I was disappointed to see an item with the headline “Pregnant? Need help?” published in the December 4-10 edition of the River Reporter. It promoted a local crisis pregnancy center (CPC). 

CPCs are being pushed in tandem with the systematic stripping away of women’s rights by the Trump regime. Although they receive taxpayer dollars in anti-abortion states, CPCs are barely regulated. According to www.NYC.gov, they use deceptive practices to lure in vulnerable pregnant people, like providing false information about abortion, misleading people about how many weeks they have been pregnant, and claiming to offer free counseling, pregnancy tests and ultrasounds.

Let’s be straight about the “help” being offered here. Author Jessica Valenti reported, “Research has shown for years that these centers routinely lie to women about their health and pregnancies, and accountability organizations report that CPCs falsely tell women their private medical information is HIPAA-protected. (They’re not real medical clinics, so the federal privacy law doesn’t apply.)” 

The pregnancy centers might give away diapers (perhaps in exchange for attending Bible study), but they don’t solve the pregnant person’s crisis, if the crisis involves not being willing or able to give birth. The agenda of these organizations is to prevent abortions. 

Pregnancy can be dangerous or fatal without the right medical care. As a direct result of abortion being outlawed in 13 states and severely restricted in six other states, pregnant women are literally dying because they can’t get the health care they need. As of August 2024, more than 100 pregnant women in medical distress had been turned away from ERs or negligently treated since 2022, according to the Associated Press. 

As just one recent example, look up the preventable death of 37-year-old Texas mother Tierra Walker, who died of preeclampsia. She had asked about abortion multiple times and was put off by doctors who were afraid of prosecution. She didn’t take abortion pills because she was afraid she would be put in jail. In her state, maternal deaths have risen 56 percent since the state banned abortion. How is this in any way “pro-life”? 

Abortion saves lives, any reason is valid and it is still legal in the states this paper serves. I recommend AbortionEveryDay.com as an outstanding resource for pregnant people who want all the facts about their options and their rights, and for anyone who wants to stay abreast of the current regime’s ongoing attacks on bodily autonomy and women’s health in the United States.

Colleen Kane
Yulan, NY