On Wednesday, July 26, Reproaction held a demonstration to #ExposeFakeClinics outside of the My Life Clinic in Columbia, Missouri. This action was part of a national week-long series of actions organized in partnership with Lady Parts Justice League to raise awareness of anti-abortion fake clinics. Otherwise known as a crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), anti-abortion fake clinics are facilities that promote medically inaccurate information to people seeking reproductive health care options. Missouri is one of seven states, including Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Dakota, and Texas, that reroute federal TANF dollars intended to alleviate hunger to fund anti-abortion fake clinics. Reproaction has led efforts across Missouri to bring to light the dangers of anti-abortion fake clinics, and Wednesday evening was no different.

Anti-abortion protesters outside My Life Clinic in Columbia, MO

Fifteen Reproaction activists showed up on a cloudy evening in high spirits. Signs focused on exposing crisis pregnancy centers as fake clinics that are only concerned with deterring pregnant women from getting abortions at all costs. Despite the focal point of the protest being the lack of prenatal and postpartum care tax-funded fake clinics provide to pregnant women, counter protesters showed up with graphic anti-abortion signs in their attempt to defend their fake clinic. If the mission of these crisis pregnancy centers is to provide healthcare for pregnant women then why didn’t their signs try to defend the healthcare services they allegedly provide? Even more telling was the fake clinic’s refusal to comment when local media outlets asked them to address the points Reproaction raised. At the action, counter protesters were met with chants of “We don’t need, C-P-Cs!” and “Hey hey, ho ho, CPCs have got to go!”

Our work to expose fake clinics will continue because they are unregulated by the state, funded through our tax dollars and therefore accountable to the public, and do not provide prenatal and/or postpartum care to pregnant people or new parents. The $6 million in funding these fake clinics receive from public dollars, including state tax credits and TANF funds, desperately needs to be audited. If these fake clinics are going to continue to insist that they help pregnant women, then they need to prove it!

More info and statistics on anti-abortion fake clinics across the nation can be found at https://exposefakeclinics.squarespace.com/.

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