Common CPC Tactics
What Tactics Do CPCs Use to Misinform Women? 1. CPCs Use Misleading Advertising and Language. Crisis Pregnancy Centers use advertising designed to mimic those of legitimate health care providers. In an attempt to attract women considering abortion, many CPCs have neutral names for their centers, like ‘Center for Pregnancy Concerns’ or ‘Pregnancy Help Center.’ Other CPCs use intentionally misleading names like “A Woman’s Choice,” “Women for Choice,” or “Women’s Center,” leading women to believe that they can offer information on all options when facing an unintended pregnancy. CPC advertisements use intentionally misleading language. Whether listed in the Yellow Pages under ‘abortion’ or ‘abortion services,’ plastered on highway billboards, or covering the walls of buses (and other means of public transportation), these CPC advertisements often ask readers, “Scared? Pregnant? “Need Help?” Often times, CPCs also target low income women and women of color. CPC advertisements tend to focus on their free pregnancy tests, counseling, and confidentiality without mentioning their limited or entirely non-medical, and anti-choice messaging. Likewise, CPCs are often located in close proximity to an actual medical clinic, intentionally misleading women who are seeking reproductive health care services. Additionally, CPCs use biased language when speaking with women about their potential pregnancies. Most CPC counselors refer to the embryo and fetus, regardless of gestational period, as a ‘baby’ or ‘child.’ This language is not medically accurate and is full of unsolicited judgment that women who are already facing a difficult decision don’t need to encounter. 2. CPCs Answer Women's Questions with Evasion. CPCs believe that their anti-choice message will have more influence if they meet with women in person. As a result, phone operators actively discourage providing information over the phone as a mechanism to get women to come into their centers. Once inside the facility, women are most often given a pregnancy test (and sometimes an ultrasound), and then given misinformation about abortion, birth control and contraception, and fetal development. Often times, women visiting CPCs are pressured to consider carrying a pregnancy to term as their only viable option. 3. CPCs Give Women False and Medically Inaccurate Information. CPCs routinely use false and misleading information to prevent women from considering a full range of reproductive health options. Despite a wealth of reputable research that proves otherwise, CPCs continue to claim that abortion causes an increased risk for breast cancer, affects future fertility, and causes long-term psychological effects. The majority of CPCs are also against the use of hormonal birth control, strongly encourage abstinence until marriage, and, in some cases, provide misinformation about the safety and reliability of birth control. Virginian women deserve access to accurate information on a full range of reproductive health care options. CPCs should be upfront about the limitations of their services and their anti-choice stance (and funding). A woman facing an unintended pregnancy should not be subjected to manipulation when seeking services to assist in her decision-making process. 4. What’s the situation with CPCs and “Choose Life” license plates in Virginia? Are CPCs receiving state funds? In short, Governor Kaine signed the “Choose Life” license plate bill into effect, which allows funds from the novelty “Choose Life” license plate to be funneled to crisis pregnancy centers in Virginia. Click here to read more about Virginia’s license plate CPC funding.
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