In seeking advice, on anything from what to order at Buraka to what kind of health insurance to get, most people will seek out the expertise of a professional: doctors, lawyers, food connoisseurs, etc. So, I think it’s safe to say that the point of asking for advice is to make a more informed and educated decision. Right? Following this model, I think it’s also safe to say that a woman enlisting the help of a clinic that advertises itself as providing counseling and information regarding all options available in case of an unexpected or unwanted pregnancy probably would like more information on becoming pregnant before she decides what do about it.

A situation such as the above is especially common among young, often teenage women, who may be uninformed regarding adoption, abortion, raising a child, etc., which means it is all the more important for these women to gain as much information as possible before making a possibly life-altering decision. Many look to federally funded Pregnancy Resource Centers — also called Crisis Pregnancy Centers — to make a more knowledgeable assessment regarding what should be done. These clinics market themselves as providing pregnancy counseling, and can be found under “abortion services” in a phone book or through searching “abortion clinics” online. But don’t count on these organizations to help you find an abortion clinic. According to a report on the Committee for Government Reform, these PRCs — which practice a curriculum of abstinence-only education — are not only staffed by volunteers who have no medical training, but also have been providing false information to those seeking credible information.

While there are obviously many organizations that promote this approach, it is one thing to simply be a pro-life organization, and quite another to deliberately conceal anti-abortion goals and manipulate women who may be uninformed and vulnerable.

Through subversive tactics such as seemingly pro-choice friendly advertising, “abortion vulnerable clients” are lured into these clinics, which distribute false information. For example, many PRCs hand out pamphlets detailing fabricated claims such as the supposed “fact” that abortion causes breast cancer or infertility and exaggerate the rates of depression and suicide that may follow an abortion procedure. Never mind the trauma that can be caused by a parent unwilling or unable to care for a child, since that’s obviously a trivial detail to be overlooked in the larger, nobler plans of PRCs.

Whatever your ideological standpoint on the issue abortion, the actions of these PRCs is truly immoral. The main issue here is not about pro-life or pro-choice, it is that our government is providing millions of dollars in grants for people to be intentionally lied to.

That our government allows untrained and unknowledgeable workers to essentially brainwash young women in order to reach the goals of the Bush administration speaks to the nature of our national identity with chilling clarity. While obsessing about our supposedly important civil liberties, we think nothing of trampling all over the basic rights of others, as long as we can attain our own ends. And while the omnipresent lust for power and control is obviously at play here, what is scarier is the drive that collective self-righteousness lends to this quest. Playing God in the lives of others has become an American value in its own right, whether the control is aimed at other genders, other countries, other sexual preferences, and so on. We are a culture that thrives on controlling and imposing to the point of complete blindness to the needs, rights and desires of others. And as long as these practices continue, we can never truly stand united.