Anti-Abortion Area On-Sites

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/health/pregnancy-centers-gain-influence-in-anti-abortion-fight.html?pagewanted=all

Pregnancy Centers Gain Influence in Anti-Abortion Arena

 

Today, pregnancy center plays more and more influential role in anti-abortion movement but the situation is a little controversial. In the U.S. there are a lot of pregnancy center run by Conservative Christians. They have extended their business on-site and on-call and their service is valued as its grass-level approach. However, some scholars argue that their activities on the Internet hold great risk to send misinformation and can derive confusion of the viewers. Since abortion is a matter of human lives and we are constantly exposed to the information on the Internet, it is significant to think about the problem related to the anti-abortion movements and the influence of their on-site activities.

Though the activity of pregnancy centers supports anti-abortion side, they keep distance from drastic anti-abortion groups and are likely to hit near Planned Parenthood sites on the Internet. Actually, the article introduces a woman who visited the pregnancy center without recognizing it as a religious institution but thinking it as a Planned Parenthood centers. Some cities tried to make a rule to force pregnancy centers to show they do not provide abortion or contraception and whether medical professionals are on sites or not. But it was refused or softened because it would be against the free speech right. The discussion about free speech is very controversial and difficult to settle down but I think as long as the matter of abortion, we should take a strong attitude to provide the accurate information to the women by drastic regulations.

Thinking about the women’s reproductive right, the influence of information from the Internet is significant for their decision making process. And if there is a misinformation or limited information, they will cause a “wrong” choice or limited “choice.” Moreover, as the social movements or health care services extend their business on the Internet, it can extend the gap between those who have the access to the Internet and those who not. This gap is related to the inequality in our social structure and oppression systems. Poor people cannot afford to but a computer and some of them may live in the community where no one has such a “luxury.” In my society, a lot of people have computers and access to the Internet as nothing special. So I realized that discussion about the utility of on-site activity about abortion based on the assumption that everyone has access to that information. But looking at broader society, there is more serious issues related to fundamental rights. Every woman should have full reproductive rights but it is not guaranteed to all in reality. At this point, the access to the accurate, sufficient information will be one of the important factors to achieve the full right for all women.