Abstract
Objectives
Investigations into Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) have documented the provision
of deceptive information about abortion, but it is unclear how many pregnant women
actually visit CPCs and what impact visits have on their pregnancy decision-making.
Study design
We conducted a mixed-methods study. We surveyed patients at one of two local abortion
clinics and three prenatal clinics in Southern Louisiana about whether they had visited
a CPC for this pregnancy and conducted in-depth interviews with prenatal patients
who reported a CPC visit about their experience.
Results
We surveyed 114 abortion patients and 269 prenatal patients, and interviewed 12 prenatal
patients about their CPC visit. Just 6% of abortion patients (n=7) and 5% of prenatal patients (n=14) visited a CPC for this pregnancy. Prenatal patients went to CPCs primarily for
free pregnancy tests and reported receiving information about abortion from CPC staff
that was inaccurate. They also generally recognized the CPC was antiabortion, ideologically
Christian, and not a medical establishment. Only three had been considering abortion
at the time of their visit and reported that the visit impacted their plan for the
pregnancy. However, all three also faced additional barriers to abortion, including
inability to find an abortion provider, difficulty securing funding, gestational limits,
ambivalence about choosing abortion, and opposition to abortion from family members.
Conclusions
We do not find evidence that pregnant women regularly seek CPC services or that CPCs
persuade women who are certain abortion is the right decision for them to continue
their pregnancies.
Implications
Given little evidence that CPCs impact pregnant women's decision-making on a broad
scale, future research should examine other aspects of CPCs, such as their role in
the antiabortion movement and/or the impact of CPC visits on maternal health and birth
outcomes among women who continue their pregnancies.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 02, 2018
Accepted:
February 27,
2018
Received in revised form:
February 23,
2018
Received:
December 11,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
