You know those "crisis pregnancy centers"? NARAL went undercover: Results: Outrageous Lies

[cali]

Last edited Mon Aug 12, 2013, 10:12 AM - Edit history (1)

about, well, everything.

Virginia Crisis Pregnancy Centers Caught Lying About Abortion and Contraception



NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia has put together a year-long investigative report about what's really going on in the anti-choice pressure centers that call themselves "crisis pregnancy centers"—centers that get government funding through the sales of "Choose Life" license plates in the state. These places advertise themselves to women enduring pregnancy scares, trying to lure them in with promises of free pregnancy tests and "abortion alternatives," as if there's a way to somehow not have to go through the pregnancy besides abortion. NARAL's activist captured one visit in its entirety on audio, which included not just misinformation regarding abortion, but also lots of lies about contraception.

The woman working at the center tries to convince the client not to use any kind of contraception whatsoever. She starts slow, claiming that hormonal contraception will make your hair fall out. Then she gets really excited, stating that she's not interested in judging, but, "First of all, if you're not married, why are you having sex?" and proceeds to make the following claims:




"Condoms are naturally porous," so don't protect against STIs.
"Within a marriage, sexual relations are procreative." Also, you don't need to use contraception in marriage because you can just avoid sex "two or three days a month" to prevent pregnancy. (In reality, the numbers range from 8 days to 11 days, depending on the source.)
Taking the birth control pill is like putting a small child on steroids.
On IUDs: "Sometimes it grows into the tissue of the uterus," she says, though that's not a known risk of the IUD. Perforations do happen, but they're rare and usually happen during insertion.


<snip>

While this woman was a particularly entertaining communicator of right wing propaganda, she is hardly an anomaly. NARAL Virginia reached out to 56 of the 58 CPCs in Virginia with 77 phone calls and 10 in-person visits, and found that 71 percent of them gave medically inaccurate information. Forty of them falsely claimed that abortion causes psychological damage, with one clinic vividly telling the client that "the sound of a vacuum" would bring traumatic flashbacks. (Which is actually a good excuse to get out of housework.) Women were falsely told that early term abortions involve "saline injections" to kill the embryo, and were led to believe abortions are performed with hooks. Twenty gave inaccurate information about contraception, including telling clients that birth control pills are less effective than condoms and that the rhythm method is the most effective form.

<snip>

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/08/09/naral_virginia_catches_crisis_pregnancy_centers_lying_about_abortion_and.html

title edited on request because "it's distracting".

[hobbit709]

1. They have to lie, if they told the truth nobody would go to them.

[FarPoint]

2. It's deceptive and harmful....

Using ones need to trust during a crisis to force their own agenda. Betrayal at the highest level.

[tom_kelly]

8. Rethugs don't care about deception,

just that the end justifies the means.

[ret5hd]

3. If these are doctors saying those things their license should be revoked...

If these aren't doctors, they should be charged with practicing medicine without a license.

[annabanana]

4. Taking exception to your subject line here.

O'Keefe never caught anyone lying. His enterprise was a slimey misrepresentation from beginning to end. Putting NARAL in anything resembling the same category is a gross injustice.

[cali]

5. I meant to refer to his going undercover

into various establishment. NARAL ripped a page out of that book and used it. Good for them.

[annabanana]

16. I agree.

Those places NEED a whole bunch of sunshine disinfectant!!

[Turborama]

13. I agree.

Fully.

[SecularMotion]

15. +1

[randr]

6. Now we can sit back and watch the liberal media ride this story for a week or two

NOT

[Brickbat]

7. The comparison to O'Keefe is distracting and laughable.

Dudebro made shit up. NARAL did solid work. Bringing O'Keefe's name into it makes it seem like they spliced and edited to make something out of nothing. Why bring him into it?

[cali]

9. Why? This is what he did. He did it for nefarious purposes

and edited and twisted. I'm not in any way suggesting NARAL did the same, but like O'Keefe they went undercover and taped people. You know I'm not trying to smear NARAL in any way.

[Brickbat]

11. People were taping things undercover long before O'Keefe.

Bringing his name into it implies they "edited and twisted."

I do know you're not trying to smear NARAL. Words matter and you don't want to create a correlation that isn't there.

[ancianita]

10. These "centers" have existed since the late 70's, early 80's. One was set up on Chicago's Mich Ave.

All those same statements were made back then, as well.

Every woman who's gone to these places can reveal the same information about them.

[gtar100]

12. Funny how it escapes them that if they have to lie to make their case, then they don't really have

a valid reason for their belief that abortion is wrong. They cling to an immature, emotional, imaginary picture of what the whole thing is about and because it's based on a false belief, they can't come up with valid reasons to oppose abortion.

So their meetings ought to be very interesting. Instead of fact-finding studies they sit around and make up stories to fit the conclusions they want.

That's a sure sign of willful ignorance.

[Capt. Obvious]

14. Crisis centers helping pimps now?

They need to be defunded.

[nil desperandum]

17. Liars

Liars are entitled to their opinion like every other idiot, however they are not entitled to government funding.

I am not clear how an "abortion alternative" center can receive funding without being vetted with respect to proper medical personnel and practices.

You can't get government reimbursement for medical work you actually do at a real hospital without documenting everything five ways to Sunday and meeting the newer meaningful use standards with Electronic Medical Records, but somehow these idiots are apparently receiving money to promote inaccurate medical information? What the heck goes on in some of these places?

Whether you are for or against abortion, lies will not help promote your position. Good for NARAL for exposing this large pile of lies for the idiocy it is.

[LuvNewcastle]

18. These fuckers should not be receiving government money.

They should be making enough from selling these poor women's babies to Christian couples. That's what those places are for, by the way. They exist to provide a steady stream of babies to be raised by RW Christian parents so they can raise them to be good little Republicans.

[mountain grammy]

19. Faith based charities should not be permitted preach their faith with taxpayer dollars...

That's what our First Amendment is all about. If we don't separate church and state now we are doomed to fail. The experiments of church run governments have all failed. The most notable was the Dark Ages.

[pnwmom]

20. Not every crisis center is like this. It's too bad the good ones are getting smeared, too.

The good ones don't even mention abortions -- they are clearly designated up front for pregnant women who need help with either parenting or adoption. Women seeking abortions won't accidentally find themselves in a parenting/adoption center. These centers provide accurate and complete information about birth control because their goal is to reduce the number of unplanned-for pregnancies. And they offer parenting classes, baby supplies, and other support throughout a pregnancy and afterwards. They don't drop their support for a woman as soon as her baby is born.

Not every woman with a crisis pregnancy wants an abortion. I am personally acquainted with a crisis center like this that does exactly what it should be doing. It's too bad that the deceptive centers give them all a bad name.

[blackspade]

21. I'm shocked that these 'crisis centers' would lie!

Not.....

[riderinthestorm]

22. K&R.

[NuclearDem]

23. You know, just like Jesus did.

[ljm2002]

24. Holy shit...

...those people are evil.

Doesn't the Bible teach that it's a sin to tell a lie? Something about not bearing false witness?

I guess these people figure they're "lying for God" or some such BS.

Glad NARAL is exposing them.

K&R