Mother Jones uncovered new “dirt” on Virginia candidate for Governor Ken Cuccinelli: he has given thousands of dollars of his own money to pregnancy resource centers. That’s right—the breaking “scandal” this week is that Ken Cuccinelli’s charitable giving includes helping local women who face tough times during pregnancy.
NARAL Pro-Choice America is, predictably, incensed. Its headline screams “Ken Cuccinelli Caught Donating Personal Funds to Fake Clinics That Lie to Women.” Although such a title might imply that these pregnancy centers are a sham storefront, they, and the women they serve, are real.
Thousands of pregnancy resource centers operate across the country, serving women with compassion and integrity. In 2010, they served over 2.3 million people. In its publication, “A Passion to Serve,” the Family Research Council documents that pregnancy centers saved the community well over $100 million that year. That figure does not include the estimated 5,705,000 uncompensated hours of work performed by the 71,000 volunteers.
Exit surveys and testimonials of women who received care at pregnancy resource centers document an overwhelmingly positive experience. Rather than suffering pressure or coercion, these women were empowered by the support offered by the pregnancy centers. Real women report that pregnancy resource centers gave them the confidence and hope needed to carry their pregnancies to term.
In NARAL’s estimation, however, these pregnancy centers are “fake” because their services do not include abortion. And NARAL’s recent press release makes no bones about the fact that their goal is to “shut down” these centers.
In 2010, AUL worked with pro-life and pro-family advocates in Virginia to defeat (in both the House of Delegates and the Senate) a NARAL-inspired measure seeking to impose unnecessary and confusing regulations on pregnancy resource centers. Instead, both houses later adopted AUL’s model resolution commending the work of pregnancy centers.
CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!
Oklahoma passed a similar resolution in 2010. And at least 14 state legislatures – Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Kansas, New Hampshire, Missouri, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin – have since adopted resolutions commending their work. This increased legislative activity is a testament to the positive work and impact of pregnancy resources, providing women with positive alternatives to abortion.
NARAL and co. hurl venom at pregnancy resource centers because they threaten Big Abortion. By enabling women to find and choose alternatives to abortion, pregnancy centers expose a truth the abortion industry would rather hide: the abortion debate is not about choosing sides between mothers and their children. Pregnancy resource centers are visible proof that being pro-life and being pro-woman are not mutually exclusive—rather, they are ideals that reinforce each other.
And because that undermines the false narrative NARAL and its abortion allies want to sell, they relentlessly attack these centers, the volunteers, and their supporters—like Cuccinelli—whose donations help empower women to choose life.
