What Goes on Behind Closed Doors? Pro-Abortion Group Targets Crisis Pregnancy Centers

A Special Investigative Report by Erin Sutherland for the Pennsylvania Family Institute, September 2000

"Fake clinics" and "adoption mills" were the accepted terms. Could these women possibly be talking about the same organizations that I understood to be crisis pregnancy centers? Within this strange inner sanctum, crisis pregnancy centers were now considered "illegitimate and fake" organizations.

I was told to enter at the rear of the law offices, go to the third floor and ring the bell. "As I am sure you can understand, we have a heightened level of concern regarding security issues because of the nature of our organization," Jill Fink, public affairs director for National Abortion and Reproduction Rights Action League of Pa. (NARAL-PA), warned.

I, of course, agreed.

On July 13, Harrisburg, Pa. was home to the second of a series of meetings NARAL-PA held to brief selected volunteers on how to research crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) with the intent of "shutting them down."

Knowing that the red and white "NO ABORTION" bumper sticker on my car would clue them of my convictions, I parked a couple of blocks from the meeting place. Several ladies, dressed modestly and professionally, introduced themselves as NARAL-PA employees from Philadelphia and warmly welcomed me--in the parking lot. I was offered a cigarette and upon declining, the suspicious questions began. Who are you and how did you find out about the meeting? Why are you here?
Posing as an aloof college student, vague and non-committal answers seemed to satisfy the aggressive women. Along with a few other volunteers, I was ushered to the small meeting room where a few more ladies filled the room. There were 10 total.

Food and legislation about pro-choice candidates crowded the only table. I was seated in the corner--the farthest seat from the door. An older lady sat next to me and shared the importance of financially assisting these pro-choice candidates--after all, she said, the conservatives win because they have money.

I patiently listened.

Quick introductions and a few minutes of small talk broke the suspicious awkwardness. "What kind of women's groups are there on campus?" a college student from Halverson asked. I, being new to the "women's issues" scene, relied on ignorance and said, "I'm not sure what kind of program we have. But, I'm sure it's a good one." My ignorance sparked another round of suspicious questions, as an obvious desperation to make inroads on college campuses surfaced. It became apparent that few college students are truly dedicated to the NARAL movement in Pennsylvania.

The small talk quickly subsided as discussion of NARAL-PA's newest project began.

Amy Bhatt, a student from Emory University and employee of NARAL-PA, passed out instruction sheets that revealed methods of targeting and exposing CPCs. As matter of course, the clinics must first be documented and charted on a map. NARAL-PA generously offered to supply funds for the maps. Bhatt had already started a list of fake clinics, but was far from complete--only 27 of the 200 CPCs were documented. "This part of the project is simply to identify where the fake clinics are located," Bhatt instructed.

Next, general research about Pennsylvania CPCs must be collected. "We are undertaking this challenge so that all women may have rights over their bodies and access to truthful education without being deceived by anti-choice propagandists," Fink said. For example, research needed to be done on the "deceptive advertising practices of CPCs." Some clinics even advertise themselves as 'alternatives to abortion,' 'women's rights,' or 'family planning,' one volunteer claimed. "These clinics are psychologically and emotionally damaging to women," Fink explained. "They show women pictures of dismembered fetuses. And they don't even offer women every available option for their pregnancy." The general consensus: CPCs are brainwashing women who are in vulnerable positions.

Even the NARAL-PA Web site posts illegitimate practices of CPCs. "In some cases," the Web site reports, "there have been reports of CPCs using extreme measures to prevent women from exercising their right to choose." Fink followed this statement with the "well-documented fact that sometime pro-life people pose as doctors and enter legitimate clinics to announce that a women just died during an abortion." She asserted that these people are, of course, simply trying to scare women.

At the meeting, though, Fink's rallying theme was state funding. "'Fake clinics' are receiving the same amount of funding as 'legitimate' clinics and they don't even offer all the options for women." (Never mind that the funding is separated in the state budget as "abortion" and "alternatives to abortion.") The key to change state funding, Fink said, is to collect form 990s (basically the equivalent of the 1040 form for individual taxpayers) from each clinic. Once all 200 tax forms are collected, pro-choice clinics can prove that CPCs: (1) aren't really clinics and are staffed by volunteers, not medical personnel, (2) don't serve as many people (in fact, only serve half the number of people that legitimate clinics serve), and (3) are oftentimes religious. And the natural result will be an end to state money. An emphasis was also placed on contacting legislators about funding and pro-choice issues in general. "Legislators need to be aware of the support they have from constituents throughout the state! ," Fink said. If they know they are supported--or are swayed by popular demand--they will more likely fight for abortion clinics to obtain additional funding. Grudgingly, the women admitted that pro-lifers--and conservatives in general--excel at showing support.

As the women nodded in agreement and bashed a few conservative legislators, Helen Steely, a selected volunteer of NARAL-PA, took over and angrily lectured, "All those fake clinics do is teach women how to get on welfare. They don't care about women's futures. They just tell them to put those babies up for adoption. Then those kids are run through the adoption mill because someone wants to make a few bucks."

Additionally, one volunteer said, these clinics claim to be nonreligious. "But you walk into one of those fake clinics and there is a cross or picture of Jesus hanging up in the lobby and it immediately makes you feel guilty." The ladies vocalized their agreements while accusing churches of ruining the lives of thousands of women. "Churches pass that plate every week," one volunteer vented, "and the money just pours in for CPCs and similar causes." Plus, another lady said, churches provide volunteers to support such programs.

At that moment, it became obvious to me that the CPC project wasn't a single-issue battle, but an anti-Christian mindset--a worldview--that was deeply entrenched.

And as I was leaving the women stared at me suspiciously, perhaps realizing that I was not one of them. The discussion continued as they outlined their future plans.