORE accessible. With locations across the United States, and the ability to travel, our mobile medical clinics assist pregnant women in overcoming obstacles such as a lack of transportation.
PRO-ABORTION CLAIM: Some centers purport to offer so-called “abortion pill reversal,” a dangerous practice denounced by respected medical associations.
TRUTH: If a woman ingests the first chemical abortion pill but changes her mind and wishes to reverse the abortion, the abortion reversal pill (progesterone) has been proven to counter the effect of the first abortion pill (mifepristone). There are NO reported side effects or ailments in this as progesterone is already naturally produced, unlike mifepristone and misoprostol, which are chemicals not naturally produced by the body and are, therefore, more dangerous to ingest.
PRO-ABORTION CLAIM: Anti-abortion centers use deceptive advertising to lure people in.
Source: Life Light Center
TRUTH: Pregnancy Health Clinics are not deceptively advertising; no pregnancy health clinic advertises for abortion; in fact, one Google search will show that pregnancy health clinics very clearly specify that they do not provide abortions and will not refer any woman to an abortion clinic.
Additionally, since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Google has taken the liberty to add a disclaimer to non-providing abortion centers, which keeps pregnancy health clinics from advertising with the word “abortion.”
One phone call could give women the answer as to whether a clinic provides abortion, something this claim suggests women are incapable of having the mental capacity to do. Many women come into pregnancy health clinics looking for precisely what they claim to provide: free pregnancy tests, free ultrasounds, free, unbiased information on abortion, and the support they need to make the biggest life decision.
Right now, women have equal access to pregnancy and abortion clinics. This law will prevent equality in access to the care women desire. It is always a woman’s choice whether she wants to pursue an abortion or not; what she always deserves is the choice to seek other options that are made available to her. By limiting the pregnancy health clinics’ ability to advertise to women, the pro-abortionists monopolize the pregnant community of the United States, taking away the choice they claim to fight for.
PRO-ABORTION CLAIM: Anti-abortion centers aim to steer people away from abortion and other time-sensitive reproductive healthcare procedures.
TRUTH: Every pregnancy health clinic aims to provide women with unbiased information surrounding every option in their unplanned pregnancy, whether that is abortion, adoption, or birth. A women’s clinic will never attempt to steer women away from abortion as that goes against their ethics of supporting women no matter their choice. Pregnancy health clinics are essential as they provide women with real care, counsel, and medical and material support during pregnancy.
PRO-ABORTION CLAIM: AACs are faith-based organizations that pose as comprehensive reproductive health care clinics to intercept patients seeking abortion care.
TRUTH: Although many pregnancy health clinics are faith-based, as the life-affirming side is often a moral decision with a basis on science, the religious background of pregnancy health clinics is never pushed onto women, neither is the notion that women must choose life or else face guilt, sin, or hell. The goal of every pregnancy health clinic is to shower each woman with love and support no matter their decision.
PRO-ABORTION CLAIM: Some anti-abortion centers in Colorado, including A Caring Pregnancy Center in Pueblo, receive funds from the city.
TRUTH: To make this claim, the Organization for Reproductive Rights must acknowledge that abortion clinics are federally funded, with Planned Parenthood receiving more than 500 million dollars in taxpayer funding annually.
Additionally, as 501(c)3 nonprofits, both Planned Parenthood and pregnancy health clinics are eligible for government grants as long as they are at least ⅓ donor-supported.
Pregnancy health clinics are not engaging in unethical or illegal funding from the city; they provide services for valued women who require help from local nonprofits.
PRO-ABORTION CLAIM: Giving the appearance of a medical facility with volunteers in scrubs, medical equipment, intake forms, and language used, such as “women’s clinic,” “mobile medical clinic,” “free ultrasounds and pregnancy testing,” and more.
TRUTH: Every mobile medical clinic and pregnancy health clinic is equipped with a volunteer or staff who is a registered nurse or licensed medical professional. Oxford Dictionary defines “clinic” as “an establishment or hospital department where outpatients are given medical treatment or advice, especially of a specialist nature.” Therefore, pregnancy health clinics (which offer pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, STI testing, and more) meet the definition of a clinic and reserve the right to use the term as much as any abortion clinic.
