In politics, it’s a rarity to find the same standard applied consistently across the board. The abortion industry wants to force pregnancy care centers to hang a sign on their door describing what they don’t provide, yet they are outraged at the suggestion that abortion clinics do the same.
Ross Douthat called the abortion industry out on their hypocrisy in his New York Times opinion piece yesterday. He breaks down the two themes the abortion industry constantly repeats: that (1) pregnancy care centers lie to women and (2) Planned Parenthood offers a well-rounded, unbiased counseling services.
While Douthat concedes the first point, he does something that Planned Parenthood never has the guts to do: apply the same standards to borth parties. Douthat writes that pregnancy care centers should not receive federal funding because they provide false information, which is hardly true. (Read more about these attacks, as previously discussed on Suzy B).
Douthat then turns around and says the same, however, about Planned Parenthood! He notes that their pregnancy/abortion services are hardly well-rounded and unbiased.
While “referrals to adoption agencies” do happen [at Planned Parenthood], the “nondirected counseling” is considerably more likely to point to abortion: In 2007, for instance, Planned Parenthood reported performing 305,310 abortions, and referred less than 5,000 women to adoption services.
Douthat concludes that while pregnancy care centers are under attack for providing “ideological information,” Planned Parenthood clinics across the country go a step further, putting women in danger by covering up statutory rape. In the end, he sees pregnancy care centers and Planned Parenthood falling under the same standards.
I can see why the pro-choice side dislikes crisis pregnancy centers, and especially dislikes the idea of public dollars being funneled their way. But if we don’t want to fund ideologically charged organizations that cut ethical corners in the counseling they provide to pregnant women, there’s a case to be made for taking a look at Planned Parenthood’s millions as well.
So while Douthat is mistaken on the true nature of pregnancy care centers, at least he is willing to do something that those in the abortion industry refuse to do: Follow the same rules they make for everyone else.
