Expectant Mother Care

Wednesday, February 27, 2002
MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH
California pregnancy centers targeted
Abortion-rights group trains activists to 'investigate' CPCs
Posted: February 27, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Allyson Smith

As New York crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs, rally to fight subpoenas issued last month by Attorney General Eliot Spitzer demanding information about their business practices, the National Abortion Rights Action League, which supported Spitzer's election, is training pro-abortion-rights activists to "investigate" California CPCs.

On Feb. 7, NARAL's California state affiliate, the California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League held a "special training" session on "Unmasking Fake Clinics" at the Westside Pavilion shopping center in West Los Angeles. An Internet announcement for the event promised, "During the training, CARAL will expose the hidden agendas and activities that take place behind the doors of CPCs. The session will also equip you with the necessary information and training needed to take action against CPCs in your community."

This reporter registered for the conference, obtained an information packet, and then was asked to leave by CARAL political director Stacey Karp, who said that the training was not open to reporters, only to pro-abortion-rights activists.

Inside the information packet were a CARAL policy report titled "Crisis Pregnancy Centers in California: The Hidden Threat to Womens Health," a companion "Action Kit" booklet, a list of California CPCs, a map of Los Angeles area CPCs, an "investigation form" containing a case study of a Rockville, Md., CPC and a "tip sheet" for abortion activists on "visiting" CPCs.

CPCs as 'stealth organizations' The CARAL policy report introduces CPCs as "the 'provider' arm of the anti-choice movement" whose aims are to "limit access to abortion" and "set up obstacles for women who need other crucial reproductive health services, like birth control."

The report "presents the results of an investigation" by CARAL that included "phone and online surveys of CPC services, interviews with pro-choice activists, health care providers and clinic administrators in California and across the country, and undercover visits to selected CPCs by CARAL volunteers."

Included are sections titled "The Myth of the Free Pregnancy Test," "When 'Options Counseling' = Anti-Abortion Propaganda," "Youth Outreach: Scaring Teens Abstinent" and "CPCs and the Christian Right." The report also contains several "snapshots" of California CPCs and a chart comparing services between CPCs and "comprehensive clinics."

The companion "Action Kit" describes CPCs as "anti-choice, stealth organizations dedicated to keeping women from choosing safe, legal abortions." It shows "typical" CPC Yellow Pages and billboard advertisements with notations describing "things to look out for that may indicate you're looking at an ad for a CPC," including "Offers of post-abortion counseling or support" and "A disclaimer ... that abortions and abortion referrals are not provided."

In a section titled "What You Can Do About CPCs in California," the Action Kit offers the following suggestions:

*Help investigate CPCs in your community;
*Organize protests in front of CPCs;
*Pass out stickers and information in front of CPCs to warn people;
*Work with faith-based organizations and religious leaders in your community to support comprehensive reproductive health care;
*Thank an abortion provider.

'Tips on Visiting a Crisis Pregnancy Center' A tip sheet in the CARAL information packet gives instructions for "visiting" CPCs. Among its suggestions: "When making an appointment ... remember to call from a blocked number," and "Be ready to tell them when your period is due and the first day of your last period. Be prepared with a story."

Under the "What to Expect" section, CARAL warns its investigators to be on the lookout for "A lot of talk about God – most CPCs are funded by Christian groups or churches," and "Anti-choice propaganda including the physical dangers of abortion, as well as the so-called 'Post-Abortion Syndrome.'"

The tip sheet gives sample "Questions to Ask / Comments to Make," including:

*"I think I need an abortion, but I don't know much about them."

*"What about birth control? I don't want to worry like this again."

*"My parents will be so mad/kick me out/disown me/cut me off financially, etc."

The tip sheet further advises CARAL operatives: "Don't bring ID into the CPC when visiting," "Have a fictitious personal profile memorized," and "Arrange to meet with a CARAL staff person after your visit for a debriefing."

"Any information you collect is useful to our investigation," says the sheet. "Pay close attention to the appearance of the CPC. How is it decorated and equipped? Are there any degrees hung on the walls? What are some of the names of videos/book/pamphlets on display? What are some of the posters that hang in the waiting room or 'exam room'? Collect as much of their materials as possible when leaving – pamphlets, brochures, etc. Be aware of other staff or clients that you see entering or leaving the CPC."

CARAL: 'No comment'
When asked in a phone conversation what took place during the training session, Karp said, "We're not really releasing that information to the press. The training is just for our activists about CPCs." WND was referred to CARAL's executive director, Belle Taylor McGhee, for media questions.

When asked if CARAL is conducting training sessions in order to launch a New York-style assault on California CPCs, McGhee said, "What we're doing is educating the public about CPCs in their communities." McGhee refused to discuss what was covered in the training session.

Said McGhee, "We haven't decided yet" what to do with the information gleaned from the investigations. When asked if CARAL's investigators are licensed, she said, "No. I was an investigative reporter at one time, but I didn't need a license to do that."

McGhee replied, "No comment" when asked if CARAL has contacted California Attorney General Bill Lockyer about the investigations or if it has plans to introduce legislation pertaining to CPCs. Calls to Lockyer's office were not returned by press time.

Chris Slattery, whose New York City-based Expectant Mother Care clinics are among those targeted by Spitzer, said, "I've studied CARAL's website. They're clearly focusing their attention on the advertising, but what worries me is the level of aggressiveness they seem to have displayed with picketing and postering and letter writing. I've seen this before, but not since the mid-'80s. I've had my centers picketed before, had invasions of my centers, had my apartment building plastered with posters. I've been followed and stalked and had death threats for years. But the level of activism, if it's current, seems to be indicating an increased level of activism in California." He added, "I think the two coasts are going to try to spread their strategy inland."

'Guilt and fear counseling'

Pregnancy Choices Clinic in Union City, Calif., is profiled in CARAL's policy report as an example of "guilt and fear counseling." The report states that the clinic is unlicensed and that one of its counselors told a CARAL volunteer who visited the clinic "that if she had an abortion she would see the fetal remains being examined."

Pregnancy Choices Clinic director Linda Bertolami refuted CARAL's claims: "They say we're unlicensed, but that's not true. We're licensed by the state of California as a primary care facility. When counseling women about abortion and the possibility of infection, we don't tell them they will see the fetal remains. We tell them that the fetal remains may have to be examined to make sure there's nothing left inside, but we don't tell the women that they will have to look at them."

CARAL's report also says that clinic names that echo "the 'choice' of the pro-choice movement … may imply that these CPCs provide comprehensive health services; they do not."

Bertolami denied the accusation, saying, "We do provide prenatal care. We do provide comprehensive health in the first and second trimesters of the pregnancy if women have no other means of obtaining that. We do talk to women about all of their choices. That's the one thing we want women to know: that they're not backed into a corner with only one choice where they have to have an abortion.

"CARAL is painting it like there's a huge national conspiracy, but our motto is 'Meeting needs, touching hearts, one life at a time.' God is sovereign in all of this. We've had three clients in the last week who have come to know the Lord, so even though these attacks are happening, we're still helping women. One client handed her bag of drugs to us to flush down the toilet after she saw her ultrasound."

Bertolami continued, "What I've told my staff is that if they're doing their job the way we've trained them to, then they have nothing to worry about. We're here to serve women, no matter what their motivation – even if they come to us under false pretenses."

Another "snapshot" in CARAL's policy report, the Conejo Valley Women's Resource Center in Thousand Oaks, has already experienced harassment by pro-choicers.

Director Sally Rosiek said, "We have found fliers posted in restaurants, in restrooms, that said, 'BEWARE – Deceptive Crisis Pregnancy Centers Are In Our Neighborhood' with our center's name listed on them." The fliers were put up by a group called the "CPCampaign" but, according to Rosiek, "the wording was exactly the same as the wording in NARAL's 'Unmasking Fake Clinics' document."

Continued Rosiek, "Another thing that happened is that we started getting suspicious calls on our 24-hour help line in the middle of the night, and we started getting a lot of calls during the day. We had one man call who started talking about homosexual tendencies and asked, 'Can you help me? I'm having all these sexual fantasies.'"

Campaign 'a joke'

Dana Serrano, director of the San Diego-based Women's Resource Network, discussed plans to alert CPCs to CARAL's tactics.

"We're looking into legal options," she said. "We are calling a meeting of all the CPCs in California at the end of April to go over this and talk about how to discern a fake client.

"I think it's a joke what CARAL is doing," continued Serrano. "They haven't picketed since the '80s. How desperate are they? Back in the late '80s and early '90s, Planned Parenthood started the same thing and out of that the centers grew stronger, so we've had 20 years of growth and they've had 20 years of decline.

"I think we should not spend too much time worrying about CARAL and concentrate instead on trying to help the women who really need help," said Serrano. "I'm going to encourage clinics to 'go medical' to serve even more women, because we are pro-woman. I'm so sick of them making us out to be anti-woman. They're not pro-woman at all or they wouldn't be concentrating on terrorizing and attacking CPCs."

After reviewing the CARAL documents, Richard D. Ackerman, an attorney with the United States Justice Foundation, said, "They ought to be ashamed of themselves. This is obviously a thinly veiled attempt to interfere with the 'right' of a woman to seek counseling from an entity that doesn't think like CARAL."

Ackerman added, "They ought to focus on hiring licensed personnel for themselves before focusing their sights on legitimate agencies. I would hope that they have no problem with our side using the same tactics to infiltrate Planned Parenthood or other abortion mills to determine whether or not they have violated the law. They are attempting to fraudulently interfere with the business relationships of what they perceive to be competitors. I will be asking any CPC client to seriously consider a business disparagement lawsuit against CARAL. This must come to a stop."

Related stories: Subpoena against pro-life group challenged New York state probes pro-life centers Related Special Offers: "Baby Parts for Sale" video "The Legacy of Planned Parenthood"
Allyson Smith is a freelance reporter based in San Diego.