February 8, 2023

USA: AP Bans ‘Crisis Pregnancy Centers,’ Directs Journalists to Use Negative Term Instead, Over 100 Pregnancy Centers Attacked. Only Two Antifa Prosecuted. Private Investigators Hired To Find Terrorists

Fox News May 16, 2022: Lawrence Jones: Life shouldn’t be a matter of political convenience. The ‘Cross Country’ host rips the similarities between Secretary Yellen’s recent comments and the Planned Parenthood founder’s racism in his monologue.
Secretary Yellen said, "In many cases abortions are of teenage women, particularly low-income, and often Black who aren't in a position to be able to care for children, have unexpected pregnancies and it deprives them of the ability often to continue their education, to later participate in the workforce. So, there is spillover into labor force participation. It means the children will grow up in poverty and do worse themselves. This is not harsh. This is the truth." So she advocates killing the poor Black child instead. (emphasis mine)
Fox News published Jun 25, 2022: Pro-life centers in danger amid Roe protests. Mountain Area Pregnancy Services executive director Kristi Brown weighs in on her crisis pregnancy center being vandalized in the lead-up to the Supreme Court's ruling on abortion on 'Lawrence Jones Cross Country.'
The Daily Signal
written by Elizabeth Troutman and Tyler O'Neil
Friday February 3, 2023

The Associated Press added an entry to its style guide directing journalists to put the term “crisis pregnancy center” in scare-quotes, and to use “anti-abortion center” instead, to convey that “the centers’ general aim is to prevent abortions.”

The AP added this entry between Nov. 20 and Nov. 27, 2022, according to The Daily Signal’s search of the Wayback Machine. The guide describes the centers as “set up to divert or discourage women from having abortions” and warns writers against “potentially misleading terms” like “pregnancy resource centers or pregnancy counseling centers.”

“If using the term anti-abortion center, explain later that these often are known as ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ (with quotation marks) and that their aim is to dissuade people from getting an abortion,” the style guide entry states.

“It’s disgraceful that so-called journalistic professionals succumb to pro-abortion political activists to do their bidding,” Thomas Glessner, president of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, told The Daily Signal. His organization won an important 2018 U.S. Supreme Court case against then-California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who applied state law forcing pregnancy centers to post information about nearby abortion facilities.

“If they actually cared about integrity, they would know that pregnancy centers seek to help women who are facing unplanned pregnancies with material and emotional support,” Glessner added. “Many centers also provide medical services for free.”

The AP did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment about when, exactly, it adopted this guidance, and how it would respond to criticism about it.

The AP’s pregnancy center definition follows at least 80 attacks against pregnancy centers since the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade in early May, according to the Catholic Vote tracker. Abortion advocates have firebombed and spray-painted the centers, which provide free medical and financial support to pregnant and new mothers, with pro-abortion and anarchist messages and symbols.

“These centers are the backbone of the pro-life movement, serving as boots-on-the-ground representatives of a movement that cares deeply for both mom and baby,” Glessner said. “It’s a disgrace that the media have taken such an active stance against these centers, especially at a time in our history when women really need help, acknowledgement, and someone to lean on during a difficult time.”

The Associated Press is the most common stylebook among journalists and news outlets on the Left and Right, including The Daily Signal. The Daily Signal does depart from AP style when the style guide adopts partisan messaging on abortion, transgender identity, and other issues, however.

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska appeared to celebrate the AP style guide change.

“Please see a recent update in AP style, which avoids the use of ‘fetal heartbeat’ bill since this legislation addresses neither a fetus (it’s still an embryo) nor a heartbeat (it hasn’t yet developed a heart),” the pro-abortion organization wrote in a blog post on Thursday.

The Associated Press issued guidelines on abortion in December, prohibiting the use of “pro-life” and instead advising “anti-abortion or abortion-rights.”

The “Abortion Topical Guide” instructs journalists to refer to fetal heartbeats as “cardiac activity,” avoid crediting the “abortion pill reversal process,” and never use the term “late-term” abortion or refer to unborn babies as “pain-capable” until after 24 weeks, despite evidence that the unborn can feel pain at 15 weeks or earlier.

“On substance, the guide is pernicious,” Chuck Donovan, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s research branch, the Charlotte Lozier Institute, told The Daily Signal. “The aim of pregnancy help centers is just that, help. They are staffed by medical and counseling professionals and dedicated volunteers who provide an astounding array of free services to women facing unexpected pregnancy.”

“The centers make plain that they do not offer abortion and do not regard it as a practice that benefits women and families,” he added.

Democratic politicians have condemned pregnancy centers, despite the rash of violence these pro-life organizations have faced. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called for a “crackdown” on pro-life pregnancy resource centers in an Aug. 4 Senate speech. She and six other Democratic senators launched an inquiry against Heartbeat International, the world’s largest network of pro-life pregnancy care centers, in September.

When the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning attacks on pregnancy centers last month, 208 Democrats voted against it.

Pregnancy resource centers “offer love and practical resources” to women, according to Donovan.

“[Pregnancy help centers] help everyone and their doors are open to women who seek counseling and support after all forms of pregnancy loss,” Donovan said. “It is well past time that the AP Guide’s authors visit some of the thousands of thriving centers everywhere in the U.S. and get the guide back to a standard of high-quality reportorial content and ethics.”
National Review
written by Caroline Downey
Sunday January 8, 2023

A pro-life pregnancy center network is taking matters into its own hands and hiring private investigators to find pro-abortion terrorists who attacked its medical office, claiming that the FBI is “slow-walking” its probe, which has not resulted in any arrests.

CompassCare is partnering with the Thomas More Society, a nonprofit law firm fighting for religious liberty, to hire private investigators to find the perpetrators on its own terms and timeline.

“After talking with our investigators so far, they’ve already provided very valuable insight that we didn’t know. And they do have a track record of identifying terrorists both internationally and domestically,” Compass Care CEO Jim Harden told National Review.

Compass Care’s Buffalo location was firebombed and vandalized in June by pro-abortion extremists claiming to be affiliated with the group Jane’s Revenge following the leak of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. The damage cost the organization over $100,000 in new security. After rebuilding for 52 days, the center re-opened its doors to patients. Pregnancy resource centers often provide an alternative to abortion, including free medical and financial support to pregnant and new mothers.

“Security alone at all three of our sites has cost $150,000 this year. In the next budget it will probably cost us an additional $80,000 every year,” Harden told National Review at the time. Harden even had to temporarily relocate his family due to doxxing threats from pro-abortion activists.

After the arson attack against Compass Care in Buffalo, N.Y., Jane’s Revenge claimed responsibility in an online memorandum. It also threatened to unleash a rampage of violence against pro-life clinics.

Over the summer, the FBI announced it would investigate attacks on pregnancy-resource centers across the country as acts of domestic violent extremism after 124 Republican Members of Congress urged U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland that it do so.

However, Harden has alleged for four months that the FBI has been delaying the investigation into the violence against 77 pro-life clinics nationwide. For example, the agency did not conduct a forensic analysis of CompassCare’s video surveillance footage until July 13th, five weeks after the attack, the center reported.

The FBI advertised a $25,000 reward for information that could lead to the arrests of arsonists, but Compass Care called that “a ruse designed to feign interest in an investigation.” Harden said Compass Care would likely take the FBI reward to offset the expense of hiring the private investigators if they apprehend suspects.

“If the FBI is interested in quelling the nationwide hate crimes against Christian pro-life organizations, they would offer a reward for information leading to the arrests of all 78 attacks, not just for the pro-abortion terrorists who firebombed our facility,” Harden said. “It is a sad day when private citizens are left to do the work of law enforcement.”

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 11:58 PM

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