Guest Author - Rebecca Pearce-Banks

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), a staunch abortion activist, released a report this week claiming that crisis pregnancy centers give false information to women about the adverse health and mental risks of abortion.

Care Net’s Kristin Hansen says this attempt to discredit pregnancy centers is “an attempt to whitewash the risk of abortion on women’s health.”

“What’s clear in these attacks is that the multi-million dollar abortion industry is growing increasingly frustrated with the success of pregnancy centers, which, unlike abortion providers, offer a wide range of free services to men and women facing unplanned pregnancy and sexual-health related concerns. We find that when a women facing an unplanned pregnancy is empowered with information about abortion alternatives and given resources and compassionate support, nine out of ten will not choose abortion.”

Rep. Waxman has misrepresented and selectively misinterpreted the available information on abortions risks. For him to use one of the few studies that appears to further his agenda is, of course, routine politics, but also a gross abuse of power that can harm potentially millions of women.