Why Can't New York City Put Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers Out of Business?
By Anna Merlan
On the 12th floor of a cavernous office building in downtown Brooklyn, Linda Marzulla, white-haired and soothing, is consoling an overheated, teary teenager with a pink mohawk. The girl has been referred for a sonogram, but there's been a mistake. There are no sonograms today. The girl sweats and tries not to cry as Marzulla fusses. "Get her some water," she instructs an intern.
But if Expectant Mother Care is ill-prepared on this day to deal with its central mission—helping pregnant women—Marzulla can at least provide a tour. The back rooms of the center contain a slightly battered exam table, a sonogram machine, unstaffed at the moment, and a banner familiar to anyone who rides the subway: the words "FREE ABORTION ALTERNATIVES" beside a photo of worried-looking white girl in a pink hoodie.
"Alternatives means another way out," Marzulla always tells her young clients. She means alternatives from abortion and the world of suffering she believes it brings.
They're called crisis pregnancy centers, staffed by anti-abortion groups and often sited near Planned Parenthoods and hospitals. Expectant Mother Care's Brooklyn office is six floors above a Planned Parenthood. Its services come free, and the menu has an unmistakable theme: drugstore pregnancy tests, "pro-life decision counseling," and sonograms, when someone's around to run the machine. Women also get instructions on how to sign up for Medicaid and help finding things like baby clothes and car seats.
Read more at http://www.villagevoice.com/2013-07-31/news/new-york-anti-abortion-pregnancy-centers/
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