Pro-Abortion Feminist Group Condemned for Attacking Pregnancy Centers
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 18, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A pro-abortion feminist group that launched an attack yesterday on pregnancy centers that help women nationwide is drawing condemnation. Two pro-life advocates say the Feminist Majority Foundation was wrong to make false claims about how the centers operate.
As LifeNews.com reported, FMF released the results of an internal "study" showing how college health centers refer pregnant women to the centers, which provide tangible pregnancy help and information about abortion risks and alternatives.
The attack on the centers paves the way for Congressional legislation that incoming president Barack Obama supports that could put the centers out of business or place onerous restrictions on them.
Wendy Wright, the president of Concerned Women for America, told LifeNews.com in response that the FMF attack is a case of "throwing stones while living in a glass house."
"Abortion clinics profit when a woman gets an abortion," Wright explained. "Their practices — from high-pressured sales techniques, to withholding information on alternatives, to physically restraining women who change their minds and try to leave — are the ones that should be scrutinized and outlawed."
"If this ridiculous propaganda that unfairly smears the wonderful and generous work of pregnancy resource centers is cited by media or legislators, pro-lifers need to quickly shine a spotlight on the unethical practices of the abortion industry," Wright added.
Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, a group that educates women on the established scientific link between abortion and breast cancer, also responded.
She derided FMF for attacking pregnancy centers for educating women that an induced abortion can increase their risk of contracting the deadly disease.
"The Feminist Majority Foundation claims to be ‘dedicated to women’s equality, reproductive health and non-violence, but actions speak louder than words," she said.
"Eleanor Smeal, the group’s president, and her colleagues do not care if women die of breast cancer or have premature births because of their abortions," Malec added.
"If Smeal had the slightest concern for women’s health, they would never have initiated a despicable attack on crisis pregnancy centers that serve pregnant mothers, in part, by warning them about the grave health risks associated with abortion," she said.
For Malec, telling women of the risks associated with an abortion is similar to warning smokers of the risks associated with smoking.
"If, as standard medical texts say, delaying a first full term pregnancy, childlessness, little or no breastfeeding and small family size put women at much greater risk for the disease, then the young woman who has an abortion has a greater risk than does the one who has a baby," she explains. "The woman who aborts forfeits the protective effect of childbearing."
"Get a conscience," Malec said to Smeal, "and stop playing politics with women’s health."
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