Claim: PRCs Do Not Provide Comprehensive Health Care

TRUTH: Pregnancy Centers provide numerous services for pregnant women that may include any or all of the following:

• Lab-quality pregnancy testing
• Ultrasound exam 
• STI testing and treatment
• Consultation with a licensed medical profession
• Information on all pregnancy options by qualified advocates
• Referrals for housing assistance, insurance, WIC, food assistance
• Material resources for families including clothing, diapers, formula, layette items, gift cards

PRCs do not provide abortion services. Although abortion purveyors claim to provide comprehensive reproductive health care, Planned Parenthood’s 2020-2021 annual report suggests otherwise. In it, the Commonwealth’s leading abortion business boasts that abortions make up 96.6% of its pregnancy services. Since that leaves just 3.4% for all other pregnancy related services, how comprehensive could they be? 

Claim: PRCs pretend to offer abortion services but really harass pregnant women seeking abortions.

TRUTH: PRC clients receive medically accurate information about pregnancy, fetal development, pregnancy options, sexually transmitted infections, miscarriage, and ectopic pregnancy. Every woman’s choice to continue a pregnancy is voluntary and exercised based on her own free will. A client satisfaction rating over 95% affirms that PRC clients approve of the services they receive.

Claim: PRCs are not licensed and do not employ healthcare professionals. Ultrasounds are not done by licensed personnel which may result in inaccurate or misleading results.

TRUTH: PRCs offering medical services operate under the authority of a Massachusetts licensed physician. An ultrasound is a medical diagnostic examination that must be performed by trained and licensed professionals. The staff of PRCs that provide ultrasounds include registered nurses or nurse practitioners, who are trained and certified in obstetrical ultrasound or are licensed RDMS. Only these medical professionals perform ultrasound exams. 

Claim: PRCS mislead women about how far they are into their pregnancy.

TRUTH: There are a variety of tools to determine the stage of a woman’s pregnancy. Dating pregnancy from the first day of a women’s LMP (last menstrual period) is one method to estimate gestational age. However, an ultrasound provides a far more accurate means of dating pregnancy and is the method that PRCs employ. When an ultrasound is not used, women seeking an abortion incur an increased risk of an incorrect estimate of gestational age and the potential serious risk of an undetected ectopic pregnancy, which LMP alone cannot reveal. 

Claim: PRCs do not keep medical records private.

TRUTH: Centers adhere to HIPPA regulations and disclose client information only as required by law or when necessary to protect the client or others from imminent harm.

Claim: PRCs use tactics to pressure women into continuing a pregnancy like free clothes or a plastic fetus.

TRUTH: Pregnancy centers help women who are pregnant and/or who may be in vulnerable situations. They equip these women with the resources and support they need to successfully parent or release a baby for adoption. Annually, these centers distribute thousands of dollars in free clothing, food, gift cards, and other material resources. Women accept these provisions, not in duress, but willingly with appreciation and words of thanks. Their gratitude also finds expression in PRCs’ 95% satisfaction rating from their clients.

Claim: Abortion is healthcare and healthcare is a human right.

TRUTH: On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – a case challenging Mississippi's ban on abortion at 15-weeks of pregnancy. The ruling overturned Roe v. Wade and determined that a right to abortion does not exist in the United States Constitution. “Healthcare” is defined as “efforts made to maintain or restore health [especially] by trained and licensed professionals”. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. Abortion prematurely ends the life of an unborn child in the womb. Abortion is not “healthcare.”