What are these "pregnancy centers" anyway? Will they help me get an abortion?
You may have run into "pregnancy centers" in your search to find out what your options are for ending a pregnancy. They say they offer pregnancy tests and will tell you all your options for how to navigate your pregnancy, but will they really?
The answer is no. They are also known as anti-abortion clinics or crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs). These centers are not run by doctors or reproductive health care providers at all, and they will not help you get an abortion. They may offer free pregnancy test or ultrasounds, but their real goal is to convince pregnant people not to have an abortion. There is at least one in the Eastern Sierras, Options Pregnancy Center, located in Bishop, CA.
CPCs are run by anti-abortion advocates and while they offer some support to pregnant women interested in continuing their pregnancy, they offer confusion, shame, misinformation, and delays to people looking to end their pregnancies. They make it harder for people to learn about the full range of options facing someone who is pregnant.
Pregnancy timelines are counted from the first date of your last period, and there are cutoff dates for when you are eligible for different kinds of abortion procedures, so any delay can have a big impact on your abortion access, especially in rural areas where abortion is already difficult to access.
What they do:
- CPCs may advertise a range of reproductive health services, but they don't provide abortion care or abortion referrals
- CPCs are known to use emotional manipulation or religious pressure to make people feel bad for wanting abortion information
- Some CPCs allow unlicensed, non-medical staff to perform ultrasounds and transvaginal exams.
- CPCs create confusion and delays that make it harder for people to access abortion
What they are not:
- CPCs are not licensed medical clinics
- CPCs are not required to provide accurate information or maintain client confidentiality
- CPCs are not subject to HIPAA or other medical clinic regulations
How to Spot a CPC
Here are a few red flags:
- They don’t offer abortion services or referrals but claim to “help you explore your options”
- Their websites use phrases like “abortion reversal,” “abortion risks,” or “pregnancy crisis counseling”
- They avoid clear language about what services they provide
- They advertise aggressively near real clinics or target online searches for “abortion near me”
- They aren’t listed on trusted medical or reproductive health websites like AbortionFinder.org
In the Eastern Sierra, CPCs may be one of the only pregnancy-related resources that show up in small towns or online searches—so it’s easy to mistake them for real clinics.
At Eastern Sierra Choice, we’re committed to helping you cut through the noise and find abortion access. If you think you’ve been targeted by a CPC or just want help finding a safe provider, we’re here for you.