California Becomes The First State To Crack Down On Misleading 'Crisis Pregnancy Centers' | ThinkProgress

From the heavily-edited videos that made Planned Parenthood staff look like insensitive fetal tissue profiteers to presidential candidate Carly Fiorina’s erroneous ad campaign, the past months have unveiled the general misinformation and coercion behind many anti-abortion groups. Now, one state has taken the leap to combat these types of harmful anti-abortion propaganda at the source: inside anti-abortion organizations disguised as health clinics. But not without a fight.

On Friday, California became the first state to pass a law regulating the nearly 170 anti-abortion clinics in the state. Barely 48 hours later, two clinics had already sued California Attorney General Kamala Harris, deeming the new law unconstitutional.

The law, called the called the Reproductive FACT Act, requires clinics commonly referred to as “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” (CPCs) to inform their patients about how they can obtain affordable birth control, abortion, and prenatal care. If the CPC does not have a medical license, staff must inform each patient that their their clinic is not licensed to provide health care.
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However, the lawsuit claims this act “unconstitutionally compels [the clinics] to speak messages that they have not chosen, with which they do not agree, and that distract, and detract from, the messages they have chosen to speak,” therefore undermining their free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

This constitutional argument has been the key to shutting down similar laws in the past. Cities like Austin, Baltimore, and New York City have all been sued for violating clinics’ freedom of speech and religion with laws regulating CPCs. In each case, the laws were overturned. Supporters of the Reproductive FACT Act, which is the first law passed at the state level, hope it won’t see the same fate.

[See: You Won’t Believe What New York Tried To Make Crisis Pregnancy Centers Post For Women! Look How Judges Responded...]

In the process of crafting the bill, state and advocacy groups like NARAL tried to ensure they wouldn’t fall into the same legal trap as the cities before them. They expected a lawsuit. In the past, Everitt said, courts have upheld that that the state has authority to regulate speech done in the course of a profession, like in providing medical services — which could negate the free speech argument.

California Becomes The First State To Crack Down On Misleading 'Crisis Pregnancy Centers' | ThinkProgress

See also:: California Law Prohibits Phony Pregnancy Centers From Lying And Evangelicals Are Furious

What the CPC system is so terrified of with California’s new “truth in advertising,” or prohibition against “false advertising,” law is that the entire crisis pregnancy center system is founded on the principle that it is necessary and acceptable to lie to women to trick and frighten them into giving birth and in many cases getting pregnant. It is just a typical and standard anti-choice procedure closely related to the Mormon concept of “lying for the lord” which is all well and good to garner more tithing adherents, but it is unacceptable for deceiving women with “medical advice” borne of religious mendacity to make them birthing machines.
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However, the evangelicals at CPCs actually know for a fact, and believe, that not only is “abortion incredibly safe,” it is actually 14 times safer than giving birth. CPCs claim that “abortion is bad and has many adverse side effects. Abortion is associated with preterm birth, emotion (sic) and psychological impact, and spiritual consequences.” As the pro-choice organization NARAL reported in a study of California CPCs, lying is the norm and most important tool that CPCs use to pressure and frighten women into giving birth no matter the consequences to the woman. Lying for religion is what CPCs regard as sound, fact-based medical advice, and now the organization is very, very angry that California passed a law forcing them to be truthful.

If the GOP Defunded Planned Parenthood, This is How Americans Would Suffer

Some sobering statistics to consider from Lauren Nelson:

• The distribution of various methods of birth control to more than 2.13 million women and the distribution of 1.59 million emergency contraception kits… you know, the things that prevent the need for abortion
• The performance of more than 4,500 vasectomies and female sterilizations… again, preventing unwanted pregnancies
• The completion of no less than 1.14 million pregnancy tests and delivery of prenatal services to over 19,000 expectant mothers
• Around 3.7 million STI tests and 700,000 HIV tests, along with treatment for more than 43,000 patients testing positive
• Over 490,000 pap smears, 38,000 HPV vaccinations, and 39,000 procedures to remove abnormal and potentially cancerous tissue from the cervix
• Upwards of 500,000 breast exams, a crucial element in catching and treating breast cancer
• The staffing and resources of more than 700 health care centers across the nation, serving over 2.7 million patients, 80% of whom are living more than 150% below the poverty line

If the GOP Defunded Planned Parenthood, This is How Americans Would Suffer

Anti-abortion conference speaker: The ‘real war on women’ is birth control from the ‘pit of hell’

"I have the privilege on a daily basis — being the director of a pregnancy medical center — to see the wreckage of humanity that walks in my door, because they have bit the apple, they have believed the lie that this government, that all of the politics, that even some churches tell them,” she explained. “That it’s okay to go use contraception, it’s okay to use abortion as a backup birth control.”

Pinto said that one of her clients took two morning after pills in one week, and then went to an abortion clinic to make sure she wasn’t pregnant.

“This is the war on women!” she exclaimed. “We are telling them — and it’s available! And so they can go to the pharmacy and get it! This is the war on women!”

“There is a war on women, but we’re not waging it,” Pinto added. “It’s coming from the pit of hell, like it did in the book of Genesis, when he told the women — when she bit the apple, he said, ‘You will not die.’”

“It’s the same lie. It’s the same war. And it’s not just on women, it’s on humanity. It’s on every aborted baby girl and baby boy. And every woman, and every man that has impregnated her.”

"I have the daily privilege to lie - being the director of a fake Crisis Pregnancy Center, Her Choice Birmingham Women’s Center - and destroy women's lives because we offer no legitimate services whatsoever. Mostly we just tell women that, "yup you be prego, deal with it."

That's how her spiel should have been presented. And that bit about the little lady eatin of an "apple," Ya might want to re-check your mythologies. It was Eris who used an apple to sow discord among the gods; contribution to the Trojan War. But Persephone actually ate a "forbidden fruit" when Hades tricked into eating pomegranate seeds. Is that the "pit of hell" you are referring to?

What is so annoying, besides the fact that she is a close runner-up to Palin in the word-salad department, if you're going to "rule" by the Bile you may want to read it first. The insertion of "the apple" into the Adam & Eve narrative was done by Milton in his epic poem "Paradise Lost." There is no such Biblical reference and "adding" things to scripture (a moral code, religious law) is akin to, well, sharia. You know that part of Islam that many of "your kind" accuse President Obama of trying to implement.

Anti-abortion conference speaker: The ‘real war on women’ is birth control from the ‘pit of hell’

How the Right Wing is Killing Women | Common Dreams

Researchers aren’t sure what’s happening but they’re almost unanimous in pointing to a lack of access to health care, coupled with rising levels of poverty.

Some American women are dying during pregnancy and childbirth from health problems they had before they became pregnant but worsened because of the pregnancies — such as diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease.

The real problem, in other words, was they didn’t get adequate health care before they became pregnant.

Other women are dying because they didn’t have the means to prevent a pregnancy they shouldn’t have had, or they didn’t get the prenatal care they needed during their pregnancies. In other words, a different sort of inadequate health care.

One clue: African-American mothers are more than three times as likely to die as a result of pregnancy and childbirth than their white counterparts.

The data tell the story: A study by the Roosevelt Institute shows that U.S. states with high poverty rates have maternal death rates 77 percent higher than states with lower levels of poverty. Women with no health insurance are four times more likely to die during pregnancy or in childbirth than women who are insured.

How the Right Wing is Killing Women | Common Dreams

Louisiana Changes Bizarre New Abortion Rules After People Notice Them

This line sums it up quite well, "Pittman said she is confident that no doctors or medical experts were present when the new abortion rules were drafted." Reminds me of the recent memes floating about Facebook showing various legislative meetings concerning women's health issue, problem being, no women were included in those meetings.

Or consider this gem of a clip from Rachel Maddow, showing Ohio State Representative, Jim Buchy being interviewed for an Al Jazeera documentary.  He advocates extreme anti-abortion legislation for his state, but admits he has  never considered the matter from a woman's perspective.


My point being, we have "unqualified" individuals making decisions and policy for 50% of the population and they are clueless as to what they are doing.
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The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals said Monday night that it plans to rescind a proposal to instate a 30-day waiting period for women seeking abortions, following media reports that the waiting period and other proposed regulations could shut down all five abortion clinics in the state.

DHH is considering an "emergency" set of rules for abortion clinics, which currently includes new building standards and an unprecedented requirement that a woman take certain blood tests at least 30 days before she can have an abortion. This last requirement would force women seeking abortions to have the procedure later into their pregnancies, making it riskier and more costly, and could make it impossible for some women to obtain a legal abortion before Louisiana's 20-week gestational limit.

Moreover, the blood tests indicated by the new rules, which check a patient's hematocrit and hemoglobin levels before a surgery, are normally performed the day of an abortion procedure because they need to be as current as possible, women's health care providers said.


Louisiana Changes Bizarre New Abortion Rules After People Notice Them

See also:

Louisiana Rules Would Have Required 30-Day Waiting Period Before Legal Abortion (UPDATED)

You Won’t Believe What New York Tried To Make Crisis Pregnancy Centers Post For Women! Look How Judges Responded...

Oh the hypocrisy, having to tell the truth! The fake outrage is disgusting and that the religionists are applauding this ruling shows their true colors.

Back in August 2013 I posted a piece by Caitlin Bancroft, "What I Learned Undercover at a Crisis Pregnancy Center" that described her experiences. What she learned, Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are not the same as comprehensive reproductive healthcare centers (such as Planned Parenthood) and services vary, many do NOT offer basic health screenings important for women (PAPs, Mammograms etc.). In her words:

"Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are the foot soldiers in the war against women. These anti-choice non-profits pose as women's health clinics then use lies and manipulation to dissuade pregnant women from considering their full range of reproductive options (ie: abortion and birth control)."

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A panel of three federal judges has unanimously ruled unconstitutional a provision in New York City law requiring pro-life crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) to post notices and verbally advise potential clients that they are not full service pregnancy care facilities because they do not offer abortions. The law also requires CPCs to inform clients that the city recommends women who think they may be pregnant visit a 'licensed provider.'

The ruling partly upheld a lower court decision by Judge William Pauley, who called the law "particularly offensive to free speech principles," and struck it down in its entirety.

But in a 2-1 decision, the 2nd Circuit appeals panel reinstated one provision of the law requiring CPCs to disclose whether they have a licensed medical provider on staff who performs or directly supervises all services offered at the facility.

You Won’t Believe What New York Tried To Make Crisis Pregnancy Centers Post For Women! Look How Judges Responded...

Prominent abortion researcher: We face our own harrassment - Salon.com

A different look at the issue of abortion and reproductive health,,,

For the last decade or so, Tracy Weitz has been one of the most prominent abortion researchers in the United States.

As director of the University of California at San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), part of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, she has co-authored seven studies in major journals in the past year alone, on topics ranging from how low-income women pay for abortions to why some women who want an abortion delay until it is too late.

NM: As researchers, what kind of hurdles and antagonism do you face?

TW: There’s definitely a difference between the social scientists who do the research and the MDs who actually do abortions. Abortion doctors have had assassinations, barricades and constant protesters. As researchers, our safety hasn’t really been in question.

Most of the harassment comes at the level of trying to discount our academic reputation — suggesting that anyone who does abortion-related research who believes that abortion should be legal shouldn’t be trusted. That somehow our science is tainted, that we haven’t used good methods. That’s why we have a strong interest in being published in the peer-reviewed literature. We think that the science should be open to scrutiny. It should be put through the same kind of rigor that other clinical or social research is.

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NM: What has been your most eye-opening finding?

TW: The study has really exposed how hard it is to be a parent in this country. It is a huge economic investment. And if you don’t have the economic resources to be a parent, there’s nothing to help you.

Data from the study is also helping to answer other questions for which we have no good research until now — for example, how women feel about mandatory ultrasounds before an abortion and what factors contribute to some women feeling regret afterwards.

Prominent abortion researcher: We face our own harrassment - Salon.com

Women In Michigan Will Now Have To Decide If They Might Be Raped When Buying Health Insurance | The New Civil Rights Movement

Is it just me or did this little tidbit get swept under the rug,,,

Republicans in the Michigan House and Senate just passed a bill that will force women to decide whether or not they think they might be raped when buying health insurance. The so-called “rape insurance” legislation prohibits all public and most private insurance plans from paying for any abortions, unless the woman has previously and specifically before becoming pregnant bought additional coverage, known as a “rider.”

The law becomes effective 90 days after the legislative session ends, and was crafted as a “citizens initiative” to not require the governor’s signature, after he vetoed similar legislation last year. “I don’t believe it is appropriate to tell a woman who becomes pregnant due to a rape that she needed to select elective insurance coverage, and, as a practical matter, I believe this type of policy is an overreach of government into the private market,” conservative Republican governor Rick Snyder had said last year upon announcing his veto.

Women In Michigan Will Now Have To Decide If They Might Be Raped When Buying Health Insurance | The New Civil Rights Movement

What I Learned Undercover at a Crisis Pregnancy Center | Caitlin Bancroft

Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are not the same as comprehensive reproductive healthcare centers (such as Planned Parenthood) and services vary, many do NOT offer basic health screenings important for women (PAPs, Mammograms etc.),,,

I wasn't considering abortion. I wasn't considering adoption, or parenting, or childcare. I wasn't even pregnant, and I definitely wasn't scared -- at least not at first.

When I volunteered to visit multiple crisis pregnancy centers in Virginia, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into. Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are the foot soldiers in the war against women. These anti-choice non-profits pose as women's health clinics then use lies and manipulation to dissuade pregnant women from considering their full range of reproductive options (ie: abortion and birth control).

CPCs use a variety of tactics to lure women into their buildings: they offer free pregnancy testing, are known to list themselves under "abortion" in online directories and search results, and may use misleading names with the hope that women will confuse them for legitimate healthcare providers. Once inside, women are treated to a carefully crafted program of manipulation designed to dissuade them from choosing abortion, birth control, and if they're not married - sex.

In Virginia, there are over 58 CPCs, more than double the number of comprehensive reproductive healthcare centers in the state. Still, most people are unaware that CPCs exist -- let alone understand the harm they cause. But I knew exactly what I was up against when I walked into "AAA Women for Choice" in Manassas, Virginia.



What I Learned Undercover at a Crisis Pregnancy Center | Caitlin Bancroft

GOP Rep: Rape exception not necessary because rape kits will 'clean her out' | God Discussion

I hope that after this statement she is no longer on the public health committee, as it is clearly evident that she has no clue; uniformed and uneducated in the basics of public health issues,,,

It is not some sort of anti-pregnancy clean-out kit, cannot unimpregnate a woman, and consists of absolutely nothing even remotely connected to the termination of a pregnancy.

If Laubenberg had bothered to familiarize herself with this, which she could have done by simply typing the words 'rape kit' into any Internet search engine, she would have not said,

“If a woman is raped… We have hospital emergency rooms. We have funded what’s called rape kits that will help the woman, basically clean her out. And then hopefully that will alleviate that.”

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She was questioned about her comments, and asked to clarify her belief that a woman can obtain an abortion at an emergency room via the use of a rape kit.

Laubenberg went on t0 clarify herself by stating her understanding that a rape kit is like a D&C, which is one of the methods of terminating a pregnancy, thereby equating a rape kit as being a method of abortion. There is a video at the end of the article of the exchange.

What's even more alarming is that Laubenberg sits on the Texas House Public Health Committee, and is the Chair of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

GOP Rep: Rape exception not necessary because rape kits will 'clean her out' | God Discussion

Evidence Shows That Illegal Female Genital Cutting Is a Growing Phenomenon in US | Alternet

Female genital cutting (FGC), also known as female genital mutilation (FGM) and female circumcision, is an increasing international concern to human rights activists and feminists across the globe. An estimated 140 million girls have been subjected to the practice worldwide and it is still prevalent in at least 28 countries according to the World Health Organization Progress Report in 2011.

In Western culture, mere mention of FGM sends feminist activists up in arms, generating intense negative feelings and evoking discussion about sexism, brutality and gender-based violence. However, while FGM is mostly practiced in African and Middle Eastern countries and classified as an “off-shore problem,” many Americans are unaware of the cultural complexities embedded in the custom and the fact that it is happening right under our noses.

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It's difficult to estimate exactly how many girls have been exposed to the practice in the United States. The procedure is heavily under-reported and shrouded in secrecy by communities and family members who are aware of the legal ramifications of revealing that they have committed FGC. According to De Palma, anecdotal evidence suggests that the figures of those at risk of FGM in the United States are a lot higher than initially indicated.

[,,,]
Human rights activists and feminists view such examples of FGC as mutilation, a barbaric practice that violates women’s fundamental human rights—a position that is backed by international treaties, medical documentation and United Nations resolution. However, at the other end of the spectrum are hundreds of thousands of women who see such objections to FGC as ethnocentric and racist and wish to honor the custom, which has been passed down through generations.

In many cultures, it is inconceivable to think that a woman has not undergone some sort of cutting, with many women not considered “fully female” and ostracized by their communities for failing to undergo the procedure. The practice is said to pre-date religion and is linked to femininity, honor, social status and marriageability.

Cultural relativism plays an important role, as those who disagree with the ideology that FGC constitutes a human rights violation advocate for the right to cultural self-determination. While cultural relativism has shifted over time as human rights arguments gain momentum, there are a number of groups that view the international response as one-sided and ignorant of the culture complexities that underlie the practice.

[,,,]
“My experience is rare," she told AlterNet. "My parents were African immigrants and interested in preserving our culture and traditions whilst providing me with an education in the United States. When I returned to Sierra Leone, I was greeted by a supportive, embracing feminist society of women in my community. The practice was celebrated and girls were pampered and spoiled prior to the cutting. It was an opportunity for me to join a larger movement and I wanted to go through this experience because of the notion of empowerment.“

When asked her opinion on the consent issue, Ahmadu said, "Why do African girls have to give consent, when males circumcised at birth do not? Why are we singling out and stigmatizing African girls? I have a problem with the fact that we are treating these girls differently in a negative way. As a result, these girls are internalizing this negativity and believing that they are inadequate whereas once before, this procedure marked their sexuality and empowered them sexually. The standard of consent should be applied equally across the board and not just to Africans."

Ahmadu’s perspective rarely rears its head in human rights discussions, as we generally only hear about girls who are subjected to FGC against their wishes or who suffer irreparable harm,,,


Evidence Shows That Illegal Female Genital Cutting Is a Growing Phenomenon in US | Alternet

Thousands Of Women Forced To Find New Doctors Now That Texas Has Defunded Planned Parenthood | ThinkProgress

Why cant teapugs get it through their heads the PP is not JUST abortions,,,the thought of having to change doctors would have me running for the hills,,,

Still, agency officials say they will not turn clients away who cannot afford to pay, concerned that inconvenienced women will skip life-saving exams rather than search for new doctors.

Thousands Of Women Forced To Find New Doctors Now That Texas Has Defunded Planned Parenthood | ThinkProgress


,,,but Visiting Judge Gary Harger ruled that Texas may design a state-run Women’s Health Program that excludes qualified providers like Planned Parenthood — despite the fact that, on a federal level, states aren’t allowed to block qualified health providers from receiving Medicaid funds.

The new Women’s Health Program launches on Tuesday, and Monday’s ruling ensures that Planned Parenthood won’t be part of it. Before Texas Republicans began their crusade against Planned Parenthood, the organization provided preventative cancer screenings, contraceptive services, and family planning assistance to nearly half of the state’s 110,000 low-income women in the Medicaid program.

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Since the Hyde Amendment already prevents Medicaid programs from covering abortion services, the Planned Parenthood affiliates in Texas don’t actually perform abortions for any of their patients in the Women’s Health Program.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/12/31/1381181/texas-end-planned-parenthood/

The Hyde Amendment

After Roe v. Wade decriminalized abortion in 1973, Medicaid covered abortion care without restriction. In 1976, Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL) introduced an amendment that later passed to limit federal funding for abortion care. Effective in 1977, this provision, known as the Hyde Amendment, specifies what abortion services are covered under Medicaid.

Over the past two decades, Congress has debated the limited circumstances under which federal funding for abortion should be allowed. For a brief period of time, coverage included cases of rape, incest, life endangerment, and physical health damage to the woman. However, beginning in 1979, the physical health exception was excluded, and in 1981 rape and incest exceptions were also excluded.

In September 1993, Congress rewrote the provision to include Medicaid funding for abortions in cases where the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. The present version of the Hyde Amendment requires coverage of abortion in cases of rape, incest, and life endangerment.

http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/facts/public_funding.html