Many critics of the recent Supreme Court decision Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health, which overturned Roe vs. Wade and returned the “authority to regulate abortion…to the people and their elected representatives,” bemoaned the lack of support for women facing an unplanned pregnancy.
Turns out across the country, more than 2,700 pregnancy centers provide free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, material assistance, referrals for additional public and private resources, prenatal and parenting education, counseling, and other services.
In 2019 alone, these centers provided 1.85 million people with $267 million worth of free services according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute. Client satisfaction rates at pregnancy centers are high. Surveys report the vast majority of clients felt they had a positive experience with the organization they visited.
Pregnancy centers operate with the help of medical and nonmedical staff and volunteers. When I lived in Washington, D.C., I volunteered at the Rockville Pregnancy Center. I remember one young woman in particular. She wanted to keep her baby but as a college student was feeling overwhelmed.
We helped her connect with an array of services to support her and her baby during the pregnancy and after delivery. Her boyfriend was pushing her to have an abortion, and she brought him with her to see the ultrasound. She told me afterward she felt confident she could surmount the challenges that lay ahead of her.
Receiving help from these resource centers is completely voluntary. Women are free to accept or reject such support and to change their minds at any time. Given that these pregnancy centers equip women to make an informed and supported choice about the child they are carrying, it is perplexing that those who consider themselves “pro-choice” would attack such organizations. Yet more than 30 pregnancy centers have been vandalized, torched, and even firebombed since the Dobbs decision was leaked on May 2.
On Saturday, May 25, extremists spray-painted menacing messages on the exterior walls of the Life Choices resource center in Longmont and then set the building on fire. The FBI is investigating the crime and the other attacks on pregnancy centers, churches, and pro-life organizations that have occurred since early May — more than 50 incidents so far. The vandalism of the Sacred Heart of Mary Church in Boulder after the leak of the Dobbs draft was the second such attack in a year.
What is even more puzzling than the violence is the silence of politicians and abortion advocacy organizations. After all, pro-life leaders and organizations denounced the clinic bombings in the1980s immediately afterward and in no uncertain terms. President Ronald Reagan condemned the bombings as “violent, anarchist activities” and promised to do everything he could to bring the extremists to justice. The perpetrators were found and convicted.
Violence is not only immoral but antithetical to all that the pro-life movement stands for and we deplore it without reservation. Are we alone in this?
What explains the silence from President Joe Biden in the face of escalating violence toward pregnancy centers, pro-life organizations, and churches? Why did members of Congress have to press Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate? Similarly, why have Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, and Colorado abortion advocacy organizations not denounced the vandalism and arson perpetrated by abortion advocates in this state? It’s been days since Life Choices in Longmont was torched and not a word.
If pro-life leaders had been silent in the face of the 1980s bombings, it would have been interpreted as cowardice or approval. So which is it?
Krista L. Kafer is a weekly Denver Post columnist. Follow her on Twitter: @kristakafer
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