- Providing incomplete and/or inaccurate information about all pregnancy options (birth, abortion, adoption, and parenting).
- Misrepresenting the medical and emotional effects of abortion and giving birth.
- Convincing pregnant people that their pregnancies are less far along, which tricks people into delaying seeking abortion services, thus effectively limiting access by making the procedure more difficult to obtain, for financial as well as legal reasons (ex. twenty week bans). Similarly, CPCs are known to falsely tell people that they have already passed the cutoff point for legal abortion, and therefore have no choice but to carry their pregnancy to term.
- Discouraging people from using certain methods of birth control that are actually very safe and effective (e.g. saying that IUDs cause abortions).
- Deceptive naming practices. For example, the Northfield Women’s Center sounds eerily similar to the Northfield Women’s Health Center, a legitimate women’s medical clinic nearby.
At a trip to the Northfield Women’s Center, Carleton students received a pamphlet intended for the “boyfriend” of the client titled Before She Decides and one for the client titled Before You Decide. These pamphlets were made by CareNet, a network of anti-choice CPCs, whose goal is to coerce women “to choose life for their unborn children and abundant life for their families.”
These pamphlets included messages for the pregnant person’s partner like, “There is nothing safe or natural about a medication that ends a life” and “You may also feel powerless in a culture that says it is her choice, not yours… After all, it’s your unborn child too!”
A pamphlet for the client included the message, “By taking emergency contraception before knowing you are pregnant, you may be putting yourself at risk for no reason” and “the bottom line is that scientific evidence indicates that abortion is more likely to be associated with negative psychological outcomes when compared to miscarriage or carrying an unintended pregnancy to term.”

Photo by NARAL Pro-Choice America / Creative Commons
As leaders with Student Advocates for Reproductive Choice, a group that fights for reproductive freedom on our college campus and in our local community, we knew we needed to speak up against our college’s lease of building space to the Northfield Women’s Center.
This is amazing! I am a student at St. Cloud State University/President of Students for Choice and I am currently pursuing this as it is a big problem on our campus. I find that many students in our community do not want to get involved/support our local FWHC so it has been quite a struggle, but we have made some strides. Maybe I could learn more about your efforts and strategies? Feel free to email me!
In solidarity of choice,
Carlee