The North Carolina affiliate of the NARAL pro-abortion organization has released a new report today attacking pregnancy centers in the tar Heel State that provide abortion alternatives to women.
The report comes out the same time as the state is making it easier for pro-life North Carolina residents to purchase Choose Life license plates designed to provide support for pregnancy centers. Every purchase of a plate results in part of the costs of it going towards the centers, which provide everything from practical needs to ultrasounds to counseling.
“Because much of the reproductive health information provided by CPCs is inaccurate, NPCNCF believes these centers are a threat to public health,” the report NARAL produced claims.
But a check of the information in the report shows the findings have the centers offering valuable assistance and factual information. The concerns NARAL lists include complaints that not all of the pregnancy centers surveyed employ medical staff, even though many do. NARAL complained that 35 percent of the pregnancy centers it surveyed provide ultrasounds for pregnant women and 12 percent provide testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
NARAL was upset that 26 percent of the pregnancy centers it contacted inform women of the link between induced abortion and breast cancer and 24 percent inform them of the link between premature births in a subsequent pregnancy associated as a risk with induced abortions. NARAL also complained that 48 percent of the centers contacted promoted abstinence over birth control and contraception.
NARAL says it contacted 61 centers via 27 undercover in-person visits, 47 website analyses and 40 phone calls between October 2010 and July 2011. The report comes as the state, on Wednesday, will unveil a new web site listing all of the pregnancy centers that provide free ultrasounds, as a part of the Women’s Right to Know Act, which allows women considering an abortion to see an ultrasound 72 hours before a scheduled abortion. The ACLU and Planned Parenthood have sued to stop the pro-life law from taking effect.
Representatives of Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship, the umbrella organization for 67 anti-abortion centers in North Carolina, told the Charlotte Observer that the NARAL report is not anywhere close to what happens in pregnancy centers.
“Our goal is to educate her but also help her know there’s a support system available to her under the very difficult situation she might be in,” Bobbie Meyer, state director of the organization, said. “It’s not about helping her change her mind, but about helping her get her life together and make good decisions.”
“There is nothing quite as vulnerable as a woman without a good support system who is pregnant and doesn’t know what way to turn,” she said.
Mimi Every, executive director of Pregnancy Support Services in Chapel Hill and Durham, told the newspaper her centers have never had a complaint, and added, “We’re not twisting women’s arms. We’re not manipulating them.”
So far, 300 people have signed up for the Choose Life plates in North Carolina, where $15 of the $25 purchase price will go to pregnancy centers.
