Invest In Choice

What Is a CPC?

ST. PAUL – A study released today from NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota Foundation (NPCMF) shares results from a year long undercover investigation into the state-funded "crisis pregnancy centers,” or CPCs, operated by anti-choice organizations. NPCMF investigated 15 of these 23crisis pregnancy centers, funded under The Positive Alternatives Act. The report, "State-Funded Deception: Minnesota’s Crisis Pregnancy Centers” uncovers a disturbing pattern of deceptive and misleading practices at these unregulated centers.

The investigation, conducted by a team of NPMCF staff and volunteers from September2010 to December 2011, included 27 in-person visits, 15 website analyses, and 32 phone calls to 15 of the state-funded CPCs. Key findings in the 28-page report include that:

·      More than two-thirds of the investigated CPCs provided medically inaccurate information.

·      Over half of CPCs investigated made false claims that may delay women from seeking appropriate reproductive health-care. One investigator was told that she shouldn’t put herself through the stress of an abortion because "1 in 4 women miscarry anyway.”

·      More than 78 percent of the CPCs investigated are affiliated with ideologically driven organizations, and all  distributed pamphlets that substituted science-based health information with shame, manipulation and even propaganda.

·      Even in the rare cases of centers that are overseen by medical professionals, there are no regulations in place to ensure that women will receive medically accurate information and services that meet an appropriate standard of care with respect to all reproductive-health options.

"No matter how a person feels about the question of legal abortion, everyone can agree that women should never be misled when seeking information about pregnancy, birth control, abortion, or sexually transmitted infections. Yet it is happening across the state,"said Linnea House, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota Foundation.

Signed into law by Governor Tim Pawlenty in2005, the Positive Alternatives Act makes $2.4 million available annually to organizations that "assist and encourage women in carrying their pregnancies to term” while offering "accurate information on the developmental characteristics of babies and of unborn children.” In 2011, at least 23 of the 31 grantees were CPCs. The language of the bill is designed to prevent comprehensive family planning health care organizations from receiving the funding because it restricts even referring women for abortion care.

"Our investigation of CPCs in Minnesota makes clear that our state's leaders cannot ignore how these centers intentionally mislead and misinform women, including those facing unintended pregnancies, and are doing with tax payer dollars,” House said. "We are committed to working with lawmakers to ensure that Minnesotans have access to factually accurate information when making decisions about their health, and that begins with ending the deceptive practices uncovered in our report."

NPCMF urges lawmakers to develop state oversight measures, including:

·       Any grant money provided by the state of Minnesota funds organizations that provide comprehensive, non-directive counseling and medically accurate information.

·       Requiring CPCs to adhere to honest advertising and promotion that discloses what services they do and do not provide.

·       CPCs that do not have trained medical or counseling staff must inform clients that they will be seen by non-medical staff and volunteers.

·       Requiring CPCs keep client confidentiality as is required by legitimate medical and counseling clinics.

For full text of the report, please visit http://www.prochoiceminnesota.org/what-is-choice/cpc/report.shtml or call 651-602-7655 to request a copy. 

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