Did Targetting Town for Refusing Anti-Choice Ad Result in Defunding Fake Clinic?

Oh, dear. The town of Hinton, Alberta, is having some troubles.

We reported on the funding of its fake clinic, doing business as West YellowHead Pregnancy Care Centre, back in November 2014.

The Hinton fake clinic was getting dough not only from from the Alberta Lottery Fund, but also from the town's photo radar scam, which turns traffic ticket fees into "community grants."

The fake clinic was doing pretty nicely with annual revenues of over $100K, which is not bad considering the population of Hinton is under 10,000. By contrast, the fake clinic in Medicine Hat, with a population six times that of Hinton, scrapes by on about $60K a year.

HInton's fake clinic has received nearly $40K in the last three years from the photo radar scam.

But not this year. They applied for $17K and were turned down (PDF, page 9) in April.

And Hinton has other troubles. Like several other small centres, it is being sued by the fetal gore porn gang, aka Canadian Centre for Bioethical Reform (CCBR), over its refusal to run said fetal gore on its buses.

Here's a story mainly about Grande Prairie, AB on the stunt.

A pro-life group is suing the City of Grande Prairie because it feels its rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms were violated.

The story mentions that Hinton is also being targetted by CCBR.

"The city's [Grande Prairie] position on this is that we really don't want to take a position. We don't want to be involved in this debate. We don't think it's appropriate for the city to really take a side," said city lawyer Robert McVey*.

Nope. Nothing to do with us. We're completely neutral on the topic.

Well, maybe Grande Prairie can say that but Hinton's record of handing out significant amounts of dough to a fake clinic says otherwise. Maybe that's why the fetal gore gang picked them out?

Let's look at the dates. In January, the town reported that it is reviewing its transit ad policy (PDF, page 2), citing this as the reason.

The Town is currently being challenged by an outside agency that has had their request to advertise on our transit bus, refused by the Town. Having a policy in place will help to avoid being in a similar situation with other groups in the future.

In April, the town declines the fake clinic's request for dough.

Hmmm. Is it trying to distance itself from its own fetus freaks? Trying to position itself -- like Grande Prairie -- as having no, none, nada, zip dog in this race?

Sadly, the fake clinic seemed to be counting on that dough. It is now downsizing.

The West Yellowhead Pregnancy Care Centre in Hinton is going to look a lot different as of next month.

Starting June 15, the facility will only operate as a satellite centre. According to a press release, there will be one volunteer counsellor at the centre which clients can access by appointment only.

The centre is downsizing due to a “significant decrease in funding and change in client numbers” the press release reads.

Boo-hoo.

But consider: did the fetal gore gang's aggressive move have the unintended consequence of forcing the town to distance itself from the fake clinic, and thus cutting off desperately needed funding?

Rather delicious, isn't it?



* Sidebar for those who are interested in arguments around this so-called free speech issue.

In June, LieShite reported on the situation in Grande Prairie.

In court this week, however, the northern Alberta city’s lawyers argued that the ad constituted “hate propaganda.” Stated the city’s brief: “The ad with its graphic images and strong language effectively equates women who have had abortions with murderers. Such a pointed accusation is not only legally incorrect, it exposes such women to hatred.”

Further into the brief, the city goes further, contending the ad was not intended, as CCBR contended, to educate the public about abortion but “was actually designed to promote hatred against an identifiable class.” The city called the CCBR’s position, based on the use of words such as “slaughter” and “evil” on its website, an “extreme religious” viewpoint.

Hate propaganda. Targetting an identifiable group. What we've been saying.

If you agree and haven't yet, please sign the anti-gore e-petition. It needs only 500 signatures to be presented to Parliament and now stands at 3872, but more would be better. We blogged about the petition here.

h/t to Kathy Dawson, (@blueskies366) for critical links. Also eagle eye. :)

Christian Sexual Abuse Counselling from a Fake Clinic

Hoo boy, do I ever have a lot more to say about Crossroads Clinic, a fake clinic/crisis pregnancy centre in Brooks, Alberta.

From its Services page:

Sexual Abuse Support
Is sexual trauma part of your past? 1 in 3 women have experience sexual abuse. You are not alone.

Crossroads Clinic offers a 10 week DVD series that deals with sexual trauma and sexual abuse in a safe confidential setting - Steps to Sexual Health (see below).

…
Steps to Sexual Health
Have you dealt with sexual trauma, abuse, or misuse? Steps to Sexual Health is a 10-part DVD series by Doctor Doug Weiss, Ph.D. that encourages sexual healing and healthy attitudes toward sexuality. Available in safe, confidential sessions for groups or individuals. Call or email Crossroads Clinic to book your session.

So, their sexual abuse support/counselling consists of plugging in some DVDs and leaving clients to watch them confidentially?

Let's find out more about this DVD series, Steps to Sexual Health (bold mine).

These 10 sessions of sexual education with Dr. Douglas Weiss includes: 1. Going for Gold Sex 2. Sexual Expression 3. Roadblocks to Sexual Success (Part 1) 4. Roadblocks to Sexual Success (Part 2) 5. How I Coped 6. Perpetrators 7. Sexual Histories 8. Healing our Histories 9. Your Sexual Guard 10. Sexual Agreement These sessions were taped in front of a live audience. This is perfect for public or private schools, churches or pregnancy centers or to train your own children. This is a professionally presented program for youth to be more prepared for life as a sexual person. Package includes is 3 DVD’s and a workbook.

Crossroads Clinic splurged $95 on it.

Now, who is this Douglas Weiss? He seems to be quack of the first order, an expert on sex addiction, with a long suit in weird coinages, like intimacy anorexia.

He is also -- SURPRISE! -- a fairly whacked out Christian.
Watch this promo for one of his books. (It's mercifully short.)


He's also a regular on the Christian chat show circuit. (I actually watched "Lust Free Living" on that page and learned I'm doing it wrong.)

OK, this is all totally lame, but what would one expect of a fake clinic trying to branch out into other areas and suck in other vulnerable populations?

Not much.

But what would one expect of a fake clinic that has unaccountably gotten itself into something called The Sexual Assault Response Network, with some other legit (-sounding) players?

The Sexual Assault Response Network (SARN) is a collaboration of seven partners including the Sexual Assault Response Committee (SARC), Crossroads Clinic, Cantara Safe House, RCMP, Southern Alberta Child & Family Services (Brooks Office), Victim Service Unit, and Alberta Health Services (AHS) Emergency, Sexual Health Unit, and Social Worker Unit. These agencies have banded together to address an overwhelming need of support for an estimated 3,400 victims of sexual assault in the City of Brooks alone.

For now, all we have to say about this is WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?

Researches are continuing and we'd be grateful for any leads or links.

h/t to Alison for the Dr. Doug video links.

ADDED: Scroll down to see the disclaimer.

Note: Crossroads Clinic provides limited medical services. We provide free medical confirmation of pregnancy and Sexual Transmitted Infections screening and limited treatment for women. We do not provide ongoing prenatal care, abortions, birth control or contraceptives.

So, a sexual assault counselling service that does not offer emergency contraception? How is that possible?

How to ID a Fake Clinic

What they do
Fake clinics, or "crisis pregnancy centres," exist to dissuade pregnant people from having abortions. They pretend to be medial clinics or helpful advice agencies.

They are not. They are the front line of anti-choice. Too often they are literal Christian missions out to deny pregnant people's rights, and ultimately to ban abortion.

They lie. About the stage of pregnancy ("too late to have an abortion"). About the risks of abortion. The consequences of abortion. They promise help that doesn't materialize. There have been many undercover exposés of what they do.

Because of their deception, they can be hard to spot -- which is part of their plan.

Name
The term "crisis pregnancy centre" has acquired quite a stink. So now they call themselves "pregnancy care centres," "pregnancy support services," or "pregnancy resource centres." They often use the words "choice" and "options."

Umbrella Group
In Canada, many belong to an umbrella group, Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Services (CAPSS). (The "C" used to be "Christian.") CAPSS lists its members here.

Location/Signage
One of their tactics is to "co-locate" near real reproductive health clinics, sometimes using similar names. The hope here is that distraught "clients" might mistake the fake clinic for the real one. And people do.

Advertising
Real clinics rarely advertise. Transit ads saying "Pregnant? Confused?" are from fake clinics. Ads also target men as "victims of abortion."

Website
Check "services." The tell here is "post-abortion trauma counselling." Another tell is "self-administered pregnancy tests." Yes, the pee-on-a-stick kind because these are not medical clinics; they have no medical staff.

There may be a disclaimer. (You'll have to look hard for it.) It may say: "We do not refer for abortion or contraception." Or not.

There may be a statement about its mission: "We are a Christian organization..." Or not.

What to do
People have been known to carry sticky notes with "FAKE CLINIC" on them to slap on deceitful advertising. Similarly, "FAKE CLINIC" warning signs have been posted near their locations.

Inform your friends and colleagues. If you are at school, use handouts or bulletin boards. These outfits often target college and university students.

Check out local businesses' "partnerships." If you find a business or communal charity supporting a fake clinic, find out if the sponsor knows the real purpose of the seemingly innocuous "charity."

A US group called Expose Fake Clinics has other actions you can take. It is quite an activist group. You may not want to get so involved, but you can "like" honest reviews and report false advertising.

In Canada, Advertising Standards has an
on-line complaint submission process.

Fake clinics are deliberately deceptive rights-denying, discriminatory outfits. They need to be identified and called out for what they are.

Public Funding of Alberta Fake Clinics, Part 3

In our series, Hinton Crisis Pregnancy Association is last of the three fake clinics in Alberta that have received public funds from the Alberta Lottery Foundation.

(The others are Medicine Hat and Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre.)

Hinton CPC seems to be doing business as West Yellowhead Pregnancy Care Centre; the address is the same on its Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) annual filings.

The first thing to know about Hinton is that it's pretty small, with a population of 9,640 souls as of the 2011 census.

Another thing about HInton is that it has a photo radar system, the proceeds of which are doled out to deserving community organizations. More on that in a bit.

And now we've run out of things to say about Hinton.

The fake clinic seems a bit shy for these sorts of organizations. Its website is under construction and its Facebook page is rather desultorily maintained.

It is a member of the Christian Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Services, the umbrella organization that the Ontario Trillium Foundation had an "issue" with.

I found a profile of the outfit in the local paper from 2007.

The pregnancy centre is a faith-based organization made up of volunteers from various Hinton churches. Church members also make up the board that operates behind the scenes.
…
The centre is made possible by donations from churches, local businesses and the United Way. In addition, the centre does three fundraisers per year including a banquet in October, a baby bottle campaign and usually a spring fundraiser. . .

Giffin said that his organization hasn't had much luck obtaining government grants, but that they are going to try again.

Now to the CRA filings.

2011

2012

2013

Expenses and revenue seem to run at around $100K a year. That's pretty impressive considering that costs at the Medicine Hat fake clinic, with a population six times Hinton's, run about $60K. (Maybe Medicine Hat has competition? Maybe the sluts in Hinton are extra slutty?)

And hey look, the Hinton fake clinic has been successful in getting the government money they were coveting back in 2007.

Some of that would be from the Alberta Lottery Foundation. From 2009 to 2012, it received $50K from ALF or more than half of all such funds given out to fake clinics in the province.

But the really genius part is that it has tapped into another source of public funds -- the aforementioned photo radar tribute.

In April this year, the local paper reported that it had done rather nicely.

Quality of Life grants were doled out last week, with a total of $97,116 for 18 local community groups.

Town council approved the grants at the April 15 meeting. Nineteen applicants had requested $281,068 in funding, which is nearly triple the $100,000 available. Recommendations to council on how to award the available funds were made by the Grant Funding Advisory Committee, which has five voting members. Quality of Life grants are allocated from photo radar fees. . .

The West Yellowhead Pregnancy Care Centre received the largest amount of core funding applied for ($10,000).

So unsuspecting Albertans have TWO ways to contribute involuntarily to the fake clinic: through their lottery tickets and their traffic tickets.

If one is of a religious, anti-choice, misogynist bent, it's beauty. One can say: Well, sheee-it, I didn't win the lottery/I got a damn speeding ticket, but at least the money is going to a Christ-fearing, slut-shaming, human rights-denying outfit.

Of course, if one is not of a religious, anti-choice, misogynist bent, one might say: Well, sheee-it. WTF?

You gotta admire these Christers though. Tricksy with pregnancy/abortion information, tricksy with fund-raising.


h/t to Kathy Dawson for the photo radar link

Fake Clinic Update: Two Fewer In Canada, Irish Health Minister "Sickened"

Crisis pregnancy centres, aka fake clinics, are going through a bit of rough spot.

We reported on Hinton's fake clinic being turned down for a community grant. They'll have to downsize as a result.

In Campbell River, BC, the fake clinic closed down entirely in March.

So did the fake clinic in Prince Edward County, Ontario. (From Facebook.)

And charitable status revoked. (Looking forward to more news like this in upcoming months. Stay tuned.)

Meanwhile in Ireland, another undercover investigation reveals that -- surprise! -- fake clinics there tell the same bullshit lies.

But in a refreshing twist, Ireland's Health Minister appears to give a damn.

Health Minister Simon Harris says he's very "extraordinarily concerned" and "a bit sickened" by the reports. He says women in Ireland are entitled to factual and accurate information, and he's going to look into whether regulating the sector is an option for him.

Wouldn't it be grand if health ministers in Canada paid any attention to the lying liars and the misinformation and manipulation they spew?




h/t again to Kathy Dawson for the closures news

Lying Liars' Latest Stunt: Fake Clinic Escorts

No shit. From Feministing:

The blogger at Everysaturdaymorning, a pro-choice clinic escort in Louisville, KY, has posted pictures and video of the latest disgusting tactic from the antis outside their clinic: wearing fake escort vests.

Escorts wear bright orange vests that say things like "Pro-Choice Clinic Escort" in an attempt to clearly identify ourselves to patients. Even so, the space outside a clinic where anti-choicers have gathered can be incredibly confusing for patients, those accompanying them, and even passers by on the street. Some protesters simply stand off to the side and pray. I don't like the atmosphere of shame they create, but it's the antis we call chasers or sidewalk stalkers who cause the biggest problems. They will do almost anything to harass people going in and out of a reproductive health clinic, which is why pro-choice escorts are necessary - we're not protesters, we're just trying to make it possible for women to access abortion and other medical care. Interactions happen so quickly, and the milieu outside a clinic can be so confusing for someone who didn't expect to be harassed by ideologues on her way to the doctor, that we already have to work hard to make it clear who works with the clinic and who is trying to get in a patient's way.

Yes, the vests these antis are wearing say "Life Escort." Which, I am sure, is not an attempt to accurately identify themselves. They know what a baffling mess they create, and they know the word "Life" is unlikely to be read until after they've forced a patient to listen to them, if at all.

Go see the photos and video here.

I didn't watch the video but there's a transcript at Feministing. The stalker starts off with 'We don't know you but we love you'.

I've seen other vids of the circus these anti-abortion harassers create. People yelling in gooey baby voices: 'Mummy, don't kill me! Mummy, I love you.'

I remember vividly how I felt entering once a clinic and once a hospital -- jangled, worried, nervous. There were no sidewalk harassers then. No one shouting bullshit at me. No one trying to shove lying pamphlets at me. I had absolutely no fear of anyone I knew recognizing me. And I was perfectly clear in my mind that what I was doing was right.

Imagine being young, ignorant, in a conservative place, scared of being recognized, and being forced to run such a gauntlet.

Imagine further that the woman knows something of the lying liars' tactics should she be identified, like receiving red-paint smeared children's birthday cards every year for fucking years.

I so admire clinic escorts, the real ones. Calm, dedicated, kind people who put up with this crap over and over and over. Truly loving people who only care about the woman they're shielding.

I could not do it. I would lose my temper and paste one of harassers. And the lying liars would go batshit over 'pro-abortion violence'.

Love. *ptui* These assholes know nothing about it.

Fake Clinic, Fake Charity

Time for the Vicious Abortion Crusaders to saddle up!

Just like the Ottawa Senators fiasco of a few years ago, another fake abortion clinic has weaselled its way into a xmas charity intended to benefit several community groups.

This time in Kamloops.

Shirley Bosman was excited.

"Oh, this is good news," she said. "This is great news."

Bosman is the executive director of the Pregnancy Care Centre of Kamloops, one of five local charities to have been selected as the beneficiaries of 11th edition of The Daily News Christmas Cheer Fund.

The fund's selection committee completed the process last week and the five charities were notified on Friday.

Also selected were the Kamloops Food Bank; the Marjorie Willoughby Snowden Memorial Hospice Home; the New Life Mission; and the YMCA-YWCA Y Women's Emergency Shelter.

Now if the good people of Kamloops are aware that so-called crisis pregnancy centres are actually Xian-run anti-choice outfits that exist to lie, manipulate, shame, and guilt-trip women out of choosing abortion, fine. Go ahead and donate to the group 'charity' fund, knowing that one-fifth of your dough is going to religious zealots.

If they are not, they need to be wised up.

Judging from the comments, it seems quite a few people are well aware of the evil of these places.

For example, this from Cruick:

I will not support your cause this year. The Pregnancy Care Centre is a facade for an anti choice organization which only supports one option. I cannot believe that The Daily News has agreed to support this organization and thereby endorsing it as one which deserves our support. They do not provide information about birth control. They do not know about or refuse to give out information regarding "plan B" . They do not have medical professionals staffing their facility. There are so many worthy organizations deserving of our support, but this is not one of them. I am so disappointed. As a society we should be supporting organizations that promote Women's health and right to choose with all the facts provided by professionals.

There are lots more comments like that.

So, four other presumably worthy charities are going to lose out because of the inclusion of the fake clinic.

Let's help make sure that the generous people of Kamloops know what they're supporting. Maybe we'll be successful again in getting the clinic to remove itself because of the heat.

Win-win. More dough for real charities. More exposure of fake clinics.

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada is on it.

So is the Kamloops Centre for Rational Thought. They've started a petition.

Remove Pregnancy Care Centre from Xmas Cheer fund.

In view of the fact that the Kamloops Pregnancy Care centre is an avowed anti choice organization which displays little concern for actual pregnant women and is in fact a vehicle for Proselytizing Christianity while denying women reliable information on options related to women's health we respectfully ask that the Kamloops Daily News withdraw it's Xmas Cheer fund support and redirect it to a more worthy and less controversial cause.
[Your name]

Lies and evil masquerading as 'charity' should not be rewarded.

The Making of a Grassroots Activist

A woman in Haldimand Norfolk County in Ontario has made such a pain in the neck of herself that when a giant inflatable baby went missing, several people suspected suggested that she was involved.

Oddly, it was the same promotional inflatable that first caught Georgia Gamble's attention. Just over two years ago, a local restaurant used a picture of Baby Hope (awww) on its Facebook page to advertise a fund raising campaign for Norfolk Pregnancy & Family Resource Centre, an anti-choice crisis pregnancy centre.

She says: "The restaurant made it clear that they supported a woman’s choice and that this group they were raising money for 'were not like those kind of groups' which don’t support a woman’s choice.  This just didn’t sit well with me and I started to investigate just what crisis pregnancy centres were all about."

She came across a blog post here at DJ! about 100 Who Care groups and specifically about Women Who Care Norfolk.

(Briefly, here's how 100 Who Care groups work. A bunch of people get together a few times a year to hear pitches directly from good causes in their communities. Most groups require that the good cause be a registered charity. They listen, vote, and write cheques for $100 each. The Women Who Care Norfolk raised $14,600 for the Norfolk Fake Clinic.)

Georgia contacted the restaurant and explained what CPCs were about and from the response, she suspected the Norfolk centre hadn't been entirely candid with the restaurant about its true agenda.

Which we know is to lie to, manipulate, and shame pregnant people out of exercising their right to abortion.

Someone alerted Georgia to the fact that United Way of Halidimand-Norfolk also supported the anti-abortion group (page 6 here in United Way Annual Report 2017). When Georgia tried to enlighten UW, it insisted it was supporting parenting programs.

And an activist was born.

She began to research what other community groups and businesses were supporting CPCs. There is another fake clinic in the area -- Haldimand Pregnancy Care Centre, which by the way, received $36.4K in Canada Summer Job Grants, putting it in the top 5 nationwide. Until pro-choice activists put a stop to the practice.

She shared this information via social media like Facebook and Twitter. The Haldimand Norfolk Pro-Choice Coalition was created.

"My goal was to expose fake clinics and the harm they do in the community. I wanted people to know that they were donating to anti-choice groups.

"And it’s not always about raising money. Some groups and people continue to support the CPCs by allowing them to participate in local events. The Dunnville Bell Let’s Talk allows the Haldimand Pregnancy Centre to have an information booth at the Mental Health Fair.  The CAMHS Wellness and Recovery Centre in Simcoe allows the Norfolk Pregnancy Centre to have a information booth at their Wellness Event. For two years I have contacted them and let them know about the inaccurate information these two groups share but they continue defend their decision.

"The RBC Port Dover branch collected money from clients.  We contacted corporate and they defended the partnership saying they 'don’t take a stand on women’s reproductive healthcare'.

"The Norfolk Rotary and Haldimand-Norfolk Soroptimists International continue to donate to them."

But there have been successes. The United Way’s allocation committee did not choose either of the CPCs to receive any money this year. Domino's Pizza in Simcoe went from supporting the Norfolk centre with a Family Fundraising event, complete with bouncy castle, to denying that it was going to support them in the first place.



And of course, the Norfolk fake clinic is pretty unhappy with these efforts. Its website is pretty slick.

Norfolk Pregnancy & Family Resource Centre is a non profit, non-judgmental, safe place where anyone in the community experiencing pregnancy, parenting issues and/or related concerns, can come for loving, professional, FREE help and support.

It gets around the religious "mission" issue with this FAQ.

Is NPC a branch of a church or churches?

NPC is an independent organization with its own charitable status. We are a provincially incorporated organization.  Although many churches support the work we offer to those who choose our services we are not affiliated with any one church, denomination or business. 

But elsewhere on the site there's this.



And about that "abducted" inflatable baby? It was returned with a ransom-style note saying the abduction was a prank.

As for Georgia, she is finding this grassroots activity very satisfying. She continues to check social media and share information with her community. The Facebook page is growing.

She has some advice for others who might want to take up a similar hobby. "Just keep at it. Don't give up. Keep exposing organizations that are partnering with the CPCs. Share the disinformation, lies and harm that CPCs spread in communities. Let people know that CPCs aren’t what they appear to be. They say they aren’t faith based but that couldn’t be farther from the truth."

Follow Haldimand Norfolk Pro-Choice Alliance at @Prochoice_HN.

Donor Beware: Ottawa Senators' Fake Clinic Charity Re-Visited

'Tis the (ever earlier) season when you'll be hit up by various good causes. In light of the revelation that unbeknownst to Ontario gamblers they were helping to fund a religious anti-choice fake clinic, let's revisit the grandmother of anti-abortion trickery stories in Canada.

I was reminded of it by commenter Sub-Boreal, who reports a similar situation.

And it's not just lottery funds that end up funding the fake crisis centres. Example: I was horrified to discover a couple of years ago that my credit union gave a few thousand to a local centre after polling members on how to divvy up a fund among some charities. I hadn't been a very attentive member, so I'm not sure how the shortlist of charities had been compiled, but I'll be much more vigilant the next time any similar process gets announced.

For the holidays of 2007, the wives and girlfriends -- known as the Better Halves (awww) -- of the Ottawa Senators sponsored a charity dealie with three worthy charities the intended recipients of funds extorted exhorted from loyal Sens fans.

Planned Parenthood raised the alarm that one of the charities, First Place Pregnancy Centre, now rebranded (as they are wont to do) First Place Options, was a lying-liar outfit of the first order.

Before DJ!, deBeauxOs and I blogged at Birth Pangs. We were all over the story as were other bloggers, notably JJ at Unrepentant Old Hippie.

CBC got on it in the person of Heather Mallick. (Her original story has vaporized, as has the re-issue at rabble.)

I found a link to the meaty bit of the story -- her phone conversation with the Senators Foundation prez as they went through the links on First Place's website.

I had an initially cheerful phone interview with Sens Foundation president Dave Ready, who said the Better Halves, when asked to choose three charities, chose: First Place, Kids Help Phone [and] Harmony House (a women's shelter).

First Place was “in line with our mandate,” he said. “We did due diligence and checked that it's a charity.”

“You went to the website?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Did you check on the links?”

“No.”

We went through the First Place site links together. There's a standard disclaimer but First Place hopes we'll find them “helpful.” I told Ready that some of the news headlines appeared to be libellous, particularly the ones linking corporations that make birth control drugs to the Jewish Holocaust and one drug itself to Nazi death camps. Others were grotesque: “One baby in 30 left alive after medical abortion” turns out to be an absurd, unsubstantiated anonymous “news story” in a British entertainment magazine.

You're also guided to a donation page for the American Life League, a hardline group based outside Washington. There's a shop, admittedly very funny, that sells “Abortion is mean” T-shirts for two-year-olds.

They offer booklets explaining that abortion is wrong even in the case of incest. They tell members to scare away raped children outside abortion clinics. They call RU-486 “the anti-human pesticide.” They offer sample letters to the editor to send to outlets that employ, I imagine, columnists like me. One begins: “Planned Parenthood is not 'a good guy.'”

Ready gets more and more quiet as we track this. Soon he is desperate to get off the phone. He will not let me talk to a Better Half, who might well explain that she hadn't known that First Place is financed by the Bethel Pentecostal Church (external - login to view) in Ottawa and its mission — declared on the Bethel website but nowhere on the First Place site — is not just anti-abortion but anti-birth control.

In short, the Sens' Better Halves had stepped in some deep doo-doo.

Sens fans were wondering WTF? Pro-choicers (especially of the Leaf Nation variety) were pointing and laughing.

And bloggers were having a ball.

But before things could get any poopier, the lying liars pulled out. (This was characterized as a "gracious" move by the Fetus Freak Media. Ha. Right.)

We never learned how the Better Halves chose that charity. Was it an inside job? Were they duped?

There was one more move. First Place sued Planned Parenthood for "defamation over comments that the Centre is 'anti-choice'." As that blogger points out, it was pretty odd for one charity to sue another, and likely to be very expensive for both.

We don't know what happened there either since some kind of settlement was reached.

For us, it was lots of fun, especially as we were dubbed by LifeShite Vicious Abortion Crusaders, a title we wear with pride to this day.

But there's another more important takeaway: When someone asks you for dough, ask for details.

(It also explains why fake clinic websites don't link to their more lunatic, racist fellow travellers anymore. In public at least. We know from undercover investigations that they still spew the most outrageous nonsense once they have a live vulnerable woman in their fake clinics.)

Happy giving season!

Desperate Crisis Pregnancy Centres: Healthcare or Counselling?

These are trying times for fake abortion centres.

First, the old styling -- "crisis pregnancy centre (CPC)" -- has become so indelibly associated with lies, manipulation, and slut-shaming, they've taken to rebranding themselves as Options/Choice/Life/WhatHaveYou Centres.

Then they were getting dinged by false advertising claims and lawsuits.

According to an analysis by NARAL [US pro-choice organization], 79 percent of the crisis pregnancy centers that advertised on Google indicated that they provided medical services such as abortions, when, in fact, they are focused on counseling services and on providing information about alternatives to abortion.

In response, they began vociferously denying they were medical facilities.

"We aren’t a medical facility,” explains [Lambton Crisis Pregnancy Centre's executive director Kim] LeBlanc.  “We don’t refer people to pediatricians and we don’t refer them to abortion clinics. We aren’t qualified.”

So what then to make of fake clinics acquiring medical equipment and advertising "healthcare services"? Here we reported that we'd found only one such ultrasound-enhanced CPC in Canada.

Now, spurred by a virtual brown envelope over the transom, we report on another, Crossroads Clinic in Brooks, Alberta.

From its Services page:

More than just a pregnancy care center, Crossroads Clinic is a medical facility focusing on all aspects of sexual [!] health.

It lists the usual "Pregnancy Options Counselling," "Abortion Recovery," "Pregnancy Testing" (drugstore pee-on-a-stick type), but also includes "Sexual Abuse or Trauma Recovery" and "STI or STD Testing."

(Anyone ever heard of a CPC offering sexual abuse counselling? Let us know.)

We accessed its charitable status to check on its funding. It reports government funding running at 4-5% of total revenue for the past four years. (No specific sources given.)

Canada Revenue Agency asks its lucky participants to inform them of "new services" and in 2013, Crossroads reported one such.

HEALTH CARE SERVICES ==> Medical professionals provide pregnancy test and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and treatment.

Okey-dokey, now they provide healthcare services and indeed ask that "patients" bring their Alberta Health Care number and a photo ID. (Maybe a DJ! reader would like to undertake a query to Alberta Health over that oddity.)

So, beyond aiding patients' peeing on a stick, what do these services entail?

A magic ultrasound machine!

Women come to Crossroads Clinic both to confirm pregnancy and review their options. Having an ultrasound scan by trained medical professionals gives a client the accurate and timely information she needs to make educated decisions about her pregnancy and her future.

We are so blessed to have ultrasound technology on-site.

Blessed, indeed. While its website is all very secular and professional, its Facebook page is way more jesus-y.

As of course it should be since Crossroads is a member of Canadian [formerly Christian] Association of Pregnancy Support Services (CAPSS), whose "core documents" (well worth the read for the Bible verses alone) can be downloaded here.

Regular DJ! readers might remember that it was the affiliation with CAPSS that got the above-mentioned Lambton Crisis Pregnancy Centre stripped of the second part of its Trillium Foundation grant, according to the Sarnia Observer.

Upshot: no matter how they style themselves, what services they try to offer, who they associate with, CPCs in Canada are on the ropes.

And here ends, for now, DJ!'s survey of fake clinics in Alberta.

But we're on a mission here at DAMMIT JANET! We want to see the closure of all fake clinics in Canada.

And we'll do whatever we can to effect that.

Up next, British Columbia, and perhaps more surprisingly, Quebec.

UPDATE: From Jaden Fitzherbert on Twitter: the fake clinic in Fredericton offers ultrasound.

Public Funding of Fake Clinics in Alberta: The Wrap

We have some catching up to do.

We revealed that public funds from the Alberta Lottery Fund were being handed over to fake clinics and profiled the first lucky fake clinic, Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre Society (Red Deer), here.

Part 2 on Medicine Hat Pregnancy Support Society. And Part 3 on Hinton Crisis Pregnancy Association.

We published a letter by Celia Posnyiak asking Alberta Culture about that funding and another asking the mayor of Hinton about its creative additional funding of local fetus freaks through photo radar money.

We heard from the mayor of Hinton.

And now, after nearly a month, there's been a reply by Carl Royan, Director, Community Grants, Alberta Culture, to Celia's letter.

After some introductory blah-blah:

The Community Spirit Program aimed to partner with Individual Albertans who donated monies to eligible nonprofit organizations by providing those organizations wit proportional grants based on the donations received. [Names of three fake clinics queried] met the Community Spirit Program (SCP) eligibility criteria, received donations from individuals [sic] Albertans who supported their activities, and therefore qualified for funding under the program. As you may know, the SCP was discontinued as a result of a budget decrease the department faced in Budget 2013.

Followed by signing-off blah-blah.

Everyone agrees that this response is about what was expected.

Well, heck, when the mayor of Calgary points to the stereotype of Albertans as "hillbillies", who are we to disagree?

And we would never ever pull some central-Canada-superiority shit by highlighting the timely and responsible action of the Ontario Trillium Foundation when it found out it was funding Ontario hillbillies.

So. There's no joy in Hillbilly Land, but that doesn't mean we're going to stop.

In fact, our search of the handy Alberta Culture database that turned up the original three fake clinics was flawed. We used the key word "pregnancy". We should also have used "pro-life" because looky here.

Under the same Community Spirit Program, Edmonton Pro-life Society got just over $23K in 2008/2009.

I'm absolutely sure it fits the eligibility criteria too, which seems mainly to be that these outfits are duly accredited as charities by CRA, the same gang that allows the Fraser Institute to operate as a charity.

From its CRA filings, the Edmonton fake clinic's costs and revenues run about $70-80K a year. And it consistently reports "government funding" of between 10-15% of total income. Rather nice for them.

But in 2010, it reported a whopping 25% of revenue from government.

Now, lest we get carried away and believe the BS that Edmonton Prolife offers anything like accurate medical information about all options, have a look at this.

An abortion, intending to end the life of the child, never has to happen. It is never the only option. So why do people have abortions?

There are many reasons why women or couples decide to have an abortion. An internet search will yield various results, statistics, and percentages, citing socio-economic reasons, not wanting children or any more children, fear of health risks, and many others.Abortion takes an innocent human life, and the gravity of that fact cannot be mitigated, it is important remember that many factors can go into an abortion decision, such as fear, desperation, and ignorance (the person(s) have perhaps become convinced by others whom they trust that the preborn child is not a living human being).

For those people who wish to see Abortion, we provide the following information.This video is not pleasant, but it must be seen. Hundreds of innocent unborn children are torn to pieces every day in Canada because most people simply don't know what abortion actually does. With the exception of the final scene (a second-trimester fetus), all of the video you will see depicts children who were killed during first-trimester abortions.

That's the intro to a link to 4-minute video with a warning that it's disturbing. They don't warn that its also full of manipulative bullshit.

If we had the time, we'd try to investigate where that consistent 10-15% of revenues labelled "government" actually comes from.

But we don't. And it looks like Alberta is fine with its unique "culture."

Next up, we have been informed that two fake clinics in BC also get lottery dough.

Maybe BC will prove a little more enlightened.

They're Heeeeere!

On Twitter #prochoice, there was some crap from a crisis pregnancy center/centre, aka fake clinic, supporter. Ever helpful, I posted a link to stories from women who have been lied to, manipulated, guilt-tripped etc by such places. Crisis Pregnancy Center Watch is USian.

A Canadian tweep replied:

@Womanwhovotes Mary Pynenburg @fernhilldammit Could only read one - hope #cpc don't create cpc's here. I am pro abortion rights not anti abortion rights

Womanwhovotes is by no means alone in thinking that these evil outfits are exclusively USian.

Canada has them too.

While there are over 4,000 in the Excited States, we have about 200. Given that our size is about one-tenth that of the US, I suppose we should be grateful we don't have 400 of them, but still they are here preying on vulnerable women.

Here's one umbrella group boasting of supporting 71 fake clinics and developing 9 more (bold in original).

The Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Services (CAPSS) is a national, non-political, registered Christian charity, committed to equipping pregnancy support services.

CAPSS, the Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Services, was formed in 1997 as the fulfillment of a long-standing mission: "to help women and babies by encouraging and equipping pregnancy support centres across Canada."

CAPSS under girds 71 affiliate centres, and is presently assisting with the growth and development of another nine centres. Located in towns and cities across

Canada, these centres offer practical, material, emotional and spiritual assistance by helping women and their partners or significant other through distressing pregnancies.

Approved affiliation with CAPSS grants the option of dual or triple affiliation with CareNet and/or Heartbeat, with the related benefits of both organizations.

Google 'crisis pregnancy centre' and the name of any city in Canada and you'll find at least one. Go to page 1 of your Yellow Pages and you'll find two headings: 'Abortion Alternatives' and 'Abortion Services'.

Often, they are a stone's throw -- or less -- from a real abortion clinic as here in Toronto: Aid to Women at 300 Gerrard St. East, right next door to Cabbagetown Women's Clinic, 302 Gerrard St. East.

The terrific documentary 12th and Delaware follows activities at the two operations on opposite sides of the street.

The location is no accident. If they can't confuse women looking for the real clinic into dropping into their lie-lab, being nearby means they can pop out for a bit of slut-shaming/harassment on their lunch breaks.

Joyce Arthur of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada reported on fake clinics in BC a couple of years ago. (PDF here.)

Here are her recommendations for action:

* Stop deceptive advertising and false representations of CPCs in the media.

* Remove CPCs from referral lists used by the medical profession or social services.

* Ensure that the medical profession and social services have accurate information so they can refer women for abortion appropriately.

* Create more pro-choice counselling in communities, both options and post-abortion.

* Lobby governments and public foundations to stop funding CPCs.

* Ask Canada Revenue Agency to revoke the charity status of CPCs that have it.

Yes, they get public and government money. And yes, they have charitable status.

So, have a little time on your hands now that Canadians have voted to turn themselves into Fox Nation North for at least the next four years? Here's a Facebook group for Calgary.

Fake Clinics and Licence Plates

(Still in catching-up mode.)

Good news from the Excited States on the anti-fake-pregnancy-clinic campaign.

Following Baltimore's lead in forcing fake clinics (aka 'crisis pregnancy centers') to tell the truth, legislators in Virginia and Washington are working on truth bills.

In Virginia, the local chapter of the National Abortion Rights League carried out an undercover study of the state's fake clinics and found:

The National Abortion Rights League found more 35 of the 52 pregnancy counseling centers in the state were giving out inaccurate information on infertility, miscarriage, abortion, mental health, cancer, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases. The unlicensed facilities, often run by abortion rights opponents, receive some funding through the state's "Choose Life" license plates.

NARAL says 35 of the clinics do not have medically trained or supervised personnel on staff.

The misinformation passed along to women seeking information included being told that abortions cause cancer and that when a doctor performed an abortion he could accidentally take out a woman's intestines.

We'll be following developments.

In related news, it seems there might be some jiggery-pokery going on with the funding from those 'Choose Life' licence plates.

More than 20 USian states offer these automotive statements of misogyny, with some dough going to the fake clinics. As far as I could find out, no province in Canada offers such things -- not even New Brunswick. Ontario calls them graphic license plates and there are more than 60 available. (The things one finds out when blogging. . . )

Back to the jiggery-pokery.

When a Virginia driver purchases a specialty "Choose Life" anti-abortion license plate, $15 of the $25 processing fee goes to Heartbeat International, a Christian group that distributes the money to pregnancy resource centers located across the state.

Critics say the license plate program doesn't do enough to determine whether a clinic is qualified for the money. One pregnancy center listed by several anti-abortion groups as a certified clinic -- the Mattingly Test Center in Loudoun County -- is a two-story brick house owned by Linda Mattingly, a former director at Care Net, a Leesburg-based pregnancy network. There are no signs in front indicating it is a clinic, the Internal Revenue Service has no record of it as a 503(c) nonprofit, and it is not registered as a corporation with the Virginia secretary of state.

A woman who answered the door of the Ashburn house last week said pregnancy services had been, but no longer were, provided there. She did not give her name before closing the door. The Washington Post tried to reach Mattingly by phone, but messages were not returned.

. . .

As of Tuesday, 1,678 of the license plates had been purchased, and $10,170 has been earmarked for Heartbeat, said Melanie Stokes, a DMV spokeswoman, and Heartbeat officials.

Pro-choice forces in Virginia want in on the action. There's a move to create pro-choice plates. If any Virginians are reading this, here's where to order one. They must pre-sell 350 of them before the state will issue them.

The so-called Culture War is fought on many (weird) battlegrounds.

Philosophical Differences versus False Allegations: Defunded Fake Clinic Responds

Yesterday (November 13/14), Lambton Crisis Pregnancy Centre announced the rescinding by the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) of the second instalment (amount unknown) of a $83,800 grant.

Here it is.

Due to a fundamental philosophical difference the OTF has decided to rescind the grant.  This means we received funding for one year’s operation but will not receive further funding for the second year. 

. . .

One particular blog has been making false allegations regarding our Centre and is taking credit for the rescinding of the OTF grant.  This same group has been making allegations against other Pregnancy Centre’s [sic] in Canada.

Hilarious, yes?

They claim to have "fundamental philosophical difference" with the once and future (?) major granting organization, but throw "false allegations" at a wee (unnamed) blogger.

The CPC in question seems to have set a stalking horse on us in the person of commenter and self-proclaimed videographer Nathan Colquhoun who takes issue with my post about inappropriate medical equipment at the Lambton outfit here and here.

He claims to have no dog in this fight but his profile shows him to be some kinda xian pastor.

Okey-dokey then.

Are they laying the groundwork to sue us?

In its blogpost the Lambton Liars refer to a paper supposedly refuting Joyce Arthur's damning report "Exposing Crisis Pregnancy Centres in BC".

When a couple of those fake BC clinics tried to sue Joyce for defamation over her report, it did not end well for them.

Lambton CPC's argument, of course, should be with the Ontario Trillium Foundation, not moi.

But, hey, this is totally typical behaviour for bullying liars. Take on the small fry while kissing the big kahuna's ass.

What I find mysterious -- and OTF must find relaxing, at least for the moment -- is the total disinterest by mainstream media over what seems to me (ahem) to be a fairly Big Story.

Major Grant Foundation (All But) Admits Error in Funding Prolife Liars!

OK, that's probably not the headline they'd go with -- but that's the story.

Stay tuned. . .


UPDATE: The Sarnia Observer reports. It seems that OTF doesn't have a problem with fake clinics as such but rather a particular problem with Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Services (CAPPS). That's a Christian (the "C" used to represent Christian) umbrella organization with 70 fake clinic members across Canada. Good enough for me. For now.

No, Not This One: But Three from Pembroke, Ontario?

In healthcare, patient confidentiality is taken pretty seriously. Here's Ontario's legislation.

Three Ontario hospital workers were prosecuted for snooping into Rob Ford's records. And a fetus fetishist was fired after she accessed hundreds of patient abortion files.

It comes as no surprise then that crisis pregnancy centres (CPCs), pretending as they do to be actual clinics, would also give strenuous lip service to confidentiality. (Also, of course, because of the stigma they themselves do so much to foster.)

Here are some examples.

For Aid to Women in Toronto, "Completely confidential assistance" is the first "service" listed.

At Crossroads Clinic in Brooks, Alberta, they get into CAPS to show us how serious they are.

We pride ourselves on being CONFIDENTIAL. Your family doesn't have to know. Neither does your doctor, the nurse staff, or the entire waiting room.

Not content with that, they devote a page to confidentiality.

I could show more, but they're all pretty much like that.

So, it's amusing that the No Not This One privacy invasion prayer campaign would rely, as they admit, on tips from CPCs.

Since writing about it this morning, I had a closer look at their alerts page. On it are listed women contemplating abortion, who need a prayer assault to dissuade them from asserting a basic human right.

There are 23 of them dating from last November last year to July 1. Two of them deal with the same case, so there are 22 separate situations. One comes from a named woman wanting some gordly assistance with a pregnancy not going so well. One comes from a pastor, another from a "grandmother."

Some don't give even vague locations, but places include Muskoka, Markham, Surrey, Los Angeles (?), and Vancouver.

But here's the weirdest damn thing -- three of them come from Pembroke, Ontario.

Now Pembroke is not a huge place. Its population in 2011 was 16,146. It has, as far as I can tell, one fake clinic, First Step Options Pregnancy Resource Centre.

Here's a picture of its recently elected Board of Directors that accompanied a local story about a fundraising initiative.

So, we're wondering. Which one of these people has got really flappy gums?

And we're wondering. Would any provincial governments take an interest in these creepy stalkers, under patient confidentiality legislation?


UPDATE: First Step Options is a member of Christian Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Centres (CAPSS). I found a copy of CAPSS's Code of Counselling. Look at number 12.

I'm tweeting @CAPSS_RD right now to ask if they approved the "No, Not This One" campaign that needs fake clinic members to violate client confidentiality.

Kansas? Louisiana? Nope. New Brunswick refers patients to religious counsellors

Imagine for a moment that you or a friend or rellie has a health concern. It's not (yet) 911-ambulance time, but you want some information on what your options are should it come to that.

All (?) provincial health ministries run handy tele-health lines with supposedly trained professionals ready to answer your questions with good, up-to-date info. In New Brunswick, this service is called Telecare.

Back in April, when we learned that the only private abortion clinic east of Montreal was closing, we predicted that there'd be some unintended consequences for the NB and PEI governments, both of which have stupid and illegal rigamaroles for abortion services.

The Morgentaler Clinic acted as a safety valve. For women who could afford it and arrange the travel, time off work, child care etc, the clinic provided an "out" for these two governments.

Fine, they could say, you want a "non-medical" abortion? Go to Morgentaler's and pay for it yourself.

Not anymore.

So what will the governments of NB and PEI say to women now?

Well, now we know.

Telecare NB is referring patients who need medical advice to anti-choice religious counsellors. (From Radio-Canada, via Google translation checked and improved by deBeauxO.)

Women who contacted the organization Telecare for information on abortion services in New Brunswick, claim that they were directed to pro-life services.

Telecare is an information and advice line on health within the Ministry of Health of New Brunswick.

Learning of the closure of the Morgentaler Clinic, Marilyn Merritt-Gray, a retired nurse, wanted to know what abortion services remain available.

She called Telecare, claiming that her daughter wanted an abortion.

The person who answered her call found in the system an organization which, it was explained to her, provides services to women facing an unwanted pregnancy.

It was BirthRight, a pro-life organization.

"I was shocked and angry! "- Marilyn Merritt-Gray, retired nurse.

Other women were given the same reference that Marilyn Merritt Gray received.

BirthRight offers free pregnancy tests, psychological support, housing help, transportation, child education, or assistance in finding a doctor.

But the organization will not present abortion as one of the possible options.

The Department of Health says an audit of the situation is underway.

According to Jaden Fitzherbert*, other women were referred not only to Birthright, but to CPCs (aka fake abortion clinics) in St John and Moncton.

Birthright is a bit different from other fake clinics in that it "has a philosophy of avoiding direct involvement in pro-life or pro-choice political advocacy."

The other two are forthrightly religious and up to their eyeballs in anti-choice activism, most notably as big players in the March For Life bunfest organized by New Brunswick Right to Life, located conveeeeniently adjacent to the Morgentaler Clinic.

Whether avowedly religious or not, all share a rabid anti-choice position and no medical qualifications whatsoever.

So, call a government agency looking for healthcare information and get directed to faith-based propaganda, masquerading as "counselling."

It's very like the situation commenter Beijing York related here, on a post on whether MDs should be allowed to let their religion trump patient care.

I brought up an example from personal experience where I suspected that I needed a psychiatrist and was told to seek a pastor or priest for guidance by the replacement physician at my on campus clinic.

It's shocking, insulting, and (bitterly) laughable. But completely predictable.

The New Brunswick government was and is totally unprepared to deal with the fallout from shutting off its only abortion safety valve. Its idiotic rules created the Morgentaler Clinic and those rules eventually closed it.

And now they're up shit creek.

In May, a new organization, Reproductive Justice New Brunswick attempted to warn NB lawmakers of the impending crisis.

Did they take any notice? Make any preparations? Obviously not.

I don't know what Reproductive Justice NB plans next, but if I were involved, I'd be organizing a raft of questions for Telecare operators, to be recorded for future reference (recording telephone calls is legal in Canada if one party -- in this case the caller -- knows about the recording).

Some questions for the Teleccare operators.

1. Is abortion legal in New Brunswick?

2. Is abortion covered under provincial health insurance?

3. How do I access this service?

4. Can you direct me to medically correct information on types of abortion and what to expect?

And so on.

If the government of New Brunswick gets away with this, what's next? Sending schizophrenic patients to exorcists? Referring patients for leeching?

*And why the heck is Radio-Canada the only media organization on this? Even there, there's a bit of a mystery. An earlier story appeared then disappeared, but not before an eagle-eyed ally nabbed it and ran it through Google Translate.

Abortion in NB: women looking for information are directed to pro-life clinics 
Updated Thursday, June 19, 2014 at 10 am PDT 02 

Women who contacted the organization Telecare for information on abortion services in New Brunswick, argue that they were directed to pro-life clinics. 

Telecare is an information and advice line on health within the Ministry of Health of New Brunswick. 

Jaden Fitzherbert contacted Telecare, she was sent to three organizations openly pro-life without giving any information about the services available abortion. 

Number Birthright, among others, suggested to the young woman. 

Birthright is pro-life organization says, but does not advocate for the cause. 

More details to come.

Which raises an interesting question: Are other media being muzzled? Does the Progressive Conservative Government of David Alward have a now not-so-hidden agenda on abortion?

Stay tuned.


ADDED, June 21/14: Here are the details of Jaden Fitzherbert's research.


ADDED, June 23/14: Where to get accurate info on abortion in New Brunswick.

UPDATE (July 4/14): There is now a crowdsourcing effort to at least continue the lease on the clinic. A first step in taking back control of women's rights in NB.

UPDATE (July 23/14): Informal poll on provincial health hotlines. Mostly acceptable. Only in New Brunswick (big surprise), Nova Scotia, and Manitoba do telehealth operators refer people seeking information on abortion to "fake clinics."

Small Mercy: There Could Be More Fake Clinics in Canada

According to Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC), there are about 180 fake clinics, aka crisis pregnancy centres, in Canada.

DJ! is committed to exposing them as liars, manipulators, and cheats.

They exist solely to dissuade Canadians from excercising their constitutional right to bodily autonomy. They are discriminatory and seek to limit and stigmatize our legal right to abortion.

We will do everything we can to deny them public money and to force them to adhere to regulations on truth and confidentiality.

A sample of recent posts:

Yet again, we have proof that they lie about their services and about the risks of abortion.

We found evidence that they breach "client" confidentiality.

We've uncovered the fact that they apply for and receive public money from provincial gaming foundations in at least three provinces: Alberta, BC, and previously did in Ontario as well (snerk).

Most recently, we've been delving into government grants and found that several fake clinics get federal funding to train apprentice liars under the Canada Summer Jobs program.

Well, I suppose we should be grateful that we have only 180 of these outfits in Canada. There are more than 4,000 of them in the US. And yesterday, it was reported that in Texas a fake clinic will be getting state funds intended for women's health programs!!!!

The anti-abortion nonprofit set to receive a $1.6 million grant through the state’s new women’s health program plans to dole out funds to an anti-abortion pregnancy counseling center that currently offers no medical services.

As Canada is about one-tenth the size of the US, using the usual math, we should have one-tenth the number of fake clinics, or about 400 of them.

I was curious about the ratio of fake clinics to population and so had another look at ARCC's PDF of its recent study of their websites.

By province, here's where they are:
Alberta 20
British Columbia 27
Manitoba 6
New Brunswick 10
Newfoundland 1
Nova Scotia 4
Ontario 85
Quebec 17
Saskatchewan 6

What jumps out is that little New Brunswick, with a 2011 census population of just over 750,000 people, has TEN.

Guess what? If all of Canada had that ratio of lying liars to population, we'd have 446 fake clinics.

So, while there have been recent victories in New Brunswick, there's obviusly a lot more to do there.

And, as we work to make sure that Canada NEVER goes down the path of significant public funding for fake clinics, we can be quietly, Canadianly glad that we don't have nearly the number of nutters the US does.

"Without Going into Details" *snerk*

We had been wondering why Fetus Freak Media and its running blog lackeys hadn't done its usual shrieky foot-stompy hissy fit routine over the partial rescinding of an Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) grant to a fake pregnancy centre.

The fake clinic itself responded on its blog in a rather tight-lipped manner citing "philosophical differences" with OTF while accusing an unnamed blogger (ahem).

One particular blog has been making false allegations regarding our Centre and is taking credit for the rescinding of the OTF grant.  This same group has been making allegations against other Pregnancy Centre’s [sic] in Canada.

And that seemed to be it for reaction from the zygote zealots.

Well, silly us, we were googling terms like "Lambton Crisis Pregnancy Centre" (the defunded Sarnia racket), "Ontario Trillium Foundation," "crisis pregnancy centres" and, we admit, "Dammit Janet!" and even "fern hill."

Crickets.

It appears that Fetus Freak Central has decreed that we are to remain "anonymous evil blogger" and the clinic itself is not to be named either. "Crisis Pregnancy Centres" seems now to have fully morphed into pregnancy options centres.

Quite by accident, we ran across this yesterday by our old pal Mike Schouten, aka Creepy Dominionist Guy. It's a reprise of a blog post at his site, We Need a Law [Like a Hole in the Head].

Here it is in its full goddy glory (my bold).

Christians who strive to live by the Scriptures will know that the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord with heart, soul and mind, and to love their neighbours as themselves (Mark 12:30-31). 

Follows of Jesus desire to live selfless lives and this is characterized by putting others [sic] needs ahead of their own. I bring this up in connection with the work of faith-based pregnancy care centres. These centres are for the most part staffed by volunteers who give up much to come to the aid of those in need. 

The volunteers provide compassionate help to women experiencing unplanned pregnancies, post abortion grief, domestic violence, and sexual assault. They are on the frontlines of assisting some of the most vulnerable people in society and regularly help women make informed choices that set them on the path to a better life. The care they offer extends well beyond the moment of birth or abortion. In very practical ways they come alongside people in need and so enable them to continue living productive and joy-filled lives as they transition into motherhood. And right now, pregnancy options centres need our support. 

As we documented* just over a year ago, pregnancy options centres are increasingly under attack by abortion advocates. Yes, there are Canadians who are so excited about the fact that a woman ought to be able to kill her own child that they simply cannot fathom the thought that some women choose life for their pre-born child. 

Without going into details we want you to know that these attacks have intensified in recent weeks. We ask that you do what you can to support a pregnancy options centre near you. This can be done through donations (see here for a list of centres across Canada). You can also help them by offering words of encouragement and prayer for those on the front lines. They are daily engaged in the culture seeking to show love to those in need. 

We can do better and we can certainly show those who oppose helping pregnant women that they have a skewed sense of social justice. Let us not be characterized as a country that let's [sic] its citizens flounder in depths of despair.

(*That "documentation" goes to a previous protracted hissy fit over Joyce Arthur's exposure of fake clinics in BC, published in 2009 for hevvinsake. [And what is it with these people and apostrophes?])

Onto their game, we looked some more and found amateur statistician Patricia Maloney's foot-stomper and its follow-up. And while she refers to me as a "fake person," she has at least the good bloggy manners to link to my offensive "potty mouthed" blogposts.

Things have since escalated. I tweeted at Creepy Dominionist Guy on twitter and got this.

Hey, genius, @mike_schouten did you actually read my blogposts? No bullying involved. I asked @ONTrillium questions. They reassessed. OOPS.

— Fern Hill (@fernhilldammit) November 24, 2014

They're playing the martyr card again and I'm now a bully. In addition to being fake and potty-mouthed.

Note though they have NOTHING narsty to say about the organization that actually yanked the funding when asked (nicely) to justify the grant. The nice rich foundation that might yet be bullied convinced of the error of its ways.

Nope. They're attacking a wee blogger.

In other words, without going into details, they got nuthin'.

We, on the other hand, have MASSIVE giggles.

UPDATE: DJ! hits the (fetus fetishizing) Big Time! LifeShite weighs in.

MORE UPDATE: Over here our personal stalker one-man fan-club seems, like most of his tribe, unable to distinguish between politics and rights.

New Kind of Fake Clinics

My, my. It seems that there is a "Wild West" of unlicensed, unregulated fake clinics offering bogus advice and treatment.

Ha. You thought I was talking Fake Abortion Clinics.

Nope. Fake Concussion Clinics.

It seems anyone can start a hotline, or set up a clinic offering to treat concussions, a brain injury. There is no active federal or provincial oversight. It's an essentially unregulated field, where massage therapists, chiropractors and nurses can hang out a shingle pitching their expertise in concussion management.

Health services in Canada are governed through a system of self-regulation. Health professionals are licensed by professional associations, and those associations are responsible for limiting the scope of practice. When we asked the Ontario Ministry of Health about the appropriateness of a concussion hotline, we were told to ask the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons. The college told us that, unless someone complains, it has no problem with it.

But some medical experts do have a problem with the hotline. They're concerned that the hype around concussions is getting out of control.

Golly gee. Just like Fake Abortion Clinics. But here, people are making money.

Dr. Michael Ellis, a neurosurgeon, runs Manitoba's only provincially sponsored concussion clinic. He is appalled at the proliferation of unregulated concussion clinics popping up across the country, offering a variety of treatments, including meditation, massage, acupuncture and even hyperbaric oxygen therapy. A quick count reveals more than 200 concussion clinics across Canada.

Funny. There are about 200 totally unregulated, unlicensed, unsupervised Fake Abortion Clinics in Canada. And just about all of them lie to advance their mission to dissuade pregnant people from their right to abortion.

The lies are very well documented.

And sane people have been complaining about them for years. But unless such outlaw operations cut into the bottom line of members of the various colleges of physicians and surgeons, the powers that be are good with the bullshit.

We're not.

Grand merci to Alison @ Creekside for fabulous graphics.