Healthcare Prof:
Some antiabortion groups in recent years have opened pregnancy counseling centers in or near facilities that supply abortions and are offering “medical services,” including sonograms, to pregnant girls who visit the centers, the Washington Post reports. According to Heartbeat International, which operates a network of pregnancy centers, the number of centers within the U.S. that oppose abortion since 1999 has elevated 30% to at least two,200, with 561 of those offering medical services. According to the Post, abortion rights advocates say about 1,800 clinics within the country offer abortion services. A July report conducted by the Democratic staff of the House Government Reform Agency finds that since 1999, the federal government has distributed about $30 million to pregnancy counseling centers that oppose abortion, along with the law firm Americans United for Life estimates that about 20 states present funding for pregnancy counseling centers that oppose abortion. In accordance with the Post, ultrasound machines are the “centerpiece” of the centers’ “medical advances.” Focus on the Household, a group that opposes abortion rights, says it has purchased ultrasound machines for about 200 pregnancy centers since 2004. Heartbeat International says some clinics also offer prenatal care and tests for sexually transmitted infections. Most advocate sexual abstinence and don’t help ladies obtain contraception, the Post reports. “We are very careful that everything we present is 100% factual,” Peggy Hartshorn, president of Heartbeat International, said. However, the National Abortion Federation, which supports abortion rights, says it has received hundreds of calls or e-mails from girls who say they received false or deceptive information right after visiting the centers, which the females said had confusing names or had been under “abortion services” within the phone book. Some abortion right supporters also say that the increasing number of centers is actually a “dangerous trend” due to the fact they “confus[e] vulnerable women” and “mi[x] a seemingly neutral clinical environment with a religious agenda,” the Post reports. Pam Palumbo — executive director of the Bowie Crofton Pregnancy Center in Bowie, Md. — stated pregnancy centers aim to locate “where ladies will be searching for abortions” similar to how “McDonald’s and Starbucks look for competitors to be next to” (Chandler, Washington Post, 9/9).
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