Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated!

As we get our costumes ready for Halloween, don't forget about what's really deceptive: Crisis Pregnancy Centers! Crisis Pregnancy Centers pose as comprehensive women’s health clinics and advertise under “abortion” and “family planning” services, but do not offer abortion services, contraception, or referrals. Instead, they have an anti-choice agenda and tell women misinformation about the affects of abortion in attempts to dissuade women away from all of their choices. We wanted to make sure that our campus groups plan ahead to participate in our National Week of Action, called "Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated," taking place the week leading up to Halloween, starting October 25th. Here are some cool ideas of how your campus group can get the word out and take action this Halloween:

1. Host a Screening of 12th and Delaware or of FMF's two videos on the deception of Crisis Pregnancy Centers, which can be found here, followed by a discussion.
2. Create education flyers and posters identifying comprehensive women's health clinics and warning people are fake clinics in your area. Here's a template from our action kit.
   
3. Talk to your Campus Health Center, and ask if they refer students to CPCs. Almost half of 4-year universities in the US do! If your Health Center on campus refers women to CPCs, make them stop, or in the very least have them put a disclaimer!
4. Hand out "Trick of Truth Treats" with candy and facts about CPCs. The truth is delicious!
   
5. Stage a protest at your nearest CPC, warning women about their deceptive practices. Or have a speak out/rally at your school!
   
6. Host a "haunted clinic" at your school. Instead of ghosts and ghouls, emulate what goes on inside a creepy CPC.
7. Photo campaign! Take pictures of people holding up signs with what they want to say about CPCs. Take photos and post them on campus, in a Facebook album, create a photo blog, or send it to your legislators!
8. Propose a "Truth in Advertising" disclaimer on campus if your campus health center refers to CPCs, or campus newspaper accepts ads from CPCs
9. Burma Shave Signs. These are consecutive signs posted one after another at a visible place on campus. Here is an example:

You wouldn't want your dentist telling you that brushing your teeth will give you cavities.
So why would you want (insert name of local CPC) saying that birth control is ineffective?
or that abortion will give you breast cancer?
or make you infertile?
or make you more likely to commit suicide?
Crisis Pregnancy Centers deceive women!

Have more ideas? We'd like to know what you are planning! Contact us at campusteam@feminist.org or call 866-444-3652 Happy exposing!

This blog post is part of the October eZine. To receive our monthly eZine, click here.

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: Photo Campaign

The National Day of Action to Expose Fake Clinics is quickly approaching! On April 1st, "Don't be Fooled by CPCs." What do YOU have planned?

An idea we have for you is to have a photo campaign!

Rally students together! Meet people who want to be involved when you are petitioning for CPCs. Come up with a prompt question that you want to ask everyone. Here are a few suggestions:

1. What do you expect from a women's health clinic?
2.What do you think about CPCs?
3.What services would you like to receive if you were faced with an unintended pregnancy?

Get people to write their answers on a piece of paper and have them tape it to a speech bubble that you've pre-made.

Take their picture!

These photos can be put into a slideshow, or a facebook or flickr album and share it with all of your supporters. Or you can print them out and create a photo collage or feminist quilt that can be displayed on campus or when you are tabling. Or you can also send them to your elected officials urging them to do something about the deceptive advertising practices of CPCs!

Check out the photo blog we at the West Coast office made!

What do you expect from your women's health clinic?

Create a Free Slideshow

Please share your submissions with us! Email them to campusteam@feminist.org.

What more great action ideas? Check out our "Don't be Fooled by CPCs" action series on this blog!

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!

Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated Week of Action starts next week!

This Halloween, join FMF and campuses across the nation as we expose something REALLY frightening…FAKE CLINICS!

Next week, October 25 - 31, 2009, is the Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics' Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated Week of Action.

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

Getting the word out with educational flyers.
Having students sign our petition to stop deceptive advertising and federal funding of fake clinics.
Creating a Haunted Clinic on your campus to show how scary fake facilities really are.
Getting vocal: protest, rally, speak out!

Check out our Action Series for more ideas. Don't let the ghouls and goblins of fake clinics deceive students on your campus!

For Equality,

Allie, Danielle, duVergne, Emily, Jacqueline, Patrice, Tania, Val and Wendy
The FMF Campus Team

P.S. Don't forget about the Video Contest to Expose Fake Clinics on Your Campus! Click here for guidelines. Get creative and submit your video!

Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series! Step 9: GET VOCAL!

Get your voices heard! In order to let people on your campus know about the National week of action to Expose Fake Women's Health Clinics, organize a protest, rally, or speak out!!

Here are some tips on organizing a speak out:

A speak out is a rally event/public demonstration that helps raise awareness about a specific issue by allowing people to "speak out" about a specific topic and have their voices heard. People can share stories, or just speak about how they feel about a certain topic.



1. Find a location on campus where people can gather and speak freely. Make sure its not going to disrupt classes. Some places need reservations, so check with your school asap! Make sure it is a safe space where people's opinions will be respected.

2. Publicize your event ahead of time. Send out emails and post flyers around campus. Let professors know and ask them to let their students know about it. Get it publicized in the school newspaper as well!

3. Have some speakers already planned to speak. This will be helpful in inspiring others to come up to speak out.

4. Have flyers and signs at the event indicating that this is a speak out against CPCs. This will help those passing by understand what the rally is about. Consider having a table with info about CPCs for those who want to learn more about it

5. Having microphones set up would be great! Or a megaphone! Come up with a way to keep track of who wants to speak in the audience. You want to make sure that everyone that wants to say something gets a chance to, but in an orderly fashion

6. Invite the press. Let your campus newspaper know about the event and make sure you get some coverage.

This is an easy and excellent way to get the word out about CPCs. It is especially great because you are giving the students a chance to have their voices heard!


Or consider organizing a protest.
Here are some ideas on how to organize a protest in front of a local CPC.

1. Fist you need to find where your local CPC is. If you haven't done step one, make sure you locate the CPC closest to your campus. Visit www.optionline.org or www.lifecall.org and punch in your zip code (note: these are anti-choice websites with directories of CPCs).

2. Let people know about the event. Publicize by flyering, emailing and calling supporters.

3. Make Pro-Choice signs. Let the people know that CPCs deceive women and give them misinformation about abortion and birth control. Also make signs letting people know where a better alternative for a health clinic is, maybe the local Planned Parenthood.

4. Organize a carpool or establish a meeting time at the CPC.

5. Hold a respectful protest letting women know about the services and information they WON'T receive inside the CPC.

6. Get news coverage for the protest! Contact your campus newspaper and let them know about your event. make sure they cover it!


Be sure to let us know about any rallies, protests or speak outs you host! We want to hear about them! Email us at campusteam@feminist.org

Happy rallying!

P.S. check out all of our action ideas here!
And don't forget the deadline to submit your videos for our video contest is coming soon, Nov 1st!

photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/ooohoooh

Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series Step 8: Create a Haunted Clinic

Attention feminist art majors, set design gurus, and those with a general love for Halloween: we have got a super creative Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics "Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated" Action idea for you!

Create a Haunted Clinic on campus! It's like a haunted house, but with creepy fake doctors and nurses making false medical claims about abortion!

All you need is a classroom, a study lounge, or other space on campus. You can even use a tent or canopy outdoors. If you can't get your hands on any of the above, you can improvise with a table.

Next, you'll need some spooky Halloween decorations (you know, cobwebs, spiders, and the like), some doctor and nurse costumes (like a nurse hat, a stethoscope, a lab coat...whatever is easiest to get a hold of), and lastly, if you're able to round up any supplies to make your haunted house extra spooky, like a fog machine, black lights, strobe lights, or just trash bags to cover the walls, go for it!

Be sure to publicize your haunted clinic, and when students come through, have the fake doctors and nurses make the totally creepy (but all too real) false medical claims made at CPCs.

Our Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics Kit, Investigative Videos, and this Ms. Magazine article should supply you with plenty of material to work with!

Be sure to use your Haunted Clinic as an opportunity to educate students who come through. Consider screening the Investigative Videos inside the haunted "clinic", holding a discussion session, passing out flyers, or even just asking folks to sign the Petition to Stop Deceptive Advertising and Federal Funding of Fake Women's Health Clinics.

Get creative and be sure to share your ideas with us!!

Don't forget about all the other great ideas we've got for the Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated Week of Action. Don't miss the Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics Video Contest Deadline - Nov. 1 is quickly approaching!

Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series! Step 7: Photo Campaign

Ah the National Week of Action to expose fake clinics is quickly approaching! (October 25th-31st if case you have forgotten!) What do YOU have planned?

So our next idea is to have a photo campaign!

Rally students together! Meet people who want to be involved when you are petitioning for CPCs. Come up with a prompt question that you want to ask everyone. Here are a few suggestions:

1. What do you expect from a women's health clinic?
2.What do you think about CPCs?
3.What services would you like to receive if you were faced with an unintended pregnancy?

Get people to write their answers on a piece of paper and have them tape it to a speech bubble that you've pre-made.

Take their picture!

These photos can be put into a slideshow, or a facebook or flickr album and share it with all of your supporters. Or you can print them out and create a photo collage or feminist quilt that can be displayed on campus or when you are tabling. Or you can also send them to your elected officials urging them to do something about the deceptive advertising practices of CPCs!

Check out the photo blog we at the West Coast office made!

What do you expect from your women's health clinic?

Create a Free Slideshow

Please share your submissions with us! Email them to campusteam@feminist.org.
It would be a great idea as a part of the video you submit for the video contest.
What more great action ideas? Check out our action idea archives!

Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series! Step 6: Hold a Film Screening

The next step to exposing fake clinics is to hold a film screening!

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.

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

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 even 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 tabling. Make announcement 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? 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 steps 1-5 on our action series!


Don't forget about the Video Contest!

Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series Step 5: Burma Shave Signs

Need a clever and creative way to raise the visibility factor of your Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics "Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated" Week of Action Oct. 25 - 31? Well, we have a simple and fun solution for you! Create Burma Shave signs!

What in the world are Burma Shave signs, you ask? Well, back in the 50's the Burma shaving cream company launched an ad campaign that consisted of sequential roadside signs, each with a short slogan.

By the end of the sequence, the driver just NEEDED to buy shaving cream! Put this technique to use on campus and you'll have students banging down the door of your next meeting begging to join your campaign!

It's simple:

Get some poster boards, markers and tape.
Pick out a main walkway of campus where the signs will be highly visible and people will read the signs one after another.
Get the proper approval to post signs on campus.

Now for the slogans...We've come up with a few starter ideas for you, following what we like to call the "You wouldn't....so why..." pattern:

Sign 1: You wouldn't want your professor telling you the world is flat.

Sign 2: You wouldn't want your dentist telling you that toothpaste causes cavities.

Sign 3: You wouldn't want a firefighter telling you that a smoke detector won't save your life.

Sign 4: So WHY are Crisis Pregnancy Centers [or your local CPC] telling women that abortion causes breast cancer, infertility and mental illness?

Sign 5: And WHY are Crisis Pregnancy Centers telling women that condoms won't protect against STIs and HIV?

Sign 6: Join the [name of your club]'s Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics! Come to our meeting on [day] at [time] at [place] or email [contact] to find out how you can help!

These are just some examples of the types of "You Wouldn't..." sayings you could use. Feel free to customize these slogans to make them more relevant and in-tune with your particular campus, student body, and the local fake clinics. Need help with this idea? Contact your FMF Campus Organizer.

And don't forgot the other important steps leading up to your week of action like, finding out if fake clinics are targeting your school, and getting the word out on campus.

Also, the Deadline for the Exposing Fake Clinics Video Contest is fast approaching! Download the flyer now!

Check out past entries and stay tuned for more to come in the Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series!

Photo courtesy of Life in Flintville on flikr.com

Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series! Step 4: Make an Action Video

Are you getting ready for our national week of action to expose fake clinics?

In case you've been in a cave, the campus organizers are giving you action ideas in our Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series. Check out Step 1, Step 2, and Step 3 in case you've missed out!

In this installment, I'll be talking to you about our Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics Video Contest!

Maybe you have a creative way to expose fake clinics that we haven't thought of yet. Perhaps you or someone you know wants to share a personal experiences with a CPC. Maybe you have already done some amazing action on exposing clinics and want to show us. Well, WE WANT TO SEE IT.

Plan a video, script it, find your crew and start filming! We want innovative ideas, powerful interviews, and touching interactions.

Let us know what you are doing to get the word out!

Create a You-tube Style video less than 10 minutes long and email your submissions to jsun@feminist.org by November 1st, 2009.

The winner will get their video featured at our Western Regional Feminist Campus Leadership Conference (register today!!!) as well as our National Young Feminist Leadership Conference, March 20-22 in Washington DC, with an introduction by feminist actor, Amy Brenneman.

So get rolling!

Keep in mind that surreptitious phone and video recordings inside a CPC or of CPC staff are strictly prohibited. Some CPCs will require you to sign a confidentiality agreement which may be enforceable by law. Make sure that no one on your video has signed one.

Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series Step 3: Start Planning Your Week of Action!

Now that you've found out if fake clinics are targeting your campus, and begun getting the word out on campus, it is time to start planning your "Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated" Week of Action!

Join feminist groups across the nation and take action to expose fake clinics during the Week of Oct. 25 - 31! Start planning and prepping for your week of action now! "Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated" Action ideas include:

- Screen the FMF's investigative videos available at: http://feministcampus.org/act/cpc/default.asp.
- Burma Shave signs around campus
- Photo Campaign
- Haunted Clinic
- Organize a protest outside of the nearest CPC warning women about the CPC's deceptive practices and misinformation
- Hold a rally or speak out on campus exposing fake clinics and demanded truth in advertising for women's health services
-Screen your own "Exposing Fake Clinics" Video and be sure to submit it to the Video Contest to Expose Fake Clinics! Entries are due no later than Nov. 1 to Jacqueline Sun at jsun@feminist.org.

Don't forget to do your homework! Before organizing your week of action, be sure to check out the FMF's Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics kit, find out if CPCs are targeting your campus and start getting the word out!

Stay tuned for more Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series blogs and more info on visibility events for the week of action!

If you have a great action event idea, we want to hear it and share it! Email your campus organizer with your great idea!

Photo courtesy of PumpkinWayne on flikr.com

Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series! Step 2: Get the Word Out!

Welcome to another installment of Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series!

In Allie's last post, we talked about finding out whether or not CPCs were targeting your campus.

In this installment, I'm going to talk about how you can get the word out and create visibility for exposing fake clinics.

Here are some ideas:

1. Create educational flyers letting people know what CPCs are and where the nearest one to your campus is. Distribute them widely and educate your student body about the deceptive practices of crisis pregnancy centers.

2. Circulate the petition. Not only will you be getting signatures of supporters, you will also be educating people who may not have already known about CPCs. Be sure to email (campusteam@feminist.org) the information from the petition to us in an excel sheet or fax in your petitions. This will ensure that these signatures get sent out to congressional leaders, but it will also connect our supporters to the largest pro-choice student network in the world. Don't deprive our supporters from action alerts as well as conference, campaign and event news!

3. Distribute our caution flyer to warn people about CPCs near your campus!

4. Hand out pieces of candy, each with a informational tag. They can include information about what a CPC is, how to discern a CPCs from legitimate clinics, or where the CPCs in your area are.

5. Get news coverage from your campus newspaper! Call your newspaper editor and pitch them the story about CPCs. FMF has just released a new press release about CPCs that you should send to the editor as well. In your pitch, include info about the deceptive practices of CPCs, where the closest CPC is to your campus, whether your health center refers women to CPCs, and let them know what actions your feminist group is taking to expose them, and what you plan to do for the national Week of Action October 25th-31st!


Don't forget about our video contest. Do you have a great idea to get to word out? Personal experiences? Want to share how you feel about CPCs? We want to see it! The winner will have their video screened at the Western Regional Feminist Campus Leadership Conference as well as the National Conference in the Spring, and be presented by feminist actor, Amy Brenneman! Deadline to submit videos is November 1st. Please send your submissions to me, Jacqueline Sun, jsun@feminist.org. And remember to keep your videos less than 10 minutes long!


Keep checking up on the blog for more in our action series!

photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanchan/2500293355/

Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series! Step 1: Are fake clinics targeting your campus?

Fake clinics, often referred to as "Crisis Pregnancy Centers" (CPCs), pose as comprehensive women's health clinics and lure young women into their centers with offers of "free" pregnancy tests and "counseling".

But, beware! These fake clinics propel false information about abortion and birth control and use fear and shame tactics to deter women from choosing abortion as an option. Their most common claims include, "abortion causes breast cancer", "abortion causes infertility" and "abortion causes mental illness and suicide". The studies CPCs use to back up these claims are a thing of the past...too bad CPCs aren't!

What makes them even worse? They specifically target young women on college campuses, or what they deem the "at-risk for abortion" population. They run their deceptive ads on campus bulletin boards and bus stops, in campus newspapers and on Facebook. Additionally, a 2008 survey found that nearly HALF of all responding campus health centers at 4-year colleges and universities refer students facing unintended pregnancies to CPCs.

So what can you do??

Find out if there is a CPC near your campus! Visit www.optionline.org or www.lifecall.org and punch in your zip code (note: these are anti-choice websites with directories of CPCs).

Find out if CPCs are advertising on or around your campus! Check the newspaper, bulletin boards, bus stops, etc. Do they table on campus? Talk to the newspaper editor, student government, student activities, or whoever has the power to stop this, and tell them these fake clinics endanger women's health!

Lastly, find out if your campus health center is referring students to CPCs. If they are, work with the health center director to get them to stop. If you have a hard time, garner support from other progressive student groups, the women's center, multicultural center, women's issues representative in the student body, or student senators.

Check out the FMF's Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics for more information and check out Jacqueline's recent post for more action ideas and information about the "Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated" Week of Action taking place Oct. 25 - 31!

Stay tuned for more to come in the Exposing Fake Clinics Action Series!