It’s Not Pro-Choice To Attack Pregnancy Centers That Offer Choices

In anticipation of the Supreme Court’s expected overturning of Roe v. Wade, pro-abortion arsonists, vandals, and graffiti enthusiasts are attacking pregnancy care centers across the country. The corporate press is mostly uninterested, but the irony is not lost on those of us involved in helping young women in unplanned pregnancies and giving them a real choice.

Haven’t we all heard the rhetoric ad nauseum that the decision to keep and raise a child or place for adoption versus abortion is the mother’s choice? Shouldn’t that choice involve knowledge of what the different choices actually entail, how they can be carried out, what is available to assist them in each of those three choices, and what the ramifications will be – now and later – physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually?

If not, why call it “choice?” There have been at least two dozen instances of fires, vandalism, Molotov cocktails thrown, harassment of people praying in front of abortion facilities, etc. Yet the tone from much of the media is, “Well what do pro-lifers and these pregnancy centers expect when it appears the Supreme Court is about to end the ‘choice’ to abort?”

If the abortion movement’s mantra of being “pro-choice” really means genuine choice, how can they reconcile the hypocrisy of attacking the very places offering choices in unplanned pregnancies? They know very well that Planned Parenthood and other abortionists overwhelmingly promote abortion – the only “choice” they profit from – leaving all the documented, researched negatives out of the discussion while exaggerating the challenges of keeping and raising a child.

If they were really for choice, wouldn’t they want pregnant women facing that decision to see their child’s ultrasound? This is one deceptive technique that continues to disgust me and that many people, including pro-choicers, are shocked by.

Yes, Planned Parenthood, whose motto is “Choice … No Matter What!” routinely turns the ultrasound screen away from the pregnant mom, even while charging her or her insurance for the procedure. Numerous women tell me this happened to them. Moms have told me they asked for the screen to be turned toward them but were told, “Oh sorry, that’s not our procedure.”

They know that women who see their ultrasound, even if they were determined to abort, change their minds 80 percent of the time right there as they see their unborn baby moving on the screen. If abortionists let women see a beating heart, it might start cutting into business. Turning an ultrasound screen away from a mother is not a “choice,” it’s deception.

The deception continues in never, ever suggesting that a pregnant woman check out a nearby pregnancy care center, usually intentionally located blocks away. They don’t tell her that she can talk and pray with someone, and often with someone who has experienced an abortion in their past.

It’s the pregnancy centers that want pregnant moms to see their ultrasound, hear about resources that can be provided for their baby, often up to age 2 or 3, and learn about schools and job opportunities with free child care as well as scholarships for single moms, and about the thousands of couples pleading and waiting to adopt a child.

Pregnancy care centers routinely get letters and emails from couples asking for their appeal to be shared with any young woman considering abortion, asking her to please consider them to raise her child. They enclose photos of cousins, grandparents, the family dog, vacation trips, offer all expenses paid, and for the birth mother’s choice in an “open adoption” (which includes contact and visits).

Abortion centers never tell pregnant women that the vast majority of post-abortive women regret their decision, with many suffering severe grief, regret, and alcohol and drug problems. Some studies show the risk of future miscarriage or infertility increases, as well as a potential risk for breast cancer. They have a six times greater risk of suicide.

There are about 3,000 pregnancy care centers around the United States offering the full truth and real choices, all without charge. Attacking these centers is bizarre, irrational, mean, and hypocritical. These violent activists are denying the very choice they claim to be all for. It’s the pregnancy centers, not abortion centers, that offer real choices.

Patty Knap is a certified pregnancy care counselor on Long Island.

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