“Evil CPC” Story: Urban Legend?
— Posted by John (April 26, 2006 at 12:16 pm)
Many of you have probably seen the “evil CPC” story that’s been circulating recently. Christina at Real Choice is one of several pro-lifers who have pointed out that it has all the marks of an urban legend in that it lacks specific details.
The story doesn’t even tell us which of the three Planned Parenthood abortion clinics in Indiana this purported incident stemmed from.
That said, it sure looks as if this episode is fabricated.
Here’s the story, which i’mnotsorry.net reports “has been circulating through PP and NARAL’s channels, as an illustration of a proposed law regarding ‘crisis pregnancy centers’”:
An Indiana mother recently accompanied her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend to one of Indiana’s Planned Parenthood clinics, but they unwittingly walked into a “crisis pregnancy center” run by an anti-abortion group — one that shared a parking lot with the real Planned Parenthood clinic, and was designed expressly to lure Planned Parenthood patients and deceive them.
The group took down the girl’s confidential personal information and told her to come back for her appointment, which they said would be in their “other office” (the real Planned Parenthood office nearby). When she arrived for her appointment, not only did the Planned Parenthood staff have no record of her, but the police were there — the “crisis pregnancy center” had called them, claiming that a minor was being forced to have an abortion against her will.
The “crisis pregnancy center” staff then proceeded to wage a campaign of intimidation and harassment over the following days, showing up at the girl’s home and calling her father’s workplace. Our clinic director reports that she was “scared to death to leave her house.” They even went to her school and urged classmates to pressure her not to have an abortion.
It’s this last sentence in particular that raised a red flag for me.
They went to her school? One wonders how they would have done this. It’s next to impossible for a stranger to enter a school building, as nearly all schools’ doors are locked from the outside.
Perhaps “They even went to her school…” means that the CPC workers waited outside the school for the girl to leave at the end of the school day.
But how could they have known who this girl’s “classmates” were? Or did they just go up to students at random (who, for all the CPC workers knew, didn’t even know who this girl was) and “pressure” them to tell her not to have an abortion?
Until I see convincing evidence to the contrary, I think a healthy dose of skepticism is called for here.
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Lauren says:
The best way to debunk a story is to prove it wrong. Prove that they didnt and I’ll listen.
Comment posted April 27th, 2006 at 11:52 am
Phil says:
If Planned Parenthood can’t provide sources, it should be viewed skeptically. One of the pro-life bloggers out there is looking into things…..
Comment posted April 27th, 2006 at 3:15 pm
Lauren says:
I doubt truly that it is false.. Let’s say hypothetically it is true… what does this mean?
Comment posted April 28th, 2006 at 1:35 am
Phil says:
If its true, then it means that there are bad CPCs out there (which I don’t doubt). But to use one extreme example to judge the entire CPC movement would be a great mistake as well. For the thousands of CPCs out there, they are still getting only a fraction of the tax funding that Planned Parenthood receives.
Comment posted April 28th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Lauren says:
Don’t you think it is disingenuous on its face and it is wrong for these places to disguise themselves as abortion clinics?
Why, you judge all womens’ clinics the same don’t you?
Comment posted May 1st, 2006 at 9:15 am
Orthodoxy says:
“For the thousands of CPCs out there, they are still getting only a fraction of the tax funding that Planned Parenthood receives.”
PP says that CPCs receive $60 million in government grants (not specifically limited to just federal funds). However, according to PP’s own annual reports, the received $254.4 million in federal gov’t grants and contracts in FY 2002-03 alone!
See more at http://spaces.msn.com/jamiebeu/Blog/cns!6E0753BD56367285!399.entry
Comment posted May 2nd, 2006 at 4:12 pm
Phil says:
I was just talking to someone about that this weekend…..we can’t hold Planned Parenthood accountable for what some chop shop abortion chain in California has done, nor can we hold every Planned Parenthood accountable for what PP Golden Gate has done.
But with the very autonomous nature of the CPC system (many are affiliated, but its a lose affiliation, with control being in the hands of the locals who set them up), painting them all with one brush wouldn’t work.
Comment posted May 3rd, 2006 at 8:45 am
John says:
Good points, Phil.
Comment posted May 3rd, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Christina says:
You can go to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center and file a report. Put “0″ in the dollar amount, since you’re a third party rather than a victim.
If we push hard enough, maybe the people behind this will be doing a new dance soon: The Perp Walk!
Comment posted May 5th, 2006 at 8:59 am
Lauren says:
Christina you’ve lost me.
Phil.. I agree with you.
Comment posted May 11th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
Lucy says:
I had a similar experience at a clinic that was attempting to pass itself off as an abortion clinic. They called me every name in the book. I don’t know what they would have done if I had been younger than I was. I wasn’t a minor though, but I was still young. I was told that I was lower than an animal. The woman who was saying these things to me would have probably hit me if she thought she could. The hate that was in that womans eyes for me was more than you could imagine. I was young, and I was terrified as it was. When I finally ended up at a Planned Parenthood I can’t tell you what a relief it was. It isn’t that they were friendly or anything. They weren’t mean though. While some may fault the fact that they don’t take a personal interest in the women who cross their thresholds, I appreciate the fact that they were really just doing their jobs. I appreciate the fact that they are operating under the impression that unless I state otherwise I have made my decision and do not need their input.
I fully believe the story. I believe that there is no end to the lengths that will be taken to prevent a young woman from having an abortion. I don’t believe that the woman understood what she looked like to me. She was going to scare me into doing what she wanted. Of course, I’d grown up with worse than her. All she could do was bark. It doesn’t make it welcome.
Comment posted June 3rd, 2006 at 1:27 am
Generations for Life » Blog Archive » “Evil CPC” Not So Evil After All says:
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Comment posted July 6th, 2006 at 3:00 pm