By Dave Andrusko
With some exceptions Pregnancy Resource Centers—also known as Crisis Pregnancy Centers—are dramatically underfunded. That’s why when a story rolls by that a legislature has chosen to assist them, it’s always exciting news.
Michaela Ramm writes for the Des Moines Register. Her latest story is headlined “What are crisis pregnancy centers? And why is Iowa trying to fund them? What to know:”.
The heart of her article is this:
Even before the first dollar has been sent out to pregnancy resource centers, Iowa lawmakers are considering expanding a program to fund the anti-abortion nonprofits across the state.
A proposal before the Iowa Legislature would fund another $1.5 million for the “More Options for Maternal Support” or MOMS program. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services would contract with pregnancy resource centers or facilities that counsel women to choose alternatives to abortion.
Further on in the story Ramm offers an answer to the question “What do opponents dislike about crisis pregnancy centers?” But, to her credit, she first offers a description what these centers do:
Crisis pregnancy centers, also known as pregnancy resource centers, are usually religiously affiliated organizations that encourage women to keep their pregnancies or consider adoption. They typically offer free ultrasounds, counseling and physical items, such as diapers, baby clothes, car seats and cribs, without cost.
According to Iowa Right to Life, there are about 55 centers across the state.
According to Ramm, Sen. Chris Cournoyer, R-LeClaire, said the MOMS program “is part of Republican lawmakers’ priority to create wraparound support for women with unintended pregnancies.” The program is “supporting women that do find themselves in a crisis pregnancy so that they don’t believe that abortion is the only option for them, because it truly is not,” she said.
But, according to Ramm, “abortion-rights supporters and some top medical groups have denounced the facilities.”
According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, it’s a common tactic for centers to use emotional manipulation, including performing ultrasounds, to “shame pregnant people under the guise of informing.”
Others say the centers mislead pregnant women by giving them false information to deter them from considering an abortion.
So if a pregnancy help center performs an ultrasound it can only be because these largely volunteer-run organizations want to “shame pregnant people under the guise of informing,” cads that they are, right? What hooey. They are giving these women something the Planned Parenthoods of this world would never do: the chance to make an informed decision.
As for “false information,” this is code for anything that truthfully tells women there can be complications—physical, emotional, and psychological—to abortion. The best contemporary example of this is the pro-abortionists insistence that “medical abortions” (the “abortion pill”) is “safer than Tylenol.” That blatantly false assertion is debunked here (https://www.liveaction.org/news/fact-check-abortion-pill-safer-tylenol-viagra].
Remember that the Des Moines Register is about as pro-abortion a newspaper as you can find. However Ramm’s story pretty much plays it down the middle.