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Reality Check

Stop Attacking Crisis Pregnancy Centers

Our local crisis pregnancy center – Clear Choice Clinic – does a remarkable job of educating and supporting women (and men) across our region

By Tammi Fisher

Nationwide there is a scourge brewing from disgruntled Americans who take a shotgun approach to assuage their anger over the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. One victim of this shotgun approach is crisis pregnancy centers. Vandalizing and terrorizing crisis pregnancy centers does nothing to change the SCOTUS decision, does nothing to protect women and does nothing to promote abortion access. Data informs us less abortions occurred once abortions became legal. There are many reasons for this irony; one reason is the proliferation of crisis pregnancy centers across the nation. Increased education about sex and pregnancy has reduced the rate of abortion in our country. In addition, the stigma associated with unplanned pregnancy has sharply declined. Social programs that support women with unplanned pregnancies have also blossomed. 

The criticism of crisis pregnancy centers is they do not refer patients to abortion clinics. As providing alternatives to abortion and thereby reducing the rate of abortion is the goal of crisis pregnancy centers, this criticism is misplaced. Women are capable of finding resources to address their circumstances; we do it every day. It is not the obligation of crisis pregnancy centers to inform and refer patients to abortion providers, just as it is not the obligation of an oncologist to refer a woman for a second opinion for cancer treatment. With the amount of information available to young women, crisis pregnancy centers are the last to blame for limiting access to abortion. 

Our local crisis pregnancy center – Clear Choice Clinic – does a remarkable job of educating and supporting women (and men) across our region. I had misconceptions about its work which, were dispelled once I personally met the director and visited the clinic. Its goal is educating women about pregnancy and the many support services available should women choose to carry their pregnancies to term. It also provides free sexually transmitted disease testing. All of its work is privately funded, free to access, with zero government or taxpayer subsidies. It has been so successful in garnering private support dollars that it has expanded their services with a mobile health unit to serve rural areas. In short, it is doing more to reduce abortion in our region than legislation or government ever could. And while Clear Choice Clinic recognizes it may not prevent all abortion, its efforts are focused on ensuring that when a woman chooses abortion she does so with the full knowledge about available alternatives. Rather than condemning its work, every Montanan – Republican, Democrat, Libertarian – should applaud their efforts.

Tammi Fisher is an attorney, former mayor of Kalispell and host of Montana Values Podcast.