{"id":234708,"date":"2020-11-17T07:35:56","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T13:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=234708"},"modified":"2020-11-16T19:45:51","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T01:45:51","slug":"advocates-for-youth-spread-lies-pregnancy-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/advocates-for-youth-spread-lies-pregnancy-centers\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocates for Youth attempts to spread lies about pregnancy resource centers"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Advocates for Youth (AFY) is a pro-abortion organization focusing on <\/span>advancing<\/span><\/a> policies that \u201ccreate sexual health equity for all youth.\u201d One of the primary goals of AFY is to reduce the stigma surrounding youth sexuality and ensure young adults have access to abortion. This has made pro-life pregnancy centers \u2013 places that offer women non-abortion services \u2013 a target of AFY. By misleading women about pregnancy centers, AFY is continuing to perpetuate myths about these <\/span>nonprofit organizations<\/span><\/a> that have had a <\/span>positive impact<\/span><\/a> on the lives of many women.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Influence Watch<\/a>, Advocates for Youth is a nonprofit funded by\u00a0the\u00a0Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation<\/a>, the\u00a0William and Flora Hewlett Foundation<\/a>, and the\u00a0James H. Clark Charitable Foundation<\/a>. They work to expand youth access to abortion and to reduce the stigma surrounding youth sexuality through sexual education. AFY is one of the primary authors of\u00a0the International Guidance on Sexuality Education, a support program published by UNICEF and UNESCO, and its curriculum reportedly dissuades young people from seeing their parents or faith-based leaders as reliable sources of information.<\/p>\n

Do Pregnancy Centers \u201cHurt Young People\u201d?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

On their website, AFY <\/span>cited<\/span><\/a> a study by the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) and the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology (NASPAG) which alleged pregnancy centers are a \u201chealth risk for young people.\u201d AFY\u2019s webpage then goes on to levy a series of inaccurate claims at pregnancy centers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnlicensed Patient Care\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

AFY president Debra Hauser has helped to <\/span>promote<\/span><\/a> the lie that pregnancy centers offer \u201cdeceptive and unlicensed patient care.\u201d It\u2019s possible Hauser was not being deliberately misleading. She may have merely misunderstood there are two types of pregnancy centers: medical and non-medical.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Non-medical pregnancy centers are unlicensed because they provide clients with material resources and parenting education classes \u2013 services that would not require them to be medically licensed. However, medical pregnancy centers <\/span>adhere<\/span><\/a> to the same state laws and medical board requirements that regulate medical professionals throughout the country. According to a Lozier Institute report on pregnancy centers:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Medical pregnancy centers or clinics continue to expand in number across the country and in all community settings. As these results reflect, the array of medical services offered vary at each location and are always provided under the supervision and direction of a licensed physician, by licensed and\/or certified professionals with specialized training, and in accordance with applicable state laws and medical standards, including state licensure if required.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In addition, a 2019 <\/span>report<\/span><\/a> on pregnancy centers from the Charlotte Lozier Institute found over 10,000 licensed medical workers served clients as staff and volunteers at pregnancy resource centers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Interestingly, Hauser\u2019s image of a pregnancy center is a more accurate <\/span>description<\/span><\/a> of abortion facilities throughout the country, where unsanitary facilities and untrained staff helping to commit abortion procedures are reportedly a common problem within the abortion industry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFunding\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The majority of pregnancy centers are <\/span>funded<\/span><\/a> by voluntary donations, demonstrating the trust local communities have in the work they do. In contrast, Planned Parenthood <\/span>collected<\/span><\/a> over $616 million in taxpayer dollars last year, and they often\u00a0<\/span>construct<\/span><\/a> their facilities in secret because of significant community opposition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

AFY believes organizations like Planned Parenthood need taxpayer funding because they provide \u201cquality sex education.\u201d However, this point is easily refuted by a <\/span>report<\/span><\/a> from the United States Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 (HHS) Office of Adolescent Health, which found programs like the kind Planned Parenthood offers have been a complete failure in public schools.<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Former abortion workers speak: The abortion industry sees pregnancy centers as competition<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMisleading Advertising\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

AFY has accused pregnancy centers of using deceptive advertising to lure young women to their centers. The study AFY referenced by SAHM and NASPAG even went as far as saying pregnancy centers sometimes \u201cmimic\u201d legitimate health centers by providing limited medical services, or using words like \u201coptions,\u201d \u201cchoice,\u201d or \u201cabortion\u201d in their marketing strategies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if pregnancy centers do not commit abortions, clients of these center can usually <\/span>receive<\/span><\/a> information about abortion. The words used in their advertising efforts reflect the services pregnancy centers do provide and are not exclusive to abortion facilities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

AFY made a similar <\/span>claim<\/span><\/a> in a video titled, \u201cYoung Folks Share Their Experiences At Fake Clinics,\u201d in which several girls were filmed discussing their stories about seeking an abortion after learning they were pregnant, and how they came into contact with a pregnancy center instead of an abortion facility. The video description accuses pregnancy centers of using \u201cdishonest tactics to scare and coerce pregnant people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But there’s a problem: by the girls\u2019 own admission, the pregnancy centers they contacted never pretended to be abortion facilities<\/em>. The centers were honest about not<\/em> providing or referring for abortion when the girls asked the staff about their services. The only charge AFY appears to be launching against pregnancy centers is that they do not offer abortions. Framed as nefarious in the video, one girl stated,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI made an appointment\u2026 and they put me through a counseling session. I had to talk about my feelings and my thoughts about pregnancy and parenthood.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And even abortion facilities are expected to provide pre-abortion counseling (which unsurprisingly has been seen by many women as a sales pitch for abortion<\/a>).\u00a0<\/span>The fact that pregnancy centers do not offer the service AFY supports (abortion), but instead counsel women through choices such as parenting and adoption, does not make them unethical. For example, there are multiple\u00a0<\/span>federally-qualified health centers<\/span><\/a> located throughout the United States. These centers offer a wide range of health services to people, but they do not offer abortions<\/em>. Does AFY believe health centers are \u201cfake clinics\u201d as well?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n