Pregnancy centers opening near abortion clinics offer sonograms, other services to pregnant women

Some antiabortion groups in recent years have opened pregnancy counseling centers in or near facilities that provide abortions and are offering "medical services," including sonograms, to pregnant women who visit the centers, the Washington Post reports.

According to Heartbeat International, which operates a network of pregnancy centers, the number of centers in the U.S. that oppose abortion since 1999 has increased 30% to at least 2,200, with 561 of those offering medical services.

According to the Post, abortion rights advocates say about 1,800 clinics in the country offer abortion services.

A July report conducted by the Democratic staff of the House Government Reform Agency finds that since 1999, the federal government has distributed about $30 million to pregnancy counseling centers that oppose abortion, and the law firm Americans United for Life estimates that about 20 states provide funding for pregnancy counseling centers that oppose abortion.

According to the Post, ultrasound machines are the "centerpiece" of the centers' "medical advances."

Focus on the Family, a group that opposes abortion rights, says it has purchased ultrasound machines for about 200 pregnancy centers since 2004.

Heartbeat International says some clinics also offer prenatal care and tests for sexually transmitted infections. Most advocate sexual abstinence and do not help women obtain contraception, the Post reports.

"We are very careful that everything we present is 100% factual," Peggy Hartshorn, president of Heartbeat International, said.

However, the National Abortion Federation, which supports abortion rights, says it has received hundreds of calls or e-mails from women who say they received false or deceptive information after visiting the centers, which the women said had confusing names or were under "abortion services" in the phone book.

Some abortion right supporters also say that the increasing number of centers is a "dangerous trend" because they "confus[e] vulnerable women" and "mi[x] a seemingly neutral clinical environment with a religious agenda," the Post reports.

Pam Palumbo -- executive director of the Bowie Crofton Pregnancy Center in Bowie, Md. -- said pregnancy centers aim to locate "where women will be seeking abortions" similar to how "McDonald's and Starbucks look for competitors to be next to" (Chandler, Washington Post, 9/9).