Leaders at local pregnancy centers and women’s clinics have expressed medical and ethical concerns about a new self-proclaimed pregnancy center in Dallas that reportedly offers abortion resources.
The Truth Pregnancy Resource Center (TPRC) was launched last month by the First Unitarian Church of Dallas. It touted its plan to advise women how to obtain abortions in neighboring states where the procedure is legal. Local leaders said this focus on facilitating abortion goes against the core mission of pregnancy centers, which provide free guidance and resources to women with an unplanned pregnancy.
“The Truth Pregnancy Center cannot be a neutral place for women to make an unexpected pregnancy decision because only one of their options provides income, and they cannot guarantee a safe environment when they refer out for abortion services,” Jennifer Shelton, the CEO of Real Options, a women’s clinic in Allen, told The Dallas Express.
“Real Options does not refer to abortion facilities because there is an unknown medical and emotional risk that we cannot mitigate, and in addition, we don’t want anyone to profit off of our client’s decisions,” she continued. “The pregnancy help organization model that Real Options follows provides a safe place where, regardless of a woman’s decision, she will be cared for without an alternative profit motive.”
Deneen Robinson, a staffer at TPRC, countered that her center provides pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and counseling to women, in addition to information about how to obtain abortions out of state.
“It is inappropriate and incorrect to assume that we only provide information on abortion access,” she told The Dallas Express. “The goal of a pregnancy center is to assist a person with their decision regarding their pregnancy. We are committed to centering the person using the ‘Reproductive Justice’ framework to guide us.”
TPRC said it cannot employ doctors because of its classification as a non-profit pregnancy resource center. Nonprofits that gain status as clinics, like Real Options, can have doctors on staff to provide prenatal care. Pregnancy centers also provide free resources such as clothes, diapers, and baby formula.
The First Unitarian Church of Dallas, which launched TPRC, has long engaged in pro-abortion advocacy, as reported by BBC. The church flew women to New Mexico to get abortions after the overturn of Roe vs. Wade in 2022. This advocacy actually pre-dates Roe, which legalized abortion nationwide in 1973.
“Before Roe, the clergy of my church were driving women to the Gulf of Mexico to get on boats to go out in international waters and have legal and safe abortion,” Rev. Kanter of First Unitarian Church of Dallas said, per BBC.
Aaron Fowler is the executive director of Bloom PHC, a Dallas pregnancy center across the street from TPRC. He claimed that facilitating abortion goes against the central belief of most pregnancy centers, which recognize the life of a mother and her child.
“You can’t steal words,” he told The Dallas Express. “A pregnancy center would be recognizing someone is pregnant, which means someone has a developing child.”
“The whole pregnancy center movement came out of women creating a demand for support and a conversation about being unexpectantly pregnant,” he continued.
Carolyn Cline, the president and CEO of Involved for Life, a women’s clinic in Dallas, expressed concern that TPRC may be attempting to mislead women with its self-proclaimed pregnancy center branding. Abortion resources, she argued, have nothing to do with assisting women through an unplanned pregnancy.
“That seems contradictory to me,” she told The Dallas Express. “They’re just trying to confuse women and bring them there, is what I think, but I don’t know.”
Cline said there are medical and ethical concerns with how TPRC may advise women about abortion procedures since it does not have a doctor on staff.
“It breaks my heart for women to not understand exactly what they’re doing,” she told The Dallas Express. “They need to have health screenings before they go through with an abortion.”
Shelton said she was worried that TPRC is incapable of providing proper care for women after they advised them to travel to neighboring states to get an abortion. She emphasized the potential medical risks for women unable to receive follow-up care from a doctor in their home state.
“It seems like they want to provide the option of abortion without adequate care for the woman’s well-being afterward,” she told The Dallas Express. “That kind of philosophy is in gross contrast to what pregnancy help organizations do.”