Ensure health care info is accurate

BEWARE OF the crisis pregnancy center near you.

These centers have been a far more deceitful and less discussed effort by anti-abortion activists. This grassroots effort steers people away from abortion care through deception. You may have seen their advertisements for free pregnancy tests or free ultrasounds. You may have seen their signs and thought they were an abortion provider or offered medical care. However, Crisis Pregnancy Centers are little more than church groups that offer biased and unfounded information disguised in a lab coat. The free pregnancy tests are the type any of us can purchase from a store. Their ultrasounds are the vanity type. What this means is the ultrasound should not be used to diagnose pregnancy and they do not have the capability to tell you if a pregnancy is “viable” or “safe.” We need to steer clear of these places, let others know about them, and work on efforts to support pregnancy and abortion care through legitimate and ethical means.

Dobbs v. Jackson Whole Women’s Health has been a large blow to comprehensive reproductive health care. But this decision has been decades in the making as part of a strategic plan to ratchet back bodily autonomy and basic civil rights for birthing people. Please do not despair; there is much we can do particularly here in New Mexico to ensure access to accurate abortion information and services.

We have been advocating to protect women’s reproductive rights for 50 years. We both have been on the front lines of advocacy and direct patient care, and we know what is legitimate and ethical pregnancy and abortion information versus what is biased and bogus.

For more information, please go to the following websites: swwomenslaw. org, nmabortioninfo.org, noisefornow.org, rcrc.org and plannedparenthood.org.

JANET WILLIAMS President, Santa Fe NOW CAROL MACHENDRIE

LCSW, Santa Fe NOW