Spotted: Fake Abortion Clinics in SoCal

Tina Dupuy shares her undercover investigation of Avenues Pregnancy Clinic located in Southern California which professes "to help teens and women who are experiencing unplanned pregnancy situations."

Seems like a good idea, right?

Well, not really.

Check out this story from Tina's friend who went in for a pregnancy test, but instead, got subjected to an anti-abortion exorcism:

Maggie, as we'll call her, is 23 years old. She's what I call a yoga twinkie (not to her face): sweet, open-minded and sometimes naïve. Maggie just moved in with her new boyfriend. It's the first time she's lived with anyone. She's elated, she's in love, and now she's late. Just by a couple of days, but she's worried. Maggie is proudly paying her own way through college. There's a sign in a medical office complex on the way home from her job touting "Free Pregnancy Test."

So she goes. To her relief, her test comes back negative. To her surprise, she's kept in what she describes as a backroom, where several women, dressed as nurses, want to speak with her about her life decisions. Maggie is far too polite to try to leave or question her detention.

The women talk to her about "living in sin." They ask her if she believes in God. Yeah, sure, she tells them, she believes in God (and Allah and Buddha and the Master Cleanse). After two-and-a-half hours the nurses ask Maggie if she would like to give her life to Jesus Christ and pray with them. Maggie is blindsided. All she wanted was to know if she was pregnant.

She leaves with a Bible and an existential crisis. "They were so convincing; they said all this stuff," Maggie tells me, in tears, after her ordeal. "I don't know. Is it wrong that I'm living with Mike?"

Her voice seems earnestly stressed about the answer.

"Tina, do you think I'm going to hell?"

Look I understand that when you go to the doctor, you aren't always going to hear what you want to hear. But can we please remove the "morality" prescriptions within women's health care and get rid of these fake clinics? Here's more background from Tina:

According to their site, Avenues has been "presenting Biblical truth" to women since 1988. And no, this is not Honduras. This is not even Arkansas. This is Los Angeles County.

A 2006 article in The New York Times says there are anywhere from 2,300 to 3,500 of these religious-themed clinics, often referred to as "crisis pregnancy centers," nationwide, compared with around 1,800 abortion providers. Planned Parenthood has 15 clinics in the LA area. LifeCall.org, a pro-life resource Web site, mentions 25 or more centers in the same area.

Typically, as is the case with Avenues, the religious intentions of these clinics-in-name-only aren't publicly displayed on their sign or even on their disclosure forms. They intentionally camouflage themselves to look like medical facilities, following the advice of Robert Pearson, who - after Hawaii decriminalized abortion in 1967 - started the first crisis pregnancy center in Honolulu to combat it. The Pearson Foundation Manual, "How to Start and Operate Your Own Pro-Life Outreach Crisis Pregnancy Center," published in 1984, is still used today as a blueprint. Pearson writes, "Obviously, we're fighting Satan. A killer, who in this case is the girl who wants to kill her baby, has no right to information that will help her kill her baby."

Gahhhh. This. makes. me. so. mad.

Not that fake abortion clinics are anything new, but I just wish society would stop shaking their fists at women's vaginas. Shoving a Bible under our belts isn't going to keep us from getting pregnant. It's not going to change the fact that we are fertile beings, who may, on occasion have an unplanned pregnancy. But it's up to US not YOU to make the choice to wait until we are at the right stage of life - emotionally and financially - to deal with responsibility of child.

From the Feminist Women's Health Center - here are unbiased resources to assist you in deciding what to do with your pregnancy:

• Am I Pregnant? A list of pregnancy symptoms and assistance in evaluating your options
• Pregnancy Options Workbook and website - An honest resource to help you make your own decision.
• Backline - Someone to talk with directly about your options. Toll Free talk line: 888-493-0092

Photo Credit: Aaltra