Pregnancy centers across the country that provide women with abortion alternatives, and save the lives of countless unborn children each year, could be shut down or face severe regulations if Barack Obama wins next month. That’s because a bill targeting pregnancy centers could easily be approved in a pro-abortion Congress and land on Obama’s desk.
My Take:
One of my greatest joys is spending time several times each year to travel to and speak at the fund-raising banquets of these amazing organizations. Most of them work on a shoe string (in fact 19 or the 20 folks who work at crisis pregnancy centers are volunteers), yet provide amazing, life-saving, and life-affirming services to countless women, unborn children, and fathers each year.
However, the future of these wonderful centers is potentially threatened.
LifeNews.com is reporting that Obama has already promised pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL that he will be their lap dog in the White House and these are the groups leading the effort to pass the bill.
Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey reintroduced the bill in April in the Senate and issued a statement alleging that pregnancy centers mislead women by giving them information on abortion’s risks and alternatives.
The so-called “Stop Deceptive Advertising for Women’s Services Act” would place burdensome regulations on pregnancy centers.
It would also force the Federal Trade Commission to create and enforce rules to prohibit deceptive practices that pregnancy centers say they never use to reach women — such as advertising under the “abortion services” section of the phone book.
Melinda Delahoyde, the president of Care Net, a network of about 1,000 pregnancy centers from across the country, talked about the attacks in a recent interview with CBN News.
“This is not unexpected, when you’re coming against abortion in America, and the hurt and the pain and the lives lost, the lives destroyed through that – there always going to be oppositions,” Delahoyde said.
One leading pro-abortion group, the Feminists Majority Network, has reportedly hired a full-time staff member whose sole job is to launch attacks on pregnancy centers and dig up dirt on them for use in legislation.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York congresswoman, introduced the House version of the attack bill last summer.
In previous comments about her bill she claimed some pregnancy centers “take a more underhanded approach to lure in women seeking abortions by using tactics that should be illegal.”
Kristin Hansen, a Care Net representative, previously spoke with LifeNews.com about older versions of this bill, which have never moved past their introduction.
“What’s clear in these attacks is that the multi-million dollar abortion industry is growing increasingly frustrated with the success of pregnancy centers, which, unlike abortion providers, offer a wide range of free services to men and women facing unplanned pregnancy and sexual health-related concerns,” Hansen said.
While the bill has not ever been voted on in either the House or Senate, abortion advocates, who are expected to see their numbers increase after the elections, could find themselves emboldened by an Obama presidency and push for the bill harder than they have before.
Related web sites:
National Institute of Family and Life Advocates
Care Net 
Heartbeat International