Study maps how nonprofit religious groups set up facilities near abortion clinics
New research shows how abortion clinics are outnumbered by crisis pregnancy centers, which offer counseling and ultrasounds but not prenatal or other medical care.
When patients who have appointments at the Planned Parenthood in Carbondale, Illinois, are late, staff members often know where to find them — at the crisis pregnancy center right next door.
“We have stories all of the time of patients who are misled. They actually think they’re at a Planned Parenthood Health Center and then, not until after they’re on the table getting an ultrasound, they realize it’s not,” said Cristina Villarreal, chief external affairs officer for Planned Parenthood of Illinois.
At the Planned Parenthood in Flossmoor, Illinois, the potential confusion is built into the clinic’s scheduling.
“This happens so often that they have a standing policy that if someone comes in late because they were taken next door to the crisis pregnancy center that they will fit them in, regardless of what the schedule is,” said Mary Jane Maharry, director of communications for Planned Parenthood of Illinois. “The doctors are committed to staying late, because this happens so frequently.”
Crisis pregnancy centers are faith-based nonprofit organizations that operate with the goal of persuading pregnant women to continue their pregnancies. They often open close to abortion clinics to intercept women who may be seeking to terminate pregnancies — whether by diverting patients through “sidewalk counseling” outside abortion clinics or positioning themselves close enough to clinics that would-be patients accidentally book appointments with them instead of their intended destinations.
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