Fraser Health Distances Itself from Group Opposed to Abortion

Abortion rights advocates are thanking Fraser Health for distancing itself from a crisis pregnancy centre.

Crisis pregnancy centres are private, faith-based organizations that present themselves as neutral while pushing an anti-abortion agenda.

Earlier this summer Fraser Health said it would be partnering with four community organizations to lead breastfeeding and chestfeeding workshops.

One of those partners was Hope for Women Pregnancy Services, which opened in 2014 as an initiative of Abbotsford Right to Life.

That alarmed three abortion rights organizations, who reached out to Fraser Health asking the health authority to distance itself from Hope for Women.

Joyce Arthur, executive director of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, says Fraser Health took their concerns seriously and updated its social media posts, removing all references of Hope for Women.

In an email to The Tyee, Fraser Health said it “does not have a partnership, funding relationship or service contract with Hope for Women” and that it offers “education on infant feeding to people who have previously provided that education to volunteers that work with Hope for Women.”

Still, it was important for Fraser Health to distance itself because associating with crisis pregnancy centres creates a “public perception of support,” Arthur said.

And that plays into the overall strategy of crisis pregnancy centres, she added.

The Tyee contacted Hope for Women for an interview, but the organization did not respond. The Tyee then sent a list of questions and allegations via email, but the organization did not respond.

Abortion services and crisis pregnancy services

Canada is one of the only countries in the world that doesn’t have a specific abortion law. Instead, the procedure is covered by the Canada Health Act and is regulated by the provinces and territories the same as any other medical procedure, which makes it free and requires the government to ensure it’s available when needed.

In B.C. a person doesn’t need parental consent or a doctor’s referral to access abortion services. To find a clinic that offers abortions near them, they can refer to the province’s HealthLink BC website on abortion, which recommends that people call Options for Sexual Health at 1-800-739-7367 or visit the Options website. People seeking an abortion can also speak with their family doctor.

“The kind of person who’s looking for assistance during an unplanned pregnancy is in a particularly vulnerable situation, and they need to have all the options available to them presented in a way that is judgement-free, up to date and accurate,” said Teale Phelps Bondaroff, chair and co-founder of AccessBC, which advocates for improved access to birth control.

The problem with crisis pregnancy centres, Phelps Bondaroff said, is that they do not present all the available options.

And it can be difficult to tell the difference between a legitimate medical clinic and a crisis pregnancy centre. Even Fraser Health appears to have been confused.

But Arthur says she’s got a couple of tricks to sleuth it out. She’s even got a free online tool to help identify “fake clinics.”

If a clinic’s website says it is not a medical facility and does not refer for abortions, it’s likely a crisis pregnancy centre, she said.

These disclosures could be thanks to the threat of federal legislation that would have required organizations to say whether or not they provide abortion services or risk losing their charitable status. The legislation died when parliament was prorogued last winter and has not been tabled again under Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals, Arthur said.

Jakki Jeffs, the executive director of the Alliance for Life Ontario, which is unaffiliated with Hope for Women, told CBC last year when the legislation was being considered that she believed crisis pregnancy centres were already clear about their stance on abortion.

“We have people call up because they think maybe we would provide abortion, but we don't pretend we do,” she said.

Hope for Women’s website says it does “not provide or refer for abortions as we are not a medical facility. We provide a safe space to talk about abortion methods, side effects, and possible risks.”

Arthur argues that saying you can’t refer someone to an abortion service “is disingenuous.”

“Anyone can provide a referral to an abortion clinic down the street,” she said.

“Fake clinics” might also have images of sad people, heteronormative couples and babies, and use words like “hope,” “life” or beginnings,” Arthur said.

Crisis pregnancy centres might offer recreational ultrasounds too, as Hope for Women does.

Ultrasounds are medical procedures and all medical procedures have some risk, so Health Canada says fetal ultrasounds should be used only for medical purposes, like a doctor checking on the health and development of a fetus.

A recreational ultrasound “provides no information about the baby's health” and therefore does not “justify exposing the baby to ultrasound,” according to Health Canada’s website.

Crisis pregnancy centres use recreational ultrasounds to show the pregnant person the embryo or fetus as a way to encourage them to not get an abortion, Phelps Bondaroff said.

Crisis pregnancy centres might also be using the tactic to create an image of medical competency or reliability, he said.

Many of these types of clinics offer peer counselling, but Arthur says that’s just another “buzzword.”

Peer counsellors aren’t professionally trained and may not have a trauma-informed approach. But they’re dealing with people in highly vulnerable situations with the goal of persuading someone to not have an abortion, Phelps Bondaroff said.

He added, “It’s very strange that someone can set up a clinic to do that.”

It’s frustrating that these clinics hide their motivations and work to prey on emotions, said Ian Bushfield, executive director of the BC Humanist Association.

“They’ll talk up the risks of abortion that aren’t backed by empirical science and downplay some of the relief people do experience when they get an abortion,” he said.

Pregnant people should be able to approach pregnancy and abortion without judgment and to feel secure and supported in any choice that they make, he said.

Someone living in a remote community may have already had to take the day off work or arrange child care to travel to what they thought was an abortion clinic, only to find themselves in a crisis pregnancy centre that won’t refer them to abortion services, Phelps Bondaroff said.

A delay “could mean the difference between the type of abortion a person gets or whether they get to access one at all,” he said.

It’s as if there were fake dental offices that encourage people to come and see them when they need a root canal but then spend the entire time trying to persuade someone to not have the procedure, he added.