The rather crudely-named “Lady Parts Justice League” recently launched a new attack in the abortion wars, actively recruiting pro-abortion activists to go undercover into pregnancy care centers to look for material that will undermine those facilities.
They think it will be fun. Calling themselves “a coven of hilarious bada** feminists who use humor and pop culture to expose the haters fighting against reproductive rights,” LPJL is calling the campaign “ExposeFakeClinics.com.”
Here is the LPJL’s idea of “haters” who need to be sabotaged: pregnancy care centers that provide practical assistance to women in need—including free pregnancy tests and, in some cases, ultrasounds. The staff at these clinics offer their services free of charge, do not perform abortions, and—unlike, say, Planned Parenthood—receive little or no taxpayer support.
Targeting Centers That Actually Help Women
Because pregnancy centers don’t hold to LPJL’s pro-abortion views (it has compared pregnancy to a tooth cavity), it has condemned the centers as “fake clinics,” and has even taken the time to make maps showing their locations.
Trouble is, the map LPJL has tweeted out and used in a video doesn’t actually show pregnancy centers. It shows instead the locations of federally qualified health centers, a completely different group of entities whose staff provide even more comprehensive medical resources than the pregnancy centers. A review of the map will show that these federally qualified health centers—which outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities 20 to one—are easily accessible for rural and remote communities rarely serviced by Planned Parenthood.
For a group that supposedly advocates for women’s health, LPJL seems unconcerned with providing actual health services and shows a remarkable disregard for the facts. But perhaps that’s to be expected from a group that all but worships Planned Parenthood—itself a long-established master at misleading those who look to it for help.
Which Clinic Offers A Real Plan For Parenthood?
In truth, taxpayer-funded Planned Parenthood has little interest in either planning or parenthood. The only “plan” their counselors seem to offer to the tens of thousands of expectant mothers who come into their facilities each year is a plan to avoid—or terminate—pregnancy. Planned Parenthood’s annual report reveals that a pregnant woman going into a Planned Parenthood facility has a significant chance of obtaining an abortion, with 95.8 percent of its pregnancy-related services being abortion. Adoption referrals only make up one percent of its pregnancy services. Abortions, after all, bring in hundreds of millions of dollars for the company; healthy births aren’t anywhere near as good for the bottom line.
All of which is fine by LPJL, whose “feminists” consider it “predatory” to provide information that will help a woman keep her child alive. That’s out of touch with reality. No matter your views, abortion is a serious decision that carries with it unique emotional and physical significance. As Hillary Clinton said, “We can all recognize that abortion in many ways represents a sad, even tragic choice to many, many women.”
If abortion is just another medical procedure (like a cavity, as LPJL has said), pro-abortion advocates need to explain the presence and suggestion of an “abortion doula” during the abortion procedure. Planned Parenthood’s own website suggests getting an abortion doula to “provide unconditional love and support to patients… holding a hand during the procedure….” I can’t remember the last time I was offered a doula at the dentist. Abortion is serious and ought to be spoken of seriously.
That’s the serious attitude provided by the pregnancy care centers, who meet pregnant women where they are: confused, vulnerable, frustrated, and eager to find a way to deal with the hard realities of their situation. Pregnancy center staffers help these women gain a clear view on their health, on the medical and financial resources available to them, and on reasonable alternatives to abortion, like adoption.
‘This Is Planned Parenthood. We Do Abortions’
These, then, are the “fake clinics” LPJL wants so desperately to expose, while defending and promoting Planned Parenthood, whose staff, when asked what resources they offer pregnant women (ultrasounds, adoption resources, prenatal services), repeatedly reply, “We don’t offer those services.” Or, as one remarkably honest Planned Parenthood facility puts it: “This is Planned Parenthood. We do abortions.”
Perhaps, for a “coven” like LPJL, that is a plus. But for pregnant women looking for help, hope, and answers, exposure to the very real resources and support offered by pregnancy centers and federally qualified health centers is the best prospect they have for a better, happier future.
