Student Encounters with a Campus Crisis Pregnancy Centre: Choice, Reproductive Justice and Sexual and Reproductive Health Supports

Abstract

In a mixed methods study, I investigated student experiences of an on-campus crisis pregnancy centre. Participants sought testing, counselling, and referral to abortion and instead encountered religious, anti-choice messages. Taking a reproductive justice approach to understanding student needs, I argue that the study’s findings underscore the imperative that campuses provide accessible sexual and reproductive health services while simultaneously limiting campus access to anti-choice organizations.

Untitled

“…SINCE…We have evidence that Crisis Pregnancy Centers/Pregnancy Care Centres [CPC/PCCs] provide medically inaccurate information, engage in deceptive practices, and are not transparent about their goal to prevent abortions (Arthur et al, 2023;Boucher, 2004;Bourgeois, 2014;Browne, 2019: Bryant, & Swartz, 2018Burns-Pieper, 2022;Canadians for Choice, 2008;Ho, 2022;Humphreys, 2021;Khandaker, 2013;LaRoche, & Foster, 2015;Li, 2019;Mitchell, 2019;Montoya, Judge-Golden, & Swartz, 2022;Murdoch, 2020;NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut Foundation, 2018;Oliver et al, 2018;Polcyn, et al, 2020;Pompilii, 2022;Raab, 2020;Rudrum, 2023;Shaw, 2006;Shaw, 2013;Smith, 2010;The Alliance, 2021;The Charity Report, 2022;Tilley, 2011;Upshaw, 2022;Weeks, 2022).…”

“…As Sarah Rudrum (2023) found in their analysis of students' experiences with an on-campus CPC/PCC at a Canadian University: "Participants contacting the CPC sought testing, counselling, and referral to abortion; instead, they encountered religious, anti-choice messages, and were left distressed and with delayed access to health care" (p. 53). The examples of misinformation provided by CPC/PCCs are extreme.…”

“…SINCE…We know that stigma is a barrier to people accessing abortion services (CASW, 2022;Davies, 2022;Dineley, et al, 2020;LaRoche, & Foster, 2015;Rudrum, 2023;Sethna, et al, 2013;Shaw, 2013;Steinberg, et al, 2016).…”

Letter to the Editor

“…SINCE…We have evidence that Crisis Pregnancy Centers/Pregnancy Care Centres [CPC/PCCs] provide medically inaccurate information, engage in deceptive practices, and are not transparent about their goal to prevent abortions (Arthur et al, 2023;Boucher, 2004;Bourgeois, 2014;Browne, 2019: Bryant, & Swartz, 2018Burns-Pieper, 2022;Canadians for Choice, 2008;Ho, 2022;Humphreys, 2021;Khandaker, 2013;LaRoche, & Foster, 2015;Li, 2019;Mitchell, 2019;Montoya, Judge-Golden, & Swartz, 2022;Murdoch, 2020;NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut Foundation, 2018;Oliver et al, 2018;Polcyn, et al, 2020;Pompilii, 2022;Raab, 2020;Rudrum, 2023;Shaw, 2006;Shaw, 2013;Smith, 2010;The Alliance, 2021;The Charity Report, 2022;Tilley, 2011;Upshaw, 2022;Weeks, 2022).…”