When you look up “pregnancy center” or “crisis pregnancy center,” your search engine may serve up content from outlets like The Guardian, Ms. Magazine, and Healthline or organizations like Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights that propound the mainstream myth that these facilities are “fake clinics.” Such misinformation is common. It’s one of several inaccurate claims made about these charitable organizations that need to be set straight.
Take, for example, the Healthline article “How to Identify and Avoid Crisis Pregnancy Centers.” The goal of the article is to dissuade people from approaching a pregnancy center. With this in mind, it paints such clinics in a rather negative light. But is all the negativity really warranted? Let’s examine some of these popular but misguided claims.
Pregnancy centers, sometimes called Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs), go by a slew of different titles. (The variety can lead to some confusion, but you can learn these terms and their specific meanings at heartbeatinternational.org/our-work/what-is-a-pregnancy-center). In the aforementioned article, a Healthline writer states that Crisis Pregnancy Centers are “designed to prevent pregnant people from receiving abortion care.” While it is the goal of pregnancy centers to offer alternatives to abortion (they will not offer or encourage an abortion), no one is prevented from seeking that alternative. Rather, pregnancy centers offer ultrasounds to help mothers recognize the humanity of their unborn child, and they either offer resources to help parents in crisis or else direct them to people with the necessary resources. The services and resources are provided for free.
Another claim of the Healthline article is that CPCs “aren’t regulated, licensed, or credentialed facilities … CPCs are fake clinics designed to look like real health centers.” Such a blanket statement fails to account for the particulars. There are many pregnancy centers staffed by licensed medical professionals. If a licensed medical director supervises the organization, it is referred to as a Pregnancy Medical Center. Many clinics, such as those operated by Aid for Women, include on-staff nurses and sonographers.
Data from 2022 show that close to 82% of pregnancy centers offer ultrasounds, and 36% offer STD testing, according to Alliance Defending Freedom. Most of the pregnancy centers in our area are doing better than that average. The Pregnancy Care Center of Rockford, Waterleaf Women’s Center in Aurora (pictured above), and Aid for Women clinics (locations include Rockford, Chicagoland, and beyond) all offer pregnancy testing and ultrasounds. Rockford’s Pregnancy Care Center and Waterleaf both offer STD testing as well. (Aid for Women does not offer testing for STDs as it falls outside of their main purview of assisting moms in unexpected pregnancies, the mission established by founder Deacon Thomas Bresler in 1978.) The personnel who work at these facilities care about the physical and spiritual well-being of their clients. The pregnancy centers also help direct those in need to baby supplies, training, housing options, and other support. They serve as a rather holistic approach to health when it comes to mom and baby, their family and community.
Thousands of pregnancy centers across the U.S. have helped millions of people. 2024 data provided by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, with the assistance of Vision for Life, show that over $13 million in services were provided to more than 52,000 pregnancy center patients in Illinois. Nationally, these centers hold a phenomenal 98% client satisfaction rating. In short, Pregnancy Care Centers are exactly what they say they are.
For an extensive list of pregnancy and parenting resources in northern Illinois an beyond, visit life.rockforddiocese.org/walking-with-moms. If you are a nurse, OBGYN, or other medical professional looking for pro-life work, visit nursesforlife.org/job-board or helpaidforwomen.org/employment to peruse available opportunities.
