Pregnancy Center Investigation

Pregnancy Center Investigation

The Pregnancy Center Investigation Bill (PCIB) is a taxpayer funded investigation of pregnancy centers by the department of consumer affairs. It presupposes the guilt of pregnancy centers, subverting due process of law.

This bill and its authors recklessly assume the guilt of organizations that have not even been accused by the patients that they serve. It is purely a political move… not about protecting women.

The authors of the act make stunning, unfounded accusations that pregnancy centers harm women by delaying care, providing inaccurate medical information, using deceptive advertising tactics and erecting barriers to reproductive health care.

The bill assumes that abortion is medical standard of care.

Abortion is not medical care. Where are legislators getting their concept of “comprehensive reproductive health services?” Medicine heals and maintains health. Abortion does neither one for the mother or the baby. It is abortionists that are acting against the essence of true medicine. In the 2,500 years of of western medicine, abortion has never been considered ‘medicine’ until recently. And who made that decision? Was it doctors? No. It was lawyers. 

Abortion is not medicine. Medicine heals, abortion harms.  It harms preborn babies; it harms women; it harms the good reputation of truly ethical medical providers everywhere.

The bill claims that pregnancy centers are dangerous.

But how are they dangerous, exactly? When is the last time someone died in a pregnancy center? Now ask that same question of an abortion clinic. And when was the last time the health department inspected a state-regulated abortion clinic? Instead, the legislature wants the division of consumer affairs investigate pregnancy centers!

Why is the NY legislature (known for its corruption) refusing to investigate the abortion industry? And why would they attempt to investigate non-profit organizations known to be benevolent service providers helping women in crisis have their babies?

We have a justice system. When a legislature circumvents the justice system through bills like the PCIB it is not an act of justice. It is an act of injustice. Our justice system presumes innocence throughout the due  process of law. The PCIB presumes the guilt of organizations that have never been accused or convicted, ignoring the due process of law. 

Pregnancy centers are not the dangerous ones. Rogue legislatures circumventing due process of law for political gain are the real danger. If this kind of tyrannical behavior is let stand, everyone will be subject to the whims of the politically powerful.

The bill accuses pregnancy centers of deceptive advertising.

But where is their example? Anti pro-life activists frequently make the “deceptive advertising” accusation. It seems what they mean is, “Pregnancy Centers don’t provide abortions or abortion-causing drugs.”

Apparently this is their logic:

  • Comprehensive reproductive health services include abortion and abortion-causing drugs.
  • Pregnancy centers advertise to women in need of reproductive health care.
  • Pregnancy centers do not offer abortion or abortion-causing drugs.
  • Therefore, pregnancy centers are deceptive.

If this were the restaurant industry, would the state mandate an investigation of all Italian restaurants to determine whether they advertise that they do not serve Polish sausage?

Pregnancy centers only advertise for the services they provide. Just like your neighborhood diner. On the other hand, abortionists advertise “choice,” but they only provide services for one particular “choice.” How is that comprehensive? Meanwhile (unlike most abortionists) pregnancy centers provide information about all of a woman’s abortion and pregnancy-related options.

Where is the deception? The real sham is Albany’s feigned moral outrage to manipulate the public for political gain. And given the number of former legislators now in jail or under indictment, this explanation of the PCIB seems to make more sense. The real deceit rests in their shameful attempt to discredit non-profit pregnancy centers and their generous supporters. 

The bill claims pregnancy centers misinform patients to manipulate them.

If a pregnancy center references peer-reviewed medical journal articles to inform patients about the potential dangers of abortion, how could that be considered “false and misleading information?” 

The issue at hand is informed consent. True informed consent means that every woman facing an unplanned pregnancy has access to information about all of her options, and all of the known risks and side effects associated with those options. It should not matter whether those risks and side effects fit the government’s preferred narrative.

Pregnancy centers often reference links between abortion and breast cancer (which the politically motivated AMA has denied), because there are scores of medical journal articles worldwide and recent meta analyses that indicate a correlation.

When pregnancy centers inform patients about the potential mental health issues known to be associated with abortion as published in the British Journal of Psychiatry (like these two), are they providing false information? Should pregnancy centers be taken to task for citing peer-reviewed medical journal articles that demonstrate increased risk of future preterm deliveries after an abortion?

The question shouldn’t be “Why are pregnancy centers providing this information?” but “Why isn’t Albany mandating that abortionists provide comprehensive information about the risks and side effects of abortion?”

Because the legislators of New York have closed their eyes to the realities of known abortion risks, should pregnancy centers be silenced? Why would they want women to be deprived of true informed consent?

The legislators may believe that the risks pregnancy centers discuss with their patients don’t exist… but facts can’t simply be legislated out of existence. There’s another word to describe that activity: propaganda.

The bill assumes failure to disclose a faith-based identity is wrong.

Everyone has beliefs. Beliefs determine behavior. What are the beliefs in Albany that are driving the Pregnancy Center Investigation Bill?

What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Justice Clarence Thomas

Here is what Christian, pro-life pregnancy centers believe:

  • Human beings are made in the image of God. As such,
  • Each human is inherently and supremely valuable.
  • Human life begins at fertilization. Therefore, 
  • Both mother and preborn child must be equally blessed and protected.

These are the beliefs that drive the behaviors of every pregnancy center. What are the beliefs behind the PCIB?

  • Secularism believes that there are no meaningful spiritual beliefs. Rather, 
  • The world is only material and has no transcendent meaning.
  • There is no inherent value in any one or anything, except the arbitrary value each individual assigns to it. Therefore,
  • Right and wrong can only be determined by minimizing physical pain and maximizing physical pleasure.

For the Christian, abortion is murder because its purpose is to end the life of a unique human, made in the image of God. For the secular authors of the PCIB, there is no higher purpose of a child than the pleasure or pain he can provide. If a child creates pain then abortion is the solution. The NY Legislature apparently believes some human lives are expendable for the benefit of others.

We had hoped that argument ended with slavery.

The Pregnancy Center Investigation Bill asks pro-life pregnancy centers to declare their religious affiliations… why don’t the secularists lead the way, and openly declare theirs?

Stand Up

More on the Anti Pro-Life Act