Media outlets now call organizations that help women with unplanned pregnancies “anti-abortion centers,” after the Associated Press (AP) changed its style guidelines in December.
The AP Stylebook, the standard journalists use to provide consistency in news coverage, describes “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” as organizations “set up to divert or discourage women from having abortions,” The Daily Signal reported. The AP said the term is “misleading,” they should be called anti-abortion centers, and any phrase to describe their work should be put in scare quotes.
Pregnancy centers are typically non-profit organizations providing free ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, and material, moral, and educational support to women with unplanned pregnancies.
The AP has an entire section devoted to abortion-related coverage, with guidance on the use of such words as “embryo” and “fetus.”
Media outlets are using the new guidelines. Examples include a February 6 ABC News article with the headline, “Tennessee Gov. Lee proposes $100M for anti-abortion centers.” An article on the DocumentedNY website used the headline “City Council Member Funnels Taxpayer Dollars to Anti-Abortion Clinic.”
Since the Supreme Court decision in June overturning Roe v. Wade, there have been 81 physical attacks on pregnancy centers, according to Catholic Vote, which tracks cases of pro-abortion vandalism and fire bombings.
U.S. House Republicans and three Democrats voted for a resolution condemning such attacks. In August, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bob Menendez (D-NY) demanded a “crack-down” on “deceptive and misleading practices employed by many crisis pregnancy centers.
-Staff reports
