On October 30th, the Carolina Journal published the following op-ed by Laura Macklem, NC Values Press Director, entitled “Left continues to attack crisis pregnancy centers, now using misinformation”:
In response to the budget appropriations to support private pro-life pregnancy care centers, state Sen. Natasha Marcus, D-Mecklenburg; and state Reps. Julie von Haefen, D-Wake; and Maria Cervania, D-Wake, launched breathtaking inaccuracies based on sloppy research and mischaracterized the work of these centers. These angry coordinated attacks on pregnancy-care centers by people with extreme positions on abortion have been fierce since the budget passed, because true choice for women threatens the left’s political and financial capital.
There are 75 pregnancy care centers across North Carolina, and 59 of them provide medical services, overseen by licensed medical doctors and nurses. Pregnancy care centers provide free ultrasounds, diapers, counseling, clothing, and many other resources.
Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship (CPCF), which just received $12.5 million from the 2023-2024 budget, gives training and umbrella support for pregnancy care centers and appropriates government funds directly to pregnancy care centers, providing a safety net of care to pregnant women on the ground. CPCF also has the “Circle of Care” program which provides pregnant women in crisis with groceries, housing, transportation, and other essential living expenses. The program also provides mentoring to help women in crisis learn how to use these resources and become independent.
Despite the fact CPCF has a high-level detailed audit of their finances and is required to report annually to the Legislative Oversight Committee, their integrity was called into question. These smears came from elected officials whose responsibility is to be honest and debate the issues on facts, not a five-minute Google search.
The trio of pro-abortion legislators defamed pregnancy care centers with rhetoric and misleading information. Marcus presented shoddy evidence on the Senate floor, admitting that “we haven’t been able to ensure we have all the relevant information” because of time constraints. Her admitted lack of credible research didn’t stop Marcus from using her powerful platform to call pregnancy care centers deceptive and shady liars, suggesting pregnancy care centers pressure “pregnant people,” mismanage money for personal profits, and “do no good.”
As an example of Marcus’ lack of due diligence, she claimed a pregnancy care center operated out of a church, even suggesting the money was illegally going to the church. In reality, the pregnancy care center she referenced is in a building previously owned by a church, given to the pregnancy care center. Facts matter.
On the House side, Cervania and von Haefen said pregnancy care centers with medical services lack medical credentials, which is blatantly untrue. Von Haefen calls pregnancy care centers “fake” and says they “target the poor.”
Von Haefen should consider that her favored organization, Planned Parenthood, targets both the poor and black women with abortion clinics strategically placed in minority neighborhoods, and their efforts have helped the abortion rate of unborn black children to become nearly 50% in North Carolina.
The hostility and misinformation campaign against pregnancy care centers is rooted in the far left’s obsession with abortion. Despite being a movement that claims to care about women and choice, they are against a requirement for women to see their unborn child on an ultrasound before an abortion, lest they see the baby is a human and change their minds. They also don’t want upgraded facilities to keep women safe from dirty abortion clinics because compliance eats into the profits of this billion-dollar industry. They don’t want women getting counseling because the mothers might choose life.
Their underlying disrespect for women is highlighted by the term “pregnant people,” which they used in place of “pregnant women.” They want to take free diapers, medical care, housing, grocery money, clothing, and counseling away from desperate pregnant women by denying these appropriations. And then on top of that, they will further insult them by refusing to even call them women. To radical legislators like Marcus, von Haefen, and Cervania, for any woman who questions keeping her baby, all roads should lead to an abortion clinic.
Although SB 20, the “Care for Women, Children and Families Act,” includes significant funding for pregnant women and their babies in crisis, a study by the Human Coalition shows 76% of women who had an abortion would have chosen life if their circumstances would have allowed. To have true choice, pregnant women need to have all the information and ample resources, so their decisions are based on facts and conscience, something apparently, we need more of in this debate.
Laura Macklem is the press and political director for NC Values.
