As I See It: Pregnancy Resource Centers: A Valuable Resource for the People of Massachusetts

In our great Commonwealth, we are fortunate to have many Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRCs), also known as Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs), providing care and counsel to women with unexpected pregnancies and women who are conflicted in their decisions.

Some of these centers are state-licensed medical clinics staffed daily with nurses and a physician medical director. Each PRC is unique in its setup and specific approach but all are similar in that they provide free and supportive services to whomever comes to them. I have been privileged to work closely with several of these centers in Central Massachusetts and have the distinct honor of being the medical director for one of them myself.

A PRC is a place where a woman can come and get a free pregnancy test. She can then talk with staff about her options. She can receive referrals to various services and to obstetrical care.

In some clinics, she can have an ultrasound to date the pregnancy and check its location. In the clinics I work with, the ultrasound is performed by a nurse ultrasonographer who has received rigorous training and certification in performing limited obstetrical ultrasound. Women leave feeling supported and loved and they know that the door is open to them should they decide or desire to return.

For those who decide to keep their pregnancy, many centers offer birthing instruction, parenting classes, assistance with diapers, baby clothes, and accessing various community resources.

Local communities refer people to PRCs for help as well. The center of which I am director has very good relationships with the local community, churches, schools, and even has had referrals from Planned Parenthood. This is a wonderful example of local groups working together for the good of the people they serve.

The staff at PRCs take their work and their clients very seriously. People who come into a PRC will be welcomed and their life will be affirmed and valued. PRCs are generally faith-based, so PRC staff see those who come to them as of great value and dignity and treat them thusly. Patients are not judged because they have had an abortion or decide to have an abortion. No, they are loved, and counsel and support are offered and, if desired, provided. So many young women who have come through our doors confused and scared have left feeling supported and loved and knowing that they have somewhere to turn. They do not pay anything for their visits or services provided. This is ultimate equity. No insurance, no copay; rather, simple care and concern.

However, let us make no mistakes about it, the environment in which we now live is ideologically charged. This unfortunately makes it difficult for those who see PRCs as on the “other side of the ideological divide” as anything but bad. It is thus very unfortunate that so much misinformation has been propagated about PRCs. Groups such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) blithely malign all PRCs with blanket statements that are, from my experience and the experience of those who work with PRCs, false and unsubstantiated. Unfortunately, well-meaning physicians then repeat this information and as we all know: if something is repeated enough times it becomes “true”. Even in our own journal, there was recently an article that restated many of the negative statements about PRCs in general.

There was a time when an obstetrician tried to convince his fellow obstetricians to wash their hands because it would help prevent post-partum fever. He was ridiculed by the establishment of that time. But now we all know that he was right even though at that time ACOG would have ridiculed him. With regards to PRCs in Massachusetts, I recommend you look at the facts rather than at an ideologically driven position paper or article that is not derived from actual evidence. Those of us physicians in Massachusetts who work with PRCs know their value and that is why we give our time (also uncompensated) to support them. We are, after all, the “boots on the ground”. The evidence is before us. We did not get it from a boardroom in a fancy office building.

Another very valuable (albeit controversial due to the ideological divide) service some PRCs provide is help in reversing the effects of mifepristone when a woman regrets having taken it. I personally have been involved with a good number of these cases and the mothers are delighted to have their baby after all when the reversal is successful. The PRC is invaluable with respect to being able to quickly do an ultrasound to confirm pregnancy location and help the patient through getting started on the medication and getting regular follow-ups. I have never seen a significant side effect from such treatment. In summary: PRCs are a valuable and very cost-effective resource in our Commonwealth. Far from being a public health threat, PRCs provide a compassionate, cost-free, clinically sound environment for pregnancy discussion and support. Let us celebrate their existence and not try to exterminate them simply because their faith-filled staff and supporters do not align with certain political agendas. They are present to help women (of all faiths, creeds, colors, races, economic statuses, etc.) in need and they will continue to do so. We need to be aware of them and should be willing to work with them for the good of our people.

John L. Worden, IV, MD Family Practice Gardner, MA

We at Worcester Medicine uphold freedom of expression. Individual opinions expressed in this magazine do not reflect the collective stance of the WDMS or its Editorial Board.