Crisis pregnancy centers spread misinformation about abortion and birth control in an effort to dissuade women from exploring those options. The Baltimore City Council wants to change that.

Imagine a

friend of yours, a pregnant woman, walks into an office seeking information

about her pregnancy. Only, it’s not a doctor’s office and they’re not going to

tell her the truth. Unfortunately,

this happens every day across the United States.

Everyone can

agree that women seeking information about pregnancy, birth control, abortion,

or sexually transmitted diseases should receive timely and accurate

information, not false political propaganda. But there are facilities out there that spread

misinformation about abortion and birth control in an effort to dissuade women

from exploring those options. These are known as limited service

pregnancy centers or crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs).

In Baltimore

and around the country, many facilities have neutral sounding names like

“Center for Pregnancy Concerns.” Sounds like a place you could get

information or services for your pregnancy concerns, right? Wrong.

Volunteers who visited these centers were told falsehoods like abortion

increases your risk of breast cancer, that natural family planning is as

effective as the pill, and that condoms do not protect against sexually

transmitted diseases (STDs). CPCs

are concerned alright, but not about what’s in the best interest of women’s

health. They’re concerned with preventing

women from exploring their full range of options to protect against unplanned

pregnancy and STDs.

CPCs do not

always disclose information about the limitations of services or their

anti-choice agendas in their advertising, particularly their beliefs about

birth control. Low-cost birth control has been proven to be the most

effective way to decrease the need for abortion, yet CPCs give false

information about the safety and effectiveness of contraceptives. Moreover, not a single CPC in Baltimore

City contacted by NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland Fund volunteers would provide a

referral for comprehensive birth control.

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That’s why

this week Baltimore City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake introduced

the Limited-Service Pregnancy Centers Disclaimer Bill. Co-sponsored by ten other council

members, this bill is a common sense measure that

will ensure that women visiting a Baltimore CPC are informed that they will not

receive comprehensive birth control or abortion services or referrals.

The measure does not ask CPCs to provide services they find objectionable.

It only asks them to be honest and straightforward with the women, so that they

know up front whether the facility will suit their needs. Having a more

complete picture about the services that are and are not offered will also help

provide a context for information they do receive. The goal of this

bill is to empower women to make decisions about their care, and decide if a

so-called “Center for Pregnancy Concern” is, well, concerned about the same

things as they are.

This bill is

an exciting step in Maryland.

Although Maryland introduced a statewide bill to regulate CPCs in 2008,

the bill, like all pro-choice bills in the last eleven years in our state, did

not move forward. But localities

around the country have been enacting laws and policies to strengthen the

reproductive rights of women. For

example, Pittsburgh enacted a buffer zone protecting patients entering

reproductive health care facilities.

And Madison, Wisconsin created an ordinance requiring pharmacies to let

customers know when emergency contraception is not available.

NARAL

Pro-Choice Maryland and Planned Parenthood of Maryland are committed to

ensuring that every woman has the best medical care possible – from birth

control to prenatal vitamins, from pre-conception care to labor and

delivery. We have no objection to a center that offers women who have

decided to carry their pregnancies to term any help they like. But lines

are crossed when a CPC is not up front about their services, or when a center misleads

women.

The Limited

Service Pregnancy Centers Disclaimers Bill simply asks that Baltimore CPCs

disclose what is true – that they do not provide or refer for comprehensive

birth control services or abortion so that women know up front whether the

facility suits their needs. We believe this bill to be a common

sense approach to a goal we all share – getting women the care they need.