Crisis Pregnancy Believers

I learned about Crisis Pregnancy Centers by accident at a wellness fair over two years ago at my college. I was president of the campus' Gender Equality Club, and I went to the fair to get some information about reproductive health. I visited all the different booths and picked up informational brochures from each one. One of the booths belonged to Care Net. I got information about their organization and read about it when I got back to my dorm. Needless to say, the information they gave me was false. Even more needless to say, they were unsuccessful in washing my brain. From then on, I knew I had to disect the false information they give to women and further reinforce what I already know about them: They suck.

I kind of like to dissect the language used by the pro-zygote movement. Whether they choose their words wisely or out of a hat, their language is quite telling. In the couple years since I learned about Crisis Pregnancy Centers, I noticed that feminists don't use the word "crisis" to describe an unintended pregnancy. Why is that? I think I found the answer when I was reading the chapter about crisis counseling in my Community Counseling textbook. The chapter provides several definitions of "crisis." Here's one of them.

Crises are personal difficulties or situations that immobilize people and prevent them from consciously controlling their lives.*

Now, is "crisis pregnancy" just a clever term for these centers? One of the fundamental tenets of pro-lifers is that women are thrusted into some sort of altered state of consciousness that makes them unable to make the "right" decision for themselves (in so many words). So maybe the word "crisis" is intentional. Here's something else I read about crises:

Crisis is a danger because it threatens to overwhelm the individual and may result in suicide or a psychotic break. It is also an opportunity because during times of crises, individuals are more receptive to therapeutic influence.*

During times of crisis, individuals are more receptive to any kind of influence. That includes the influence of people who have a certain self-fulfilling goal in mind for you.

Feminists use the term "unintended" for pregnancies that are, well, unintended. Pregnancies aren't a crisis in our view, because we know that, at least for now, we have options. Furthermore, feminists trust women that they know what is best for them and can make their own decisions. Anti-choicers, on the other hand, don't believe in, well, choice. So every unintended pregnancy is a crisis to them (or for them, in the event that they are faced with an unintended pregnancy).

Now if only every woman believed that an unintended pregnancy was a crisis -- before they become pregnant. And, obviously, the best way to turn an unintended pregnancy into a crisis is by rolling back abortion rights. That way, there are fewer options for women, and the fewer the options, the harder it becomes to have control over your own life. And, obviously, the best way to create millions of unintended pregnancies is by demonizing contraception. Anti-choicers in this country have already done both with legislation at the state and federal level and by creating abstinence-only education. If every woman believed they were in a crisis when they become pregnant and don't want to be, they'll be more susceptible to the propaganda of the Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Clever, indeed.

P.S. I just saw an ad for Mike Huckabee. He said he wants to abolish the IRS. Tell New Jersey what else you'd like to abolish, Huck.

*Gladding, S. & Newsome, D. (2004). Community and Agencey Counseling, 2nd. ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.