By Scott Jenkins Salisbury Post The Pregnancy Support Center of Salisbury was one of 10 targeted in a report released in July by the abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina. Based on calls and visits to 10 of the 70 crisis pregnancy centers that existed across the state in 2003, the report accuses the Salisbury ministry and others of trying to scare women out of having abortions. Pregnancy Center leaders dispute that, saying they only provide factual information and alternatives for women in unplanned pregnancies trying to decide whether or not to have an abortion. The report says NARAL "investigators" called or visited the centers in the summer of 2003 "presenting themselves as women who might be pregnant and were considering abortion." According to the report, a person who answered the phone at the Salisbury center told the investigator "that she would give her 'factual truths' about abortion that were concealed by 'society' and the 'news media,' " and that abortion was linked to higher risks of breast cancer and infertility. Amy Woodell, statewide organizer for NARAL, called those health claims "blatantly false." Pro-choice organizations say the most recent and complete studies prove no link between abortion and breast cancer, and they argue that connections with infertility are unproven. "If a woman enters a crisis pregnancy center with full information about the center's real agenda and bias, that's her choice, but lines are crossed when the center is dishonest," Woodell said. "No matter what your position is on abortion, we should all be able to agree ... that women really need accurate information to make responsible decisions." Woodell said NARAL has been distributing the information it collected in 2003 but released it to the public for the first time this year to coincide with a report on pregnancy resource centers receiving federal funds. Done at the request of U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, a Democrat from California, that study alleges that 20 of 23 centers contacted provided false or misleading information about health risks associated with abortion. Woodell said NARAL didn't target centers it considered "the worst of the worst." It selected centers based largely on the location of volunteers willing to work on the study. Salisbury Pregnancy Center leaders said they don't know who might have talked with NARAL's investigator in 2003 or whether it was an employee or volunteer. And they said they can't confirm details of the conversation, since the center takes hundreds of calls from women every year. "We really don't know what was done because they were pretending to be clients," Executive Director Kristi Greene said. Greene said the person who answered the telephone might have said the same thing had the investigator identified herself. "We're not out to hide anything that we let anybody know," she said, including the results of studies that find links between abortion and breast cancer or infertility. "We let them know that there is controversy over that, but a lot of studies show increased risk," she said. Still, Nathan Chambers, chairman of the center's board of directors, said he was puzzled that the Salisbury center was targeted since it makes no attempt to disguise its mission as a Christian agency that does not support abortion. And he calls NARAL a political organization, while he said the center's leaders have made every attempt to steer clear of politics, even denying anti-abortion candidates a platform there. "We operate more like a ministry and we want people to see us in that light," Chambers said. "We want the whole community of Salisbury and Rowan County to see what we do; we have absolutely nothing to hide." The NARAL study, called "Choosing Lies and Deception: Crisis Pregnancy Centers in North Carolina," claims that many disguise their missions, even listing themselves in phone books under "abortion information" or "pregnancy counseling" headings. In the latest BellSouth telephone book for Salisbury, the Pregnancy Support Center is listed under "abortion alternatives," a heading separate from "abortion information." The center is listed under "pregnancy counseling" with a notation to see its entry under abortion alternatives. Greene said the Pregnancy Support Center also provides information about abortion procedures, risks and potential complications. But she said volunteers go through "extensive training" before working with clients and that their goal is "empowering women to make informed decisions," even when they don't agree. "We're there to support them, we're not there to make decisions for them," she said. For more information about the Pregnancy Support Center, call 704-633-7695 or log on to www.pregnancysupport.com. For more information about NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina, log on to www.prochoicenorthcarolina.org. Contact Scott Jenkins at 704-797-4248 or sjenkins@salisburypost.com.
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