Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey (PPAFNJ) released a report last year attacking pregnancy resource centers, as the governor works to shut the centers down. Now, a pro-life group has released its own report to set the record straight.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute responded to the misinformation from Planned Parenthood with a report of their own, stating that Planned Parenthood’s report was “riddled with speculative claims, unfounded assertions, incomplete research, and flawed reasoning.” They argued that Planned Parenthood performed no credible analysis, and instead, worked only to discredit pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) through a smear campaign.
Planned Parenthood’s lies
The Lozier Institute cited numerous issues with the claims made by Planned Parenthood. One issue was that the Planned Parenthood report generalized information based on a single report about a single pregnancy center — one that wasn’t even in New Jersey.
“The PPAFNJ report contains numerous misleading accusations. One such example is the assertion that ‘[pregnancy centers] have a history of providing incorrect ultrasound dating, leading a client to believe they are earlier or later in their pregnancies than they actually are.’ The report supports this assertion with only one citation, referencing a single article from The New York Times. However, this New York Times article focuses on a specific pregnancy center organization located in Texas, which has no presence whatsoever in New Jersey. Additionally, the article focused on only a small number of problematic cases that do not represent the full scope of the services rendered by or overall quality of the organization.”
Lozier also pointed out that Planned Parenthood “inappropriately inflates the number of pregnancy centers by including pregnancy center locations no longer open, adoption agencies, maternity homes that are not pregnancy centers, prayer ministries, and general social service agencies.”
The Lozier report authors remarked, “Merely taking a pro-life stance on abortion does not make a charity a ‘pregnancy center,'” and noted that of the 59 organizations listed by Planned Parenthood, only 47 were verified as being open.
Planned Parenthood also complained about how there are more PRCs than abortion facilities in operation.
“[T]he Report ignores the reasons behind the popularity of pregnancy centers in New Jersey. Individuals gravitate towards organizations that effectively fulfill their needs and desires. Pregnancy centers excel in providing tangible assistance and essential services to those navigating unintended pregnancies. While Planned Parenthood has not published its client satisfaction rate, pregnancy centers nationwide boast an impressive 97.4% client satisfaction rate, surpassing that of other reputable entities. Furthermore, in stark contrast to the Planned Parenthood facilities in New Jersey, which amassed a collective profit of $17,642,176 through client charges for their services, New Jersey pregnancy centers offer all their services completely free of charge, in 2022 totaling an estimated $3.7 million in services and materials, making New Jersey pregnancy centers more desirable.”
This is an issue that goes far beyond just New Jersey; Planned Parenthood has long been outnumbered by thousands of legitimate health care providers, ranging from PRCs to federally-qualified health centers (FQHCs). Combined, these centers outnumber Planned Parenthood 14 to 1.
Planned Parenthood also cited just one peer-reviewed source in their argument that PRCs promote misinformation, which the Lozier Institute said “involved a secondary data analysis of research conducted by an unnamed pro-abortion group.” Furthermore, this specific study was concerning PRCs in North Carolina, not New Jersey, and even then, the study’s “secret shoppers” only visited 19 of the 122 PRCs in the state.
“To summarize, the only peer-reviewed study cited in the entire Report to justify its claims that pregnancy centers push misleading or inaccurate information is irrelevant to New Jersey, lacks experimental rigor, and is contradicted by other research demonstrating that abortion does indeed pose substantial risks to women’s mental and physical health,” the Lozier report concluded.
New Jersey’s attacks on PRCs
The Planned Parenthood report is just the latest in a campaign to destroy PRCs in New Jersey. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who was a special guest at Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey’s Power to the Polls event in 2023, announced a tour to slander pregnancy centers across the state.
“Women go to these healthcare hoax clinics thinking they will get real medical help, but instead they are greeted by people with no medical background whose goal is to brainwash women with their own ideological agenda,” said Gottheimer. “We need to do everything we can to shut down these brainwashing cult clinics. We need to stop the fake programming they’re pushing. Today marks my first stop at one of the many healthcare hoax centers around the state – women need to know they exist, and we must shut them down. We will make our voices heard and call out crisis pregnancy centers across the state so no women in New Jersey ever suffer from their abusive tactics. It’s up to all of us to spread the word about these dangerous centers.”
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin was also sued by a New Jersey PRC for viewpoint discrimination after Platkin consulted with Planned Parenthood to create a consumer alert warning put in place against PRCs, and opened an investigation into one center for potentially violating the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act – requiring 10 years of documentation from the PRC proving it had not violated any laws.
As Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represented the pregnancy center, pointed out, “AG Platkin has never cited any complaint or other substantive evidence of wrongdoing to justify his demands but has launched an exploratory probe into the lawful activities, constitutionally protected speech, religious observance, constitutionally protected associations, and nonpublic internal communications and records of a non-profit organization that holds a view with which he disagrees as a matter of public policy.“
What do PRCs actually do?
Despite the smear campaign against PRCs, they provide countless resources and support for women and families around the country. The Lozier Institute’s report specifically outlined the amount of services given, which are substantial. In total, the services provided equaled well over $3.5 million, including pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and STD/STI tests; consultations, education, and post-abortion support; and material goods like diapers, wipes, baby clothes, car seats, baby furniture, formula and much more.
This is not unusual; a nationwide report from the Lozier Institute found that PRCs provided over $367M in services in 2022. The vast majority of funding PRCs receive is often through local community donations, and many of the services are available to women at no cost.
The reality is that Planned Parenthood and its defenders detest PRCs specifically because they provide these resources. If a woman chooses to visit a pregnancy center and be supported in her decision to keep her child, then she is less likely to choose abortion — which cuts into Planned Parenthood’s bottom line. These attacks are not based on what is best for women; it’s about keeping the abortion industry in business, at the expense of the women they prey upon.
Tell President Trump, RFK, Jr., Elon, and Vivek:
Stop killing America’s future. Defund Planned Parenthood NOW!
