By Jos Truitt • @jostruitt • 8 years ago
New investigative video shows a crisis pregnancy center counselor telling a client dangerous lies
Katie Stack was disturbed when she got pregnant and visited a clinic close by that turned out to be a crisis pregnancy center, facilities that try to look like abortion clinics that exist to talk people out of accessing abortions. Katie was lied to about her own health, as happens to so many young people. This experience inspired her to investigate these misleading fake clinics:
Though she had an appointment at a Planned Parenthood clinic for an abortion, she visited an Iowa clinic closer to her home. " The "counseling" that I received included the following," Stack wrote in a 2011 New York Times Op-Ed. "I was cautioned that abortions caused breast cancer, even though the National Cancer Institute has found serious flaws in all research that suggests so. I was warned that I would inevitably suffer from post-abortion stress syndrome, even though the American Psychological Association says there is no evidence of increased mental health problems among women who have an abortion in the first trimester. I was told that I would not hear this information from doctors, because doctors make money performing abortions and would lie about the procedure's risks."
In secretly recorded video below, originally posted on Salon, a counselor at Cleveland's Womankind is shown trying to convince Katie not to access an abortion. The counselor has apparently never even heard of Plan B, though she does know about something called the morning after pill, which she says causes an abortion. Since the morning after pill is Plan B and prevents pregnancy, I suppose that must be a different morning after pill that only crisis pregnancy centers know about. Katie's tactics were partially inspired by sting videos shot at abortion clinics:
Of course, the more famous secret recordings in abortion politics are on the right, with Live Action's stings on Planned Parenthood and independent abortion clinics. Stack says there's a difference: "The videos that Live Action puts out are promoting the myths and the fears that the antiabortion movement, such as the idea that abortion clinics cover up sex trafficking. Whereas our work is really much more investigative. We're not creating unusual scenarios, we're not looking to prove a particular thesis necessarily. We're just going in there and letting them talk."
Salon has not provided a transcript for the video. Dear Salon: you should make transcripts for video content available, it's an important accessibility issue.
Jos Truitt
Jos Truitt is Executive Director of Development at Feministing. She joined the team in July 2009, became an Editor in August 2011, and Executive Director in September 2013. She writes about a range of topics including transgender issues, abortion access, and media representation. Jos first got involved with organizing when she led a walk out against the Iraq war at her high school, the Boston Arts Academy. She was introduced to the reproductive justice movement while at Hampshire College, where she organized the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program's annual reproductive justice conference. She has worked on the National Abortion Federation's hotline, was a Field Organizer at Choice USA, and has volunteered as a Pro-Choice Clinic Escort. Jos has written for publications including The Guardian, Bilerico, RH Reality Check, Metro Weekly, and the Columbia Journalism Review. She has spoken and trained at numerous national conferences and college campuses about trans issues, reproductive justice, blogging, feminism, and grassroots organizing. Jos completed her MFA in Printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute in Spring 2013. In her "spare time" she likes to bake and work on projects about mermaids.
Jos Truitt is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Development.
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abortion▪crisis pregnancy centers▪Video