Don't Be Fooled By Fake Clinics During the Month of April

The FMF's “Don’t Be Fooled By Fake Clinics” Day of Action is TOMORROW! But between spring break and spring fever, it's alright if you don't have an action planned - you can take action any time during the month of April!

With $250 million being funneled back into failed abstinence-only programs, we're sure to see MILLIONS of OUR TAX DOLLARS going to fuel fake clinics' false information and deceptive advertising.

It is crucial that you help get the word out about fake clinics near your campus. You can teach students the truth about the quacks at Crisis Pregnancy Centers by:

- Getting the word out with educational “Don’t Be Fooled” Facts, candy and condoms
- Having students sign our petition to stop deceptive advertising and funding for fake clinics
- Screening our investigative videos
- Proposing a "Truth in Advertising" disclaimer on campus if your campus health center refers to CPCs, or campus newspaper accepts ads from CPCs

Check out our “Don’t Be Fooled By Fake Clinics” Action Series for more ideas. Don’t let the quacks of fake clinics fool students on your campus!

Photo courtesy of flikr.com

April 1 is "Don't Be Fooled By Fake Clinics" National Day of Action! What are you doing?

This April Fools’ Day, join FMF and campuses across the nation as we expose something that’s no joke…FAKE CLINICS!

Thursday, April 1st, is the Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics’ “Don’t Be Fooled By Fake Clinics” Day of Action.

Teach students on your campus the truth about the quacks at Crisis Pregnancy Centers by:

- Getting the word out with educational “Don’t Be Fooled” Facts and candy
- Having students sign our petition to stop deceptive advertising and funding for fake clinics
- Screening our investigative videos
- Proposing a "Truth in Advertising" disclaimer on campus if your campus health center refers to CPCs, or campus newspaper accepts ads from CPCs

Check out our “Don’t Be Fooled By Fake Clinics” Action Series for more ideas. Don’t let the quacks of fake clinics fool students on your campus!

Don't Be Fooled By Fake Clinics Action Series: Educate Your Campus with "Don't Be Fooled" Facts

Fact: No one can resist free candy. So, this April Fools' Day, use this fact to your advantage and join our "Don't Be Fooled By Fake Clinics" Day of Action by passing out "Don't Be Fooled" Facts, tied to pieces of candy.

On slips of paper, write examples of the kinds of falsehoods that CPCs perpetuate, and then write the FACT to counter those false claims. Staple these to little pieces of candy. You can buy it in bulk and save money.

Here's an example of what your tag would look like:

CPCs say that abortion causes breast cancer. But don't be fooled!

FACT: Scientists disagree. Organizations such as the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, and the American Cancer Society ALL say that no such link exists.

Don't be fooled by the [name of nearby fake clinic] at [location]. Instead, get comprehensive reproductive health care at [name of local comprehensive women's health clinic] at [location].

Or, here's another example.

CPCs say that abortion leads to mental illness. But don't be fooled!

FACT: An eleven-year longitudinal study of 13,000 women found that women who give birth have the same rate of need for psychological treatment as women who have abortions.

Don't be fooled by the [name of nearby fake clinic] at [location]. Instead, get comprehensive reproductive health care at [name of local comprehensive women's health clinic] at [location].


These little snapshots of fake clinic scare tactics will make students on your campus as angry as they make you, so ask them to join your campaign!

In addition to using chocolate to get the word out, you can also make handy (and informative!) table tents to place on all of the dining hall tables. The table tents should identify the CPCs near your campus and warn students about what types of so-called "services" they might receive there.

Grab some candy, paper and a stapler and get the word out!

PS - To identify your local fake clinic, visit www.optionline.org and punch in your zip code. (PLEASE NOTE: This is an anti-choice website with false and misleading information).

Don't Be Fooled By Fake Clinics Action Series: Hold a Film Screening

This April Fools' Day, make sure that women on your campus don't get fooled by fake clinics and put together a simple, yet informational event: a film screening and teach-in.

We have two videos on our website that would teach people who aren't already familiar with CPCs a lot about their deceptive practices. The first is called, "Our Reality: A Look at Crisis Pregnancy Centers" and the second is called, "Crisis Pregnancy Centers: A special Report" Both were produced by FMF in conjunction with Stuart Productions and featured on RH Reality Check.

1. Contact your Student Affairs or Student Activities office and see what the procedures are for screening a film for the public.

2. Reserve a space! Maybe it will be in a classroom, the women's resource center, or an auditorium. See what you need to do to hold the event in this space. Make sure there is a projector that you can hook up to your computer.

3. Make flyers and publicize the event. Make an eye-catching flyer announcing when and where the film screening will be. Post them on campus and hand them out when you are tabling. Make announcements in classrooms and ask professors if they will give their students extra credit for attending the screening.

4. Buy some yummy snacks! Popcorn, chips, licorice, ice cream, pizza. Go wild, budget permitting.

5. Screen the films and then hold a discussion about it. How do people feel about about what they have just seen? What are the inital thoughts? Make sure that you have brushed up on your facts so that you can field any questions. Do people want to take some action on the issue?

6. Formulate a plan. Whats next? Have the people at the screening get involved with the campaign to expose fake clinics. What actions do they want to do after seeing those films? Don't know where to start, check out the rest of our action series!

Our Reality: A Look at Crisis Pregnancy Centers from RH Reality Check on Vimeo.

Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series: National Sex-Ed Call in Day

Have you heard of the Hatch Amendment??

It is a recent amendment to the health care reform bill passed by Senate Finance Committee that would reinstate $50 million/year to abstinence-only programs. GAHH!

I don't need to tell you that abstinence-only programs don't work. They do not lower the rates of unintended pregnancies or the spread of STIs including HIV. But I should tell you that this federal funding would also go to fund Crisis Pregnancy Centers.

Let's not forget that this week is “Don’t Get Tricked, Get Treated” national week of action to expose “fake clinics.” I have a great action idea for you and everyone you know!

Tomorrow, Wednesday, October 28th is National Sex Ed Call-In Day. Please call your US Senators and let them know that reinstating $50 million to failed abstinence-only programs is unacceptable.

1. Call 1-800-423-5983 where you will be connected to the Capitol Switchboard

2. Tell them what state you are in and that you would like to speak to one of your Senators

3. Ask to speak to the lead aide on health and tell them why you think your senator needs to support comprehensive sex education and reject the Hatch Amendment that would reinstate $50 millions to abstinence-only education

4. Once you call one Senator, call the switchboard back and ask to be connected to your other State Senator.

5. When you are tabling and holding events this week for "Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated," have everyone you talk to take a second and do the same!

We have been making great progress at finally putting an end to abstinence-only education, and we must not let the Hatch Amendment undue our hard work!

On Wednesday October 28^th, call your Senators at 1-888-423-5983 and urge them to put a stop to the harmful Hatch Amendment and abstinence-only-before- marriage programs!

For more ideas on how to take action during "Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated," check out our action series

Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series: Trick or TRUTH!

Over at FMLA of the Claremont Colleges, we’re gearing up for the Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated week of action to try and get the word out to students about CPCs—and we’ve engaged chocolate to help us out.

In my opinion, no one can resist free candy. So in keeping with the “Don’t Get Tricked, Get Treated!” Halloween theme, we decided to set up our own version of “trick or treat.” We’re calling it “Trick or Truth.” On slips of paper, we wrote examples of the kinds of falsehoods that CPCs perpetuate, and then wrote the TRUTH about those false claims. We came up with several of these, and are stapling them to Halloween candy we bought in bulk at Costco.

Here's what we wrote on our "Trick or Truth" treats:

TRICK: CPCs say that abortion causes breast cancer.

TRUTH: Scientists disagree. Organizations such as the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, and the American Cancer Society ALL say that no such link exists.

TRICK: CPCs say that abortion leads to suicide.

TRUTH: An eleven-year longitudinal study of 13,000 women found that women who give birth have the same rate of need for psychological treatment as women who have abortions.

We’re hoping that these little snapshots of CPC scare tactics make students as angry as they make us, and that they help get the word out about the dangers of CPCs. And since we’re pretty strapped for funds at the moment, we needed a way to attract students to the tables we will be setting up in front of dining halls. Chocolate is a pretty powerful (and cheap!) tool.

In addition to using chocolate to get the word out, we also made handy (and informative!) table tents (pictured here) to place on all of the dining hall tables. The table tents identify the CPCs near our campus and warn students about what types of so-called "services" they might receive there.

Lastly, we'll be holding two screenings of the FMF's Investigative Videos, followed by discussion sessions.

I hope you've got a lot of cool plans in store! If you don't, grab some candy, paper and a stapler and get the word out!