I grew up in the crazy-liberal town of Ann Arbor, Michigan and got my undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan. So it’s fair to say that I know the city pretty well, and I thought I knew what I’d see when I went back to visit my parents last week. And sure enough, there were the usual assortment of indie stores and cafes and university buildings … but there was also a crisis pregnancy clinic smack in the middle of downtown, two blocks from the center of campus.

When I spotted the purple-and-white signboard for ArborWoman resting on the sidewalk, its graceful script advertising free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, I turned to my mother. “I will bet you money that’s a CPC,” I said, committing the center’s website to memory so I could look up its website when we got home. And sure enough, once I clicked onto the clinic’s web page about “post-abortion syndrome,” my suspicions were confirmed.

CPC supporters defend their clinics by claiming that they are just providing assistance and options for pregnant women. Yet it is undeniable that crisis pregnancy clinics spread misinformation to people that, quite reasonably, come in expecting help. There is no scientific evidence that abortion causes mental health problems, for instance, yet ArborWoman lists “suicidal thoughts” and “suicide attempts,” along with a host of other mental health issues, as symptoms that women may experience after an abortion. Legislators are starting to pay attention to CPCs’ deceptive practices: Austin and Baltimore have passed laws requiring the CPCs disclose what services they actually provide; New York and San Francisco are considering similar regulations. [Read more...]