As though crisis pregnancy centers weren't doing enough to spread misinformation, they're now tackling inner cities, and particularly poor black neighborhoods with swelling abortion rates, the Associated Press reports. These institutions are infiltrating youth centers that aim to protect teens from the rampant threats of crime and drug abuse. These disadvantaged teens apparently deserve to be steered clear of things like doing or dealing drugs, but do not deserve accurate information about abortion, the realities of pregnancy or safe sex.
Care Net and Heartbeat International, the largest of these parasitic organizations, are crusading to expand the reach of the 2,300 crisis pregnancy centers nationwide by aligning themselves with existing youth centers; the hope is to target the women mostly likely to get abortions. (According to the AP, "90 percent of women who get abortions live in urban areas, and the majority are poor.") These are truly, truly earnest parasites: "We've got to save these kids," says Steve Fitzhugh, co-founder of the House DC, a teen center partnered with a crisis pregnancy center. (By "kids," one must assume he means the fetus, not the kid who's unexpectedly pregnant.)
But, says Fitzhugh, he and his colleagues just march to a different drumbeat! "Others say, 'Let's pass out the condoms'; we're not on the page, and that's not always a popular stance," he said. Nor do they care to provide birth control, let alone honest information about it; ditto for honest discussions about how an unplanned pregnancy might increase the appeal of the behavior -- drug dealing, or drug abuse, for instance -- these centers supposedly rail against.
I challenge you to try to read Planned Parenthood's Jatrice Martel Gaiter's response to this trend without applauding out loud: "These predatory fanatics don't lift a finger to help the children who are born unwanted and unplanned. In these centers of deception, they leave young parents at best with a box of Pampers and a prayer. They leave people even more vulnerable than when they walked through the door, without any information about how to avoid a future unintended pregnancy."
This is tied to the same, tired argument that has left pro-choicers so damn exhausted. Ninety percent of abortions are performed on women in urban areas, most of whom are poor! If abortion is the enemy, then why not curb poverty, improve governmental support for poor and single mothers, and provide accurate sex education to prevent unwanted pregnancies? If that isn't a glowing common ground, I don't know what is.
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