In the Blog
Manipulating Young Women in Crisis
When I was a young teenager, I had a pregnancy scare. So of course i went to a crisis pregnancy centre to get the test before I wanted to come clean to my mom or my doctor that I was having sex at a pretty young age. I didn’t have a very open and communicative relationship about my sexuality with any adult and I was leaps and bounds ahead of all my friends in terms of sexual experimentation. This all meant I had no one to talk to.
At the crisis pregnancy centre, instead of good advice and support, I was asked to pee in a cup and then I had to sit in a TV room full of toys and baby clothes and watch a 20 minute video about adoption.
I was lucky - my results came back negative and i could go back to my happy-go-lucky life. I didn’t give it much thought at the time, but the centre I went to was not an impartial and supportive centre that discussed all the options. Instead, this so called “crisis pregnancy centre” was a thinly veiled pro-life centre that used manipulative tactics during a time of high emotional stress in my life.
The centre didn’t even discuss birth control options with me. Eventually, I found another centre willing to do STI and pregnancy-prevention counselling and I got myself set up with some real sexual education.
The always amazing Teen Voices Online website has this page with tips on how to find an authentic crisis pregnancy centre with your reproductive health in mind. Pass it on!
