Regarding the conversation we've been having here about crisis pregnancy centers, I spoke with Kristin Hansen, an old friend who is vice president of communications at Care Net. She knows of no CPCs that actually claim to perform abortions.

She also wrote in a follow-up e-mail,

Many of the horror stories about pregnancy centers are urban legends. Their exit surveys overwhelmingly show that pregnancy center clients are treated with respect and compassion and are satisfied with the level of service received.

If a center is employing a "whatever it takes" approach to justify preventing abortions, it is operating outside of industry standards, as documented in the "Commitment of Care" endorsed by the three largest umbrella organizations -- Care Net, Heartbeat International, and the National Institute of Family Life Advocates (NIFLA).

Care Net, for instance, requires its affiliates to abide by this "Statement of Principle": "The pregnancy center is committed to integrity in dealing with clients, earning their trust, and providing promised information and services. The pregnancy center denounces any form of deception in its corporate advertising or individual conversations with clients." 

Unfortunately, Kristin added, reporters with an agenda tend to treat any clinic that operates outside industry standards as if it were representative of the 2,300 pregnancy centers in the nation (not 3,400, as the GOOD Magazine article claimed). This could not be further from the truth.

Comments

[Rachel Coleman]

Thanks, Gina, for taking time to follow up on this.