Pro-Abortion Group Wants Pregnancy Centers Removed From Internet Directories

Pro-Abortion Group Wants Pregnancy Centers Removed From Internet Directories
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 1, 2010

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- They say they support choice, but the pro-abortion activists at NARAL want to leave women in unplanned pregnancy situations with one option: abortion. In a letter to its members today, NARAL president Nancy Keenan announced she is asking two Internet directories to remove pregnancy center listings.

If NARAL is successful, that means millions of people who visit the two prominent directories every year will not see listings for pregnancy centers that provide women with abortion alternatives.

"Today, my team sent our letter with more than 59,000 signatures to YellowPages.com and SuperPages.com asking them to remove misleading CPC ads from their sites," Keenan said this afternoon. "But anti-choice CPCs are still blanketing buses, billboards, and even the airwaves with their falsehoods."

LifeNews.com has contacted but not received a response from representatives of both directories to determine whether they will bend to NARAL's pressure to remove these pro-woman agencies from their listings.

Even if NARAL is successful in censoring information about pregnancy help centers in the directories, they want to go further.

"Now we must take the next step. We need a federal bill to put an end to deceptive CPC ads everywhere," Keenan said, using false claims to support such a bill. "Many CPCs do whatever it takes to block women from choosing abortion. We've heard it all: lies about abortion and condoms, guilt-trips, and harassing follow-up phone calls."

Keenan is promoting the so-called Stop Deceptive Advertising for Women's Services Act, filed by pro-abortion Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, in the U.S. House. The measure would have the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fine pregnancy centers for supposedly engaging in false advertising.

"My heart sinks every time I hear about a woman who was forced to hear lies and lectures from a CPC when what she needed was the truth. The Stop Deceptive Advertising for Women's Services Act can protect women seeking real health care from being tricked into going to an anti-choice CPC," Keenan says.

Kristin Hansen, the vice president for communications at Care Net, a national network of more than 1,100 pregnancy centers, talked with LifeNews.com last month about other NARAL attacks on pregnancy centers.

"Abortion advocacy groups like NARAL have been working hard this year to perpetuate the 'boogeyman' idea that the work of pregnancy centers is harming women," she said.

"Every day, there’s a new blog post, video, 'undercover report,' or now, here’s a flashy quiz to help build an email list and raise money. These scare tactics are riddled with false accusations and are meant to deter women from visiting pregnancy centers for help," she added.

As a response, Care Net released its own REAL Quiz about Pregnancy Centers to counter NARAL's negativity with the truth.

Hansen says most pregnancy center clients appreciate the help and support and the ones speaking out against such centers are typically pro-abortion staffers and volunteers claiming to have been treated poorly.

"If you take a closer look, you see that the negative information about pregnancy centers comes from the same people who are usually a staff person, volunteer, or member of an abortion advocacy group. The complaints do not come from actual clients, who regularly give high approval ratings of the pregnancy center they visited," she said.

The attacks may be backfiring as Care Net is expanding its outreach to new communities.

"Despite these ongoing attacks from NARAL, a growing number of people are getting excited about the compassionate work of pregnancy centers. Care Net sees wonderful doors opening this year as more community leaders are stepping up to open new pregnancy centers in cities where there are few or none," Hansen said.

"Every day, someone’s heart is touched with the vision of reaching out to women facing unplanned pregnancies with practical help and emotional support. There's no new mean-spirited quiz or negative campaign that can prevent the growth of this positive movement in the hearts of volunteers across America," she concluded.

ACTION: Contact the directors at http://www.yellowpages.com/about/contact-us and http://www.superpages.com/about/feedback.html and tell them to ignore NARAL's request to remove pregnancy center ads.

Related web sites:
Care Net - http://www.care-net.org
CareNet Quiz - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/realquizaboutpregnancycenters

http://www.lifenews.com/nat6489.html