"Everyone can agree to disagree about abortion," says NARAL executive director Linnea House. "But I think everybody should be able to agree that state-funded agencies should only be disseminating medically accurate information."
According to the report, undercover NARAL investigators went to 27 appointments at 15 different clinics. They documented the kind of advice they were given, which was compiled for the report. Not all CPCs receive public funds, but NARAL specifically visited ones that do.
Crisis pregnancy centers offer "alternatives to abortion" services and often set up shop very close to abortion clinics. They often provide free pregnancy testing and counseling for pregnant women. Sometimes their explicitly stated goal is to prevent their clients from getting abortions, other times it is not so clearly stated. They can receive funding from both the state and federal government -- in Minnesota, former Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the Positive Alternatives Acts in 2005, which today has a grant pool of $2.4 million to give to CPCs.
According to the report, undercover NARAL investigators went to 27 appointments at 15 different clinics. They documented the kind of advice they were given, which was compiled for the report. Not all CPCs receive public funds, but NARAL specifically visited ones that do.
Crisis pregnancy centers offer "alternatives to abortion" services and often set up shop very close to abortion clinics. They often provide free pregnancy testing and counseling for pregnant women. Sometimes their explicitly stated goal is to prevent their clients from getting abortions, other times it is not so clearly stated. They can receive funding from both the state and federal government -- in Minnesota, former Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the Positive Alternatives Acts in 2005, which today has a grant pool of $2.4 million to give to CPCs.
Editor's cursory analysis
One issue that the report raises is state and federal funding for PCCs. They picked on centers that receive funding under a Minnesota provision. That's a red flag there. Or it's like a center drawing a big red target on it's front door and saying, "Come and get us." If you're going to accept tax-dollars, get ready for scrutiny.
Another thing I see right away in the report is they went in looking for three things:
■ Are CPCs staffed by qualified, trained personnel?
■ Are they dispensing medically sound information and guidance?
■ Are they forthright and honest in their promotion and advertising?
According to them, the answer to all of these questions was a resounding “no."
This begs the question, however, of whether centers that receive funds must have "qualified, trained personnel," and what is the criteria for making that determination? Medically sound according to whom?
Giving it a cursory look, it appears this report copies and pastes from other NARAL studies and asserts the same things are going on in MN. Very few actual examples are given. They huff and they puff, but they can't blow the house down.
Still, it's worthwhile for MN centers (and all centers) to examine their practices in light of this report.
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