Last week I wrote about election results for women - the good, the bad, and the ugly. I also wrote about the need to take our election-related excitement and direct our energy and attention to new (or old) issues. I specifically wrote about Ms. Magazine's recent article, Fake Medical Centers Fool College Students:
A survey conducted this past summer by the Feminist Majority Foundation, publisher of Ms., found that of 398 campus health centers at four-year colleges that responded to a questionnaire, 48 percent routinely refer women who think they might be pregnant to CPCs. Although 81 percent also refer women to full-service health clinics, some campus centers say they want to give students "all of the options," as one health-center director put it.
Nearly 50% of health centers on campuses are referring students to Crisis Pregnancy Centers - many of which are staffed with anti-choice activists. September 25th was the deadline for a comment period regarding a newly proposed "rule" that would alter our ability to access to birth control, the morning after pill, and abortion. This rule would have other results, including sending more federal funds to Crisis Pregnancy Centers.
Some background first:
From CNN:
The rule, which applies to institutions receiving government money, would require as many as 584,000 employers ranging from major hospitals to doctors' offices and nursing homes to certify in writing that they are complying with several federal laws that protect the conscience rights of health care workers. Violations could lead to a loss of government funding and legal action to recoup federal money already paid.
How do Crisis Pregnancy Centers fit in here? NARAL has the details for us.
-- This regulation could undermine good state laws that require hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape survivors and ensure that pharmacies fill women’s prescriptions for birth control.
-- The proposal could allow health-care corporations (hospitals, HMOs, and health plans) to refuse to provide services or make referrals for birth control.
-- The proposed regulation could affect Medicaid and the Title X family-planning program. For instance, staff at clinics or health-care plans that contract for Medicaid services could refuse to provide contraception.
At the moment, Title X funding does not get directed to CPCs. That funding goes to full service clinics, but under Leavitt's newly proposed rule, that funding would become available to CPCs. Ms. points out that CPCs are already getting funds through several other federally funded programs, and that Health and Human Services (HHS) is able to divert more funds to them in ways that are less than transparent to the public eye.
Under George W. Bush, the total abstinence-only pot has grown dramatically, from $97.5 million in 2000 to $214 million in 2008, and the Healthy Marriage Initiative of 2006 is funded for $150 million a year through 2010.
CPCs are getting funds from that abstinence-only pot as well as the Healthy Marriage Initiative and the Ms. article notes that lawmakers are able to earmark funds for their own state's CPCs. In addition, many state legislative bodies are choosing to fund these facilities as well - through budgeted funds and through monies collected from anti-choice "Choose Life" license plate sales.
Why worry about the Title X funding?
"Full-service clinics that receive federal Title X funding are mandated to provide non directional options counseling that [doesn't] guide a person...to terminate or carry the pregnancy,"she says, "whereas the very mission of a crisis pregnancy center is to persuade a woman with an unintended pregnancy to carry it to term."
So, nearly 50% of the women visiting health centers and using the referals to CPCs are not informed about all their available options - instead they are being persuaded (with zero regard for their personal interest) to carry pregnancies to term. As I mentioned in last week's diary, if we can prevent this funding source (Title X) and stop other federal funding sources, these facilities will have to turn elsewhere (which may bleed funds from other anti-choice efforts). There is also legislation (which is being held, of course) that can be passed to regulate these centers and prevent them from intimidating women and spreading misinformation.
Leavitt's proposed new rule required a public comment period. As I stated above, that ended on September 25th. The rule has not gone into effect at this point, and Ms. notes:
In September, 28 senators—including Barack Obama and Joe Biden—signed a letter to Leavitt opposing the rule change. Yet there is no sign of wavering from the White House, and the change is expected to be put into effect imminently.
With President-elect Barack Obama taking office in just a few short months, it would be safe for us to make two assumptions - 1) that the Bush Administration will do everything possible to put this new HHS rule into effect asap, and 2) that the Democrats will make several changes come the end of January.
Even if President Obama overturns the new HHS rule immediately, we're still left with CPCs that are getting other federal funds from abstinence only programs. And even if that federal funding disappears CPCs still have Congresspeople (in many states) who will earmark funds for them, as well as state legislators that will push to provide state funds. Our lawmakers can only do so much - in the meantime we need to do our best to get the word out on the misinformation that is provided and promoted at these centers.
Much has been written about the false advertising from CPCs (You can read the full details with links at the National Abortion Federation website). They habitually place their facilities near other full service clinics, they advertise in a way that implies they provide abortion services (among others), they intimidate women, they have a reputation and record of telling flat out lies - sometimes even lying about pregancy test results, and they also are known for refusing to provide any medical care. Teenwire has some details on what a woman might find if she goes in search of counseling and a pregnancy test:
Ideally, you'll find a licensed health care center offering confidential counseling, contraception, and abortion services — one like Robbinsdale Clinic in Minnesota, which provides these services and supports women's right "to make informed choices" regarding their reproductive lives.
But wait. Across the street is Robbinsdale Women's Center, which helps women gather the facts they need "to make an informed choice" about pregnancy.
Same organization? No. But the Robbinsdale Women's Center (RWC) would like you to believe so because it is actually a fake clinic that spews out anti-choice propaganda. According to a RC staffer, who requested that her real name be withheld, patients have arrived, gotten confused, and mistakenly entered RWC. They get checked in and left in a waiting room until they've missed their real appointment at Robbinsdale Clinic. RWC then tries to frighten the women away from the abortions they planned to have. One RWC "scare tactic," the RC staffer says, is claiming — falsely — that abortion causes infertility. They have even told women that they're earlier in their pregnancies than they really are.
Why would a CPC tell a woman she's earlier in her pregnancy than she really is? Well, if the goal is to prevent an attempt at abortion and a woman believes she is only 6 weeks when she may actually be 11 - she may wait and then find herself unable to get a legal abortion (depending on state laws). Let's remember that 48% of university health centers are referring college-aged women to CPCs.
Are you a college graduate or a current student? Is your university health center referring students to CPCs? If you don't know - you should make it your business to know. Now.
When I was in college I was in student government - and therefore on several university committees - including the Health Center Committee. When I was there, the University health center did not refer to CPCs, but I have no idea what's transpired since I left. I used an online form to inquire about it - and linked them to the Ms. article and the Teenwire.com piece. I stressed the importance of women getting medically accurate information and informed them that if they were referring women to CPCs, they were complicit in the misinformation that was being provided to these women - making them responsible for providing students with medically inaccurate and potentially false information. I asked - if it wasn't in policy already - if they could make it health center policy to refer only to full service, non CPC clinics.
I would ask everyone reading to go do the same. Call, email, fax, send a letter to your university's health center. If your university didn't have one, send one to the university nearest to you now. Inquire about their policy and inform them of the dangers of CPCs. If a woman receives false information from a CPC it could permanently alter her entire life. Let them know that THEY are responsible for referrals that they make to students. Let them know that you'll be writing a letter to the editor of the school newspaper, or the local paper (or both), to inform everyone that CPCs are dangerous. And just in case you're wondering about the potential danger:
Lopez, a member of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) on her campus, decided to check out herself whether one particular center recommended by her school was actually offering a full range of choices to young women. So she went for a pregnancy test at the center, which promises "informed pregnancy and sexual health choices" in its brochure and which, according to its website, has medically trained staff and offers medical consultation.
"Even before I found out I wasn’t pregnant, the counselor said I should abstain from sex," says Lopez. She was given a fact sheet on "post-abortion stress" and asked to fill out a form that sought nonmedical information about her family and her religious beliefs. And then, when her urine test revealed not a pregnancy but a possible urinary tract infection, the center did not offer her any medical treatment or refer her elsewhere.
An untreated urinary tract infection can be very dangerous. The center who saw this woman knew she had a UTI and they let her leave without any referral or instruction as to what to do about the UTI. What can happen if a UTI goes untreated?
Untreated UTIs can lead to acute or chronic kidney infections (pyelonephritis), which could permanently damage your kidneys. Young children and older adults are at the greatest risk of kidney damage due to UTIs because their symptoms are often overlooked or mistaken for other conditions. Women who have UTIs while pregnant may also have an increased risk of delivering low birth weight or premature infants. CNN.
A full service clinic encountering a woman with a UTI would have been able to provide her with an antibiotic and complete instructions. This CPC turned Lopez away once they realized she was not pregnant - but gave her no medical advice or treatment. If her UTI had gone untreated she could have ended up with permanent kidney damage. Apparently the people at this CPC don't care if their so-called patients get permanent kidney damage - as long as they don't consider an abortion or get an abortion - the CPCs don't care about these women at all.
BarbinMD wrote today on the front page about A Disappointed Constituency. Anti-choice activists have stated they will not compromise on ANY aspect of this issue - not even on access to birth control:
Anti-abortion leaders say they are unwilling to do this if it means abandoning their abstinence-only approach and supporting greater access to birth control for unmarried women.
"We have a totally different view from other side in how we look at sexuality," said Pavone. "That's where there's no common ground."
There is no area of compromise here. These folks don't want women to have access to birth control unless they are married. Period. That's not a difference in viewpoint on "sexuality" - that's an absurdly outdated personal opinion that these folks want to make the law of the land.
CPCs are dangerous and they are everywhere. Their goal is to stop abortion and they will clearly do everything and anything possible in order to ensure meeting that goal - including lying, intimidation, false advertising, misinforming, misleading, and letting women in need of medical treatment, leave without getting any.
In addition to contacting your university health center to see what their referral policy is, the National Abortion Federation website has some other examples of what you can do:
Individuals can fight bills or initiatives that fund CPCs by providing testimony about their danger and/or unconstitutionality. Elected officials also can be educated through letters, emails, faxes, phone calls, and visits from their constituents and other concerned citizens. It is also important to convey support for affirmative bills that are based on medically accurate information and serve to keep abortion safe, legal, and accessible.
Women who have had first-hand experience with CPCs are encouraged to report and document their encounters. One way to share a story is to participate in the National Abortion Federation's Patient Partnership. These stories of actual encounters help tell the truth about CPCs, and can be effective in educating the media and policy makers.
Residents can check their local Yellow Pages to see if CPCs in their area are involved with false or deceptive advertising, such as listing themselves under abortion services or abortion. In the event that that they are using such tactics, the Yellow Pages, the Better Business Bureau, and other local organizations supporting the CPCs should be contacted and a change in listing should be requested.
Individuals can also take part in public education campaigns about CPCs. This work could include submitting opinion pieces or letters to the editor, making informative posters, distributing brochures, coordinating discussion sessions, or hosting a forum on CPCs. If you are interested in finding out more about any of these activities, please contact NAF at 202-667-5881 or via email at naf@prochoice.org.
Please help spread the word about Crisis Pregnancy Centers. These facilities put women at serious risk for health problems. At the very least we should be ensuring that no university health center refers women to these facilities - let them know they are risking their student's health and potentially their lives by referring them to these facilities. Look in your phonebook. Tell your daughters, sisters, cousins, and friends about these centers. We have to protect one another.