The results of a somewhat secretive journal study Contraception revealed that crisis pregnancy centers offer better and more timely services than abortion facilities.
The study, which appears in the January 2023 issue of the journal, used mystery callers in its analysis of 445 crisis pregnancy centers (CPC) and abortion facilities geographically. Four trained research assistants conducted the phone calls, “posing as patients with an unknown last menstrual period and a positive home pregnancy test, seeking pregnancy confirmation and counseling.”
Crisis Pregnancy Centers and Abortion Facilities
The main outcome sought by the research was to examine the waiting time to the first available appointment in early pregnancy. Secondary outcomes included pregnancy test and ultrasound availability, cost, and telephone call characteristics (number of call attempts, call duration, and hold time).
Contraception concluded that pregnancy confirmation is more accessible at CPCs compared to abortion facilities. CPCs were more likely than abortion facilities to provide same-day appointments (68.5% vs 37.2%) and free pregnancy tests (98.0% vs 16.6%). In general, abortion facilities have longer median wait times for early pregnancy visits.
The study also compared data across states with supportive CPC policy environments. An important finding indicated that measures to access pregnancy confirmation had a more pronounced delay in abortion facilities compared to CPCs in states with non-CPC-supportive policy environments.
Michael New, in a article for the National Reviewnoted that the study’s results are especially important considering that the journal has a traditional “bias in favor of legal abortion and contraception use.”
“The authors of Contraception The study was academics affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh, and none had connections to a pro-life group,” said New, a research associate at the Catholic University of America and an associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute. “A liberal academic journal published an analytically rigorous study showing that pregnancy centers offer better and cheaper services to women. Overall, it’s a good testament to the nearly 3,000 pregnancy help centers in the United States that tirelessly provide life-affirming alternatives to pregnant women every day.
The study also revealed that abortion facilities were more likely to offer sonographic confirmation of pregnancy compared to CPCs (94.4% vs 66.5%). However, among facilities that offer ultrasounds, the service is more likely to be free of charge in abortion facilities compared to CPCs; The median ultrasound cost at abortion facilities was $162.50, according to the data.
The Contraception The study was completed before the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022, but the authors note how the implications of the decision, along with their data, could affect pro-abortion advocates.
“Our findings (showing that pregnancy confirmation is easier to obtain in crisis pregnancy centers than in abortion facilities) are predicted to worsen after abortion clinic closures following Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization The Supreme Court’s decision, “said the authors of the study. “It highlights the need for improved funding and support for the delivery of pregnancy confirmation services in medical settings, including facilities of abortion.”
For Care Net and its 1,249 affiliated pregnancy centers, the findings of this study may bring encouragement and hope, but should also serve as a clarion call to continued efforts in thinking about “a culture where women and men faced with pregnancy decisions are transformed by the Gospel. by Jesus Christ and given the power to choose life for their unborn children and abundant life for their families.”
