What is a CPC?

Have you ever noticed one of those billboards

on the side of the highway which reads

"Pregnant and Scared? Know Your Options!"?

 

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What you saw during your drive was an advertisement for a crisis pregnancy center (CPC), also commonly known as pregnancy care centers or pregnancy resource centers.

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Reproductive Transparency Now (RTN) has some strong, evidence-based opinions about these centers, and we will dive much deeper into those discussions. In the meantime, RTN believes that the most important first step you can take is to get educated about CPCs and their role in hindering access to safe and legal abortion for pregnant people.

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Consider subscribing to the RTN email list to stay up-to-date on the latest developments, and read up on some of the current published literature about CPCs provided below.

Protest signs displayed in front of a bright pink background. The sign in the middle reads "CPCs = Fraud" and the two outer signs read "Fake Clinic".
Articles & Publications

"Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers Are Collecting Troves of Data That Could Be Weaponized Against Women"

by Abigail Abrams and Vera Bergengruen

published in TIME, 22 June 2022

"People in abortion deserts will be at extra risk of anti-abortion center manipulation if Roe falls"

by Alexandra Martinez

published in Prism, 13 June 2022

"Pregnant? Need Help? They Have an Agenda."

by Carly Thomsen, Carrie N. Baker, and Zach Levitt

published in The New York Times (Opinion), 12 May 2022

“Millions in tax dollars flow to anti-abortion centers in US”

by Kimberlee Kruesi, Associated Press

published on ABC News Network, 05 February 2022

“Why Crisis Pregnancy Centers Are Legal but Unethical”

by Amy G. Bryant, MD, MSCR and Jonas J. Swartz, MD, MPH

published in the AMA Journal of Ethics, Policy Forum, March 2018

“The Public Health Risks of Crisis Pregnancy Centers”

by Joanne D. Rosen

published in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, September 2012

“Designed to Deceive: A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center Industry in Nine States”

by The Alliance: State Advocates for Women's Rights and Gender Equality

published online, October 2021

“Crisis pregnancy centers' ultrasounds are free. But are they accurate?”

by Jennifer Gerson

published in The 19th, 29 October 2021

“Crisis Pregnancy Centers Seek To Increase Political Clout, Secure Government Subsidy”

by Vitoria Lin & Cynthia Dailard

published in The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, May 2002

 
Books

The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having--or Being Denied--an Abortion.

by Diana Greene Foster, PhD

published 2020. Available on Amazon.

 
 
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