A coalition of nine pregnancy resource centers has issued a request to U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Cambridge) and Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey: come visit a crisis pregnancy center and see what it actually does.
The Massachusetts Coalition of Pregnancy Resource Centers sent the letter in response to a series of recent events.
A pair of crisis pregnancy centers in Worcester were vandalized by suspected abortion supporters early Thursday, July 7.
The attack, which included broken glass and graffiti, occurred hours after Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey’s office put out an anti-crisis-pregnancy-center advisory to Bay Staters. It also came at a time where Warren was calling for a nationwide crackdown on pregnancy resource centers..
Healey’s office posted an anti-crisis-pregnancy-center tweet at 11:44 a.m. Wednesday, July 6. The attacks occurred at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday, July 7, a little less than 15 hours later. Problem Pregnancy at 495 Pleasant Street and Clearway Clinic at 358 Shrewsbury Street in Worcester were targeted.
As for Warren, she has called for crisis pregnancy centers to be shut down nationwide.
The Coalition says in the letter that Healey and Warren have been smearing crisis pregnancy centers and lying to the public about what they actually do.
“Recently, pregnancy resource centers have been wrongly accused and egregiously misrepresented to the media, lawmakers, and the general public,” the Massachusetts Coalition of Pregnancy Resource Centers says in its open letter. “Our reputations have sustained significant damage. Although we prefer to do our life-saving work out of the spotlight, it’s time to shine a bright light on who we are and what we do for all to see and understand.”
The Coalition points out that “pregnancy resource center” is an umbrella term. It says the term refers to “licensed medical clinics, medical offices, maternity homes, and parenting support centers.”
The letter states that these organizations exist to help women — not harm them. Additionally, it says that most pregnancy resource centers are affiliated with national organizations that adhere to stringent truth-in-advertising standards.
“We are proud of the quality, compassionate care we provide every day in cities and towns across the Commonwealth,” the Coalition says in the letter. “Doctors and nurses serving in our medical clinics and medical offices provide a vital service to women and families through early pregnancy diagnosis, STI testing, prenatal health education and pregnancy options counseling. We ensure that women and families facing an unplanned pregnancy have the comprehensive information required to make an informed decision – one based on fact and not fear. To that end, we provide education on adoption, parenting, miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, and fetal development for all clients. ”
“Our client advocates assist every client with a customized care plan that covers insurance, housing, material support, food security, and more should there be a need,” the Coalition’s letter adds.
The Coalition also lays out the various services these organizations provide to help women:
Our maternity homes provide safe learning environments for mothers who have already chosen to continue their pregnancy. Mothers receive housing, job training, and education that helps them succeed in providing for their families. Parenting centers offer continual care and material resources for mothers and their children. In 2021 alone, our centers served nearly three thousand women, providing over fifteen hundred pregnancy tests and more than twelve hundred ultrasounds at no cost to our clients. We also distributed over a quarter of a million dollars worth of goods are for free, including 20,000 packages of diapers and 1,000 packages of baby wipes. We also helped nearly one hundred women with post abortion counseling, and we do all of this through donations from local supporters.
The Coalition notes that in Massachusetts, abortion is legal — and women can decide to have an abortion. However, the Coalition says crisis pregnancy centers inform women about the alternatives to abortion and provide support for those women who do not want to have abortions. Here is how the Coalition addressed that topic:
Our work empowers women in a safe, supportive space where they learn about all their options and have access to resources they need to make the choice that is right for them. Sadly, many women are still are not adequately educated on fetal development or on the risks of abortion and how having an abortion may affect them emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. Adoption is also still very misunderstood and is often rejected as a positive, viable option.
And while we recognize that abortion is a choice that many women ultimately make, we do not perform or refer for abortions nor do we provide ongoing prenatal care. After a woman makes her decision, we continue to provide support and resources for her to successfully parent or release for adoption and offer comfort when an abortion experience causes grief or regret.
We are an essential part of the communities we serve. Many of us have been doing this work for decades and rely on thousands of local supporters who desire to help women and families. Our work does not cost the taxpayers of Massachusetts anything.
The letter concludes with an invitation to visit for Warren, Healey, and other elected officials who have questions about pregnancy resource centers.
“Based on what we hear you say, you seem to be receiving false information regarding pregnancy centers from biased sources,” the Coalition states. “Unfortunately, some people are so angry about the recent Supreme Court decision that they feel the need to lash out, and they’ve made us their target. There were even two incidents of vandalism this month against clinics in Worcester. You may not agree with us, but at least have the courtesy of educating yourselves in person about our work before you criticize it. Come and see who we are and what we do. Be willing to listen to the women we serve. We know it will put your mind at ease.”
Healey’s office published what it called a “warning” about crisis pregancy centers on Wednesday, July 6. It said in part:
WARNING: CPCs do NOT provide comprehensive reproductive healthcare. CPCs are organizations that seek to prevent people from accessing abortion care.
CPCs may appear to be reproductive health care clinics, but do NOT provide abortion care or abortion referrals, contraception, or other reproductive health care, despite what they may advertise.
Most CPCs are NOT licensed medical facilities.
CPCs are NOT typically staffed by licensed doctors or nurses, even though some people who work at CPCs may try to look the part, for example, by wearing a white coat.
Some CPCs offer ultrasounds performed by unlicensed personnel who are not qualified to provide that service, which may lead to inaccurate or misleading results about a pregnancy.
CPCs staffed by unlicensed personnel are NOT required to keep your medical records private.
Unlicensed CPCs are NOT required to follow codes of ethics or standards of care that govern healthcare professions because they are not healthcare providers.
CPCs often provide inaccurate and misleading information about abortion and the medical and mental health effects of abortion.
CPCs often mislead people about how far they are into their pregnancy.
CPCs often try to delay scheduling appointments to push people beyond the point at which they can obtain an abortion.
Healey’s office said that providing women with free baby clothes is a tactic used by crisis pregnancy centers and that “pregnant people” need to be made aware of them.
“We want all pregnant people seeking help to know that CPCs do not provide abortion care, and the information presented to you at these facilities about your options is often misleading and inaccurate,” Healey’s office said in a press release.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Cambridge) has also attacked crisis pregnancy centers in recent weeks.
“These are deceptive outfits that front for groups that are trying to harass or otherwise frighten people who are pregnant to keep them from seeking an abortion, and they do so under the cover of pretending to offer abortion services,” Warren said during a press conference Wednesday, June 29, according to Masslive.com.
“So I’d like to see us talk about how we might move more aggressively to make sure that someone doesn’t face that bait and switch that could be traumatic at a time that that person is already under stress,” Warren added.
Warren co-sponsored a bill in Congress to ban what it calls “deceptive advertising” by crisis pregnancy centers.
After the attacks in Worcester, Warren doubled down. She called for a nationwide ban on crisis pregnancy centers.
“In Massachusetts right now, those crisis pregnancy centers that are there to fool people who are looking for pregnancy termination help outnumber true abortion clinics by three to one,” Warren told NBC 10 Boston on Monday, July 11. “We need to shut them down here in Massachusetts and we need to shut them down all around the country.”
“You should not be able to torture a pregnant person like that,” she added.
The offices for Healey and Warren could not be immediately reached for comment on Thursday.
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Photo courtesy of Clearway Clinic 
