State Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer has drawn the bead on multiple Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) across New York State, alleging he has a "good faith belief" that they have misrepresented their services, been practicing medicine without a license and dispensing deceptive medical information. Additionally, they are accused of repeated fraudulent or illegal acts including but not limited to false advertising and deceptive business practices.

His Attorneys General have issued numerous subpoenas throughout the state to centers that offer alternatives to abortion, demanding volumes upon volumes of documentation. According to a copy of the subpoena obtained by The Word, some of the materials demanded by Spitzer include things like copies of advertisements and promotional literature, Web site addresses, fundraising materials, records of agreements, a list of people to whom clients are referred, along with training materials and staff credentials.

With roughly 100 CPCs in New York State, the offensive took an ominous local turn with the targeting of the Crisis Pregnancy Center of Western New York, located on the corners of Main Street and Winspear Avenue in Buffalo. The all-volunteer center, in operation for an impressive 17 years, offers free pregnancy testing and a plethora of referrals for women expecting an unexpected baby. Networking with a broad spectrum of predominantly Erie County and New York State (with some private) social services largely unknown to the average person, the center provides hope and support that lightens a very heavy load.

Not only do they refer clients to adoption agencies, Catholic hospitals and physicians as might be expected, but in some cases they provide everything a woman needs to jump start life as a new mother including cribs, car seats and baby clothes. Their volunteers have even bought groceries and fixed up apartments for frightened, confused and needy young ladies who really want to have their babies but just do not know how to navigate the turbulent waters of an unplanned pregnancy.

Executive Director, Lewis James said that since the investigation "We’ve had nothing but a good response from the community, although it is a lot of trouble for me pulling together all the documents under subpoena." James noted that he felt very privileged to work with an exceptional volunteer pool whose sacrifice and dedication is exemplary, and has made a salient difference in so many lives across the years.

The counselors, mostly single, come from all walks of life and include the likes of educators, nurses and housewives, according to James. He told The Word, that some have even had an abortion themselves and are therefore uniquely qualified to describe and speak into the physical and emotional realities grappled with in its aftermath. Thus, in stark contrast to the abortion providers’ party line, which dehumanizes unborn babies by referring to them in terms that disarm the conscience like "uterine material," (how can you murder material?), the crisis pregnancy counselors are forthright about the physical and psychological devastation that is said to frequently result from abortion. (A small detail alleged to often be conveniently forgotten by abortion providers).

Due to escalating complaints that Crisis Pregnancy Centers were failing to make clear what services they provided during the 1980s, legislation was introduced requiring them to formally refer to themselves as "Abortion Alternatives" in phone books. This alone acutely intensifies the mounting speculation that the Attorney General’s actions are politically motivated as opposed to a pristine pursuit of justice in the face of legitimate unlawful activity.

Do the math, might it be just a slight a stretch to imagine that a CPC is misrepresenting itself when any pregnant woman who can read English is able to exercise her "freedom of choice" and "choose" her method of "support" from beneath either the "Abortion Providers" heading, or the "Abortion Alternatives" heading in the Yellow Pages. Furthermore, most Crisis Pregnancy Centers offer adoption referral services, placement into maternity homes, referrals to free pre-natal care and free ultrasounds, free counseling and free child care supplies after the child is born. Talk about your "Reproductive Freedom," the CPCs tender a sprawling anthology of options for young ladies with their backs against the wall and nowhere to turn. And as a rule, they do not take any public funds, survive strictly on private donations and are recognized as 501(c) 3 charities with churches, organizations and individuals composing the bulk of their donor body.

That being said, it is easy to understand why the Attorney General would want to protect New Yorkers from such a grave threat to society and get something as dangerous as free pre-natal care off of the mean streets of our cities. No doubt we will all sleep better tonight just knowing the depths his office is prepared to sink in getting at the truth. Thankfully, the grinding jaws of justice are snapping at the heels of these fierce, sadistic CPC’s, hot on the trail of their heinous and immoral activity. A credit to his profession, Spitzer’s dogged pursuit of these criminals into the thick, dense ambiguity of their many smoking guns for the sake of public safety, is a breathtaking inspiration.

In fact, the legal integrity of his tactics is so inspirational, that it has inspired the attention of some pretty big fish, among them colleague Charlie Condon, State Attorney General of South Carolina. Spitizer’s pro-life counterpart was so impressed with the New York Attorney General’s professional conduct, that he drafted a letter to him urging him to drop his attack on the CPCs. According to a January 14^th Associated Press story, Condon, who is contending for the Republican nomination to challenge current pro-abortion South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges, said that Crisis Pregnancy Centers offer: "Outstanding assistance to women facing unplanned, unwanted or difficult pregnancies," and that they "soothe the pain, relieve the suffering and ease the trauma of women who are hurting,'' Referring to the volunteers that staff the centers, Condon said in his letter, that, "Those who operate the centers freely give of themselves with a helping hand and a loving heart.''

This sounds like a pretty scrupulous description of the center on Main and Winspear considering that after 17 years in the heart of the University district, a bastion of local liberalism known for its pro-abortion posture in some opinions, it continues to thrive and draw community support. If this is true, then by all means lets reserve Lew James and his gang of pro-life thugs a spot on the "Ten Most Wanted" list, and contact John Walsh to see if America’s Most Wanted will profile their vicious, underhanded indiscretions!

While South Carolina may be a world away from this battleground, a rejoinder was fired at Mr. Spitzer from his own back yard by another impressed colleague. In a February 7^th Newsday story, Staff Writer Joseph Mallia, said "Nassau's District Attorney, Denis Dillon, yesterday warned State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to back off from what he called "heavy-handed harassment" of such organizations." Mallia went on to describe the attorney general’s subpoena of the records of a Deer Park pro-life group that Dillon works for as a private individual. Dillon's warning came at a news conference at his office in Mineola, and predictably elicited a sardonic response from Spitzer’s office, "It is curious that he would use his office and title when expressing personal views."

Another "big fish" swimming upstream against the Attorney General’s current, is Bishop Henry J. Mansell of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo. While Bishop Mansell could not be reached for comment by The Word, Buffalo News Washington Bureau Chief Douglas Turner, in a January23rd story on the investigations, said that Mansell "squared off against State Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer on Tuesday on the 29th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, denouncing what he characterized as attempts to harass and intimidate clinics that counsel against abortion." This and other scathing public statements beg the question, why would a man as learned, insightful and connected as Bishop Mansell ever think such a cynical thing? Does not a man of his stature profess a love for justice and live by an extremely honorable and well-policed creed? Doesn’t the Attorney General as well?

Not exactly according to Chris Slattery, Founder and President of Expectant Mother Care, the largest network of abortion alternative centers in New York State. With five full time locations in the New York City area, Slattery’s 17 year-old network aids over 4,200 hurting women a year. They are presently the only Crisis Pregnancy organization to offer on-site sonograms, providing some 50 to 60 of the diagnostic services each week free of charge. Three of their locations provide a full nine-month pre-natal care service with staff physicians available to deliver the babies once they come to term. Additionally, Slattery’s teams include certified nurses, ultrasound techs and phlebotomists, along with visiting social workers and nutritionists.

Of late, he has had the distinct pleasure of finding himself in good company, on the wrong end of the Attorney General’s hit list. In some respects, life in the crosshairs is nothing new for any point man of a CPC, it just comes with the territory. When he is not fielding death threats over his home phone, trying to out maneuver stalkers or handle vandalism and harassment from belligerent pro-aborts, there are the other formidable challenges. Constantly out-gunned by superbly financed, well-organized and agenda-driven public relations campaigns, Slattery (and CPCs in general) presses on with grit, determination and compassion in the face of pro-abortion spin-doctors who blow out loads of misinformation like so many cow-pies in the greener pastures of public opinion. However, the truth is not that easy to bury even beneath monolithic piles of the most fragrant rhetoric.

And Slattery, along with others, is making the truth undeniable with the addition of a three-dimensional ultrasound unit to the Expectant Mother Care network. The diagnostic device is literally a "window to the womb," allowing the curtain to be drawn back on some of the most hallowed ground known to humanity.

However, not everyone is charmed. In a February 1^st Associated Press story, "Abortion Foes Hope to Sway Women," David Crary profiled much of the dismay gripping the pro-abortion community due to the potential impact of a "window to the womb" on the abortion industry.

According to Crary’s story, Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America lamented, "They’re using medical technology as political propaganda." Her woes reflect the efforts of congressional allies of the pro-life movement who are drafting legislation that would provide federal funding for the distribution of ultrasound equipment to hundreds of pregnancy centers that promote alternatives like adoption.

Supporters of the initiative corroborate the program’s overall objective, to reduce abortions. However, Crary’s article describes their strategy as "non-coercive - they're simply giving pregnant women more information." Tom Glessner, president of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, noted in the story that "When they get the information to make an informed choice - once they see the ultrasound - the majority of women chose to carry the pregnancy to term." He went on to suggest that data from pregnancy centers indicates the percentage of women who decline to have an abortion more than triples if they see ultrasound images of their pre-born babies.

The idea apparently has enough merit to rattle some big chains including Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League who according to Crary feels that ultrasound is a valuable technology that is being misused by abortion foes. "It never fails to amaze me how little respect they have for women's capacity to understand what goes on in our bodies," Michelman said. "I faced a crisis pregnancy after having three children, and I didn't need anyone to show me a sonogram to inform me that my pregnancy would result in giving birth to a person." Does this mean she believes that abortion is in fact murder, but that she should actually have the right to slay unborn babies anyway?

Partially fueling the current investigation, is a complaint Spitzer is said to have received from Long Island where a pregnant girl is alleged to have been held in a CPC against her will so that she could be confronted by her father and the family's pastor. Maybe there is a felony somewhere nearby. However, my understanding of the law, while very superficial even on a good day, tells me that holding someone against their will is a crime in New York State all by itself. If this is true, then why not enforce existing coercion or kidnapping statutes against the parties involved for that specific crime at that specific location? And if there are violations of the law on the part of specific CPCs, then why not single them out and prosecute accordingly instead of mounting a mob-like witch-hunt? Unless of course there are other reasons!

Perhaps there is an interest in forcing issues that ultimately create new, more abortion-friendly laws? Or could it be back-scratching time? After all it is an election year for the state’s chief law enforcement officer and it is said that his support base includes pro-choice heavy weights such as the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). Michelle Malkin, in a January 14^th New York Post story observed that New York's NARAL political action committee has made some substantial donations to the Attorney General in the past. She characterized the CPC investigations as "not an effort to protect the public. It’s payback to the abortion monopoly. NARAL wants the government to crush growing competition by private, faith-based pregnancy centers that are winning over women’s hearts and saving babies’ lives."

Mr. Spitzer is visibly enamored with NARAL, so much so that his 1999 remarks at their New York City luncheon are still posted on his official web site (http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/1999/jan/jan22a_attachment_99.html). He opened the speech with these grand ideals: "Every goal you have for equal opportunity in society depends on this fundamental concept: you must control your body. You must control your destiny. No one must interfere with the personal decisions you make regarding your health and well being."

It is too bad his convictions do not appear to apply to the desperate young women who would like to continue to "control their destiny" and exercise their freedom to choose the services of Crisis Pregnancy Centers. It is even worse that vulnerable unborn babies cannot keep others from "interfering with personal decisions" they would make "regarding their health and well being" when the saline solution or suction device is introduced into their mother’s womb. There goes the neighborhood!

If the Attorney General really enjoys crossing "T-s" and dotting "I-s" he can check page one in the Yellow Pages of the Talking Phone Book in Western New York. There he will discover Buffalo Women Services, an abortion provider, listed beneath the "Abortion Alternatives" as well as "Abortion Providers." Sounds just a bit like a misrepresentation and deceptive business practice doesn’t it? Oops!

Obviously, we can expect that Eliot L. Spitzer’s even handed brand of justice will bring a new round of subpoenas for these and other potential offenders in the pro-abortion camp. Of course he will want to require the same of all agencies who are involved in counseling and serving pregnant unwed mothers.

When all the flying rhetoric settles like so much sewage to the bottom of the septic tank, "the worst thing these clinics do is save babies lives" says Laurence D. Behr, a Buffalo attorney who initially advised the center on Main and Winspear. Behr, Founder and Director of Lawyers for Life, subsequently arranged representation for the center with Roger Brooks, an attorney with the high powered New York City law firm of Cravath, Swaine and Moore.

The implications of the case have become so consequential that it has also attracted the American Center for Law and Justice, (handling the defense for Expectant Mother Care), the Christian Legal Society and the American Catholic Lawyers Association. Solemnly described by Chris Slattery, the ramifications are frightening. "What’s at stake in this attack by the vicious pro-abortion Attorney General Eliot L Spitzer, is literally the survival of the pregnancy help movement in the United States. Because if Spitzer succeeds in shutting down New York’s crisis centers, they’ll sweep this attack across the nation with their allies in NARAL, NOW and Planned Parenthood, and succeed in crushing the heart and soul of the pro-life movement."

Not only has Slattery lured the attention of the legal heavyweights, but he has drawn the personal endorsements of countless concerned influential Americans including: Ken Connor, President of the legendary Family Research Council; Dr. Alan Keyes, Host of the MSNBC hit, Making Sense; Judie Brown, President, American Life League and Joe Scheidler, President of the Pro-Life Action League to name a few.

His assessment of the situation has been confirmed by many of them and in a correspondence from the Pregnancy Resource Center of the San Fernando Valley, his sentiments were echoed, "Thank you for sharing this information. (about the Spitzer investigation) We are watching this closely in California as we believe we may be next."

Beyond that, we can heed the wisdom of a man in the thick of the battle, Lew James, Executive Director of the Buffalo clinic. "I would encourage people to pray that God would work this for good, that the truth about abortion would be known and that our services would be better known throughout the community. And especially to pray for the Attorney General."