While many may believe that abortion is a hot button issue, there needs to be some rules to the game that is being played out there. We need to protect women from false advertising, just the way we go after every other industry and it's advertising that makes unsubstantiated claims regarding their products. Here we see a small sample of what is happening to women across this nation when they go to a Crisis Pregnancy Center. I think all of us can agree that it is important to be truthful. How is it that these centers, some even faith based, are not? They have one purpose and that is to prevent abortions. Is that the mission then, why disguise it? If you are looking to prevent abortion say so, then unsuspecting women will know up front that this is a place to go to get affirmation of why not to have an abortion, not a place where they can receive one, learn about contraception, discuss the option of abortion and understand and make their own decision. If what they are doing is in the best interest of women, why do they have to be deceitful about it?

I think if the New York City Council can entertain the thought of regulating this, then so can the rest of the nation. I cannot imagine one person who is truly a person of faith, that would want to deliberately lie to a person seeking information. There are a lot of charlatans out there, people who will use any means to accomplish their goals. Lying, cheating and criminal activity are not above their sacred causes. We call those people terrorists don't we? What do we call these people who claim to offer assistance to a woman who is pregnant, only to lie, manipulate and intimidate her to their particular way of thinking, under the guise of offering her help. Perhaps they are terrorists too.

*****

 From Rev. Westfox:

Friends,

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to testify before a hearing of the New York City Council, as they considered a bill which would limit the ability of Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPC’s) to manipulate and deceive women as they seek reproductive services.  CPC’s, for those who don’t know, are places run by anti-choice groups that masquerade as reproductive health centers, but don’t actually have any medical professionals on staff, and try to convince women away from abortion or contraception with misleading, often false medical information and manipulation.

The legislation being debated would compel CPC’s in New York City to state clearly in all advertisements that they abortions and contraception are not provided, and that they do not have medical professionals on staff. The movement to pass legislation like this is growing- keep an eye out for similar things in your area, and let us know if we can help in any way!

Below is the testimony I gave.

TESTIMONY TO THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCL

November 16^th, 2010

Rev. Matthew Westfox, Associate Pastor of All Souls Bethlehem Church and Director of Interfaith Outreach, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

Laura was in tears when she called me. A part of my ministry is to offer All Options Counseling to women and families who are dealing with unwanted, unplanned or otherwise difficult pregnancies, and trying to decide what to do. Sometimes I meet with them in person, sometimes they come to me by phone. In Laura’s case, she called me because she wanted to have an abortion, was preparing to have an abortion, but she kept having nightmares.

You see, Laura had been ready to have an abortion. She had thought about it, prayed about it- which is how she and I first came into contact – she had made her appointment, and gone ahead, only to find out that her appointment wasn’t with a legitimate reproductive health clinic after all, where she could get the termination procedure she had decided to have. It was with a Crisis Pregnancy Center, where she was shown pictures and told in great detail about how much her “baby would suffer” and been told “I’m sure you love your baby and don’t want to kill it. “  She called me because she deeply wanted to have the abortion, knew it was the only real option open to her in her situation- and yet every night she kept having nightmares, remembering all of the terrible, manipulative things they told her.

Wheras Laura was upset, Sophia was angry. She works at a grocery store, and had to negotiate with both her boss and one of her co-workers to get a day off when she could go to a clinic and have the abortion she and her husband had together decided she needed. When she realized she had gone to a place that couldn’t provide the service she wanted- that she had wasted her day off, lost the income without purpose, and that it might be three weeks before she could do it again- she was outraged. She called me, having found out about the counseling I do through her friend, and wanting to know “how could someone call themselves a Christian, if all they do is lie?”

It’s a good question. And while it is not my place to question the faith of others- not in my pulpit, and certainly not here, I want to say clearly that as a Christian minister who works every day with those who have spend long hours discerning what best to do, I know how much respect I have for anyone facing a difficult decision about pregnancy, and how deeply I respect whatever option such a person or family might choose. To attempt to convince someone to decide one way or the other is legitimate- but to do so through manipulation and deception, by luring women through your doors under false pretenses, and then to provide them with false information or emotionally damaging images meant solely to emotionally coerce a decision is unjust, and wrong. Most importantly, it is a violation of the basic human dignity of individual decision making, and respect for personal conscience that is at the heart, not only of my own faith, but of what is best about our city, and our country. I join my fellow clergy of so many faith traditions and backgrounds in calling on the New York City Council to pass this legislation, and compel Crisis Pregnancy Centers to end their deceitful manipulation by stating clearly what they are, and what they are not.

 http://www.rcrc.org

/news/Westfox_Testimony_Re_Crisis_Pregnancy_Centers.cfm

Rev. Matthew Westfox

Director of Interfaith Outreach

Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

1413 K Street, NW, 14th Floor,

Washington, DC, 20005

Office: 718-499-5856

Fax: 718-499-5926

mwestfox@rcrc.org

www.rcrc.org

Copyright 2010 SheilaTGTG55, all content unless otherwise attributed.