Contacting Campus Newpapers about CPCs

We are sending this press release to campus newspapers across the country in hopes of exposing CPCs near you! If you want to ensure that your campus newspaper covers this story, be sure to get this press release to your campus newspaper editor.

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
Contact: Allie McDonald
September 21, 2009
310.556.2500
amcdonald@feminist.org

“Crisis Pregnancy Centers” Target College Women

Deceptive ads and misinformation about abortion and birth control
endanger women’s health

“Crisis Pregnancy Center” (CPC) ads, “Pregnant? Scared? Need Help?
Call 1-800-XXX-XXXX!” are a common sight around college campuses and young women across the country who are in search of information about their pregnancy options are ending up in these fake clinics.

Posing as comprehensive women’s health clinics, CPCs use misinformation, fear and shame tactics to coerce and intimidate women out of considering abortion as an option. Many CPCs go further – discouraging the use of contraception, even claiming that “condoms are a ‘con’ job.”

The Feminist Majority Foundation, in conjunction with Stuart Productions, has released two investigative videos featuring college women’s first-hand accounts of experiences in CPCs.

The videos highlight CPC misinformation and fear tactics. A CPC volunteer in Oklahoma proclaims, “Your risk for breast cancer will go up one hundred percent”, while a volunteer in Louisville, Kentucky, tells a young woman, “No one tells you that you’re going to want to kill yourself after you do an abortion.”

CPCs intentionally locate near college campuses. They advertise their free pregnancy tests and options counseling under “abortion” and “family planning” services on campus bulletin boards and bus stops, in student newspapers, and on Facebook. According to a 2008 survey, 48% of responding campus health centers include CPCs on their referral lists for students facing unintended pregnancies.

The Feminist Majority Foundation’s Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics mobilizes college students to take action and expose the deceptive practices and misinformation of CPCs. Jacqueline Sun, National Campus Organizer for the Feminist Majority Foundation, explains that “CPCs’ ads aimed at college students appear to be working. CPCs’ tactics delay women from obtaining real medical care and that is a true danger to women’s health.”

Note to editors: For more information on the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics visit: http://feministcampus.org/act/cpc/default.asp. FMF campus organizers are available for interviews.

The investigative videos, “Our Reality: A Look at Crisis Pregnancy Centers” and “Crisis Pregnancy Centers: A Special Report” are available at: http://feministcampus.org/act/cpc/default.asp