"I feel like I was tricked": New documentary uncovers how crisis pregnancy centers lie to women

Vice News' "Misconception" investigates the practices that ideological clinics use to mislead and misinform women

Published September 18, 2014 4:21PM (EDT)

  (AP/Beck Diefenbach)
(AP/Beck Diefenbach)

Crisis pregnancy centers outnumber abortion clinics by approximately 5-to-1. In 34 states, they are funded by taxpayer money (update: NARAL has lowered this number to 23). The centers are notorious for lying to women and relying on purposely manipulative tactics to draw them in, away from real medical centers. In states with restrictive waiting periods that place time-sensitive barriers on women's access to reproductive care, crisis pregnancy centers can be especially dangerous; women who decide to have an abortion could be duped into visiting a center instead of a clinic, only to find themselves needing to drive hundreds of miles -- or hundreds of miles more -- and wait days for the healthcare they need.

The methodological exploitation crisis pregnancy centers perform so well has been documented over and over again. But a short new documentary from Vice News, "Misconception," pieces together the different ways antiabortion activists try to mislead women, how they succeed and how their lies affect the people who come to them seeking help. The report includes an interview with antiabortion activist Lila Rose, as well as undercover footage showing how crisis pregnancy centers are taught to misinform their visitors. It's insightful and infuriating, and definitely worth watching.

Watch "Misconception" in its entirety below:


By Jenny Kutner

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