A new chain of Christian pregnancy centers will provide a controversial service: Contraception [View all]
Source: Washington Post
A new chain of Christian pregnancy centers will provide a controversial service: Contraception
By Sarah Pulliam Bailey
11/7/2019, 7:00:00 p.m.
AUSTIN When a low-income woman searches for reproductive care, she often goes to a Planned Parenthood clinic, where shes treated as a patient with an array of medical options. Or she might go to a Christian pregnancy center, where she is counseled to carry a pregnancy to term.
But some Christians now see an opening for a third way to reach women before they become pregnant that also enables them to compete for federal money Planned Parenthood has decided to relinquish.
Eight independent Texas-based pregnancy centers merged earlier this year to form a chain called The Source. With Christian womens health centers in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, the nonprofit organization plans to offer a full array of medical services, to include testing for sexually transmitted diseases, first-trimester prenatal care and contraception choices.
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The decision to provide contraception is a huge cultural shift for Christian centers that, for religious reasons, do not normally offer birth control. But it represents what some in the antiabortion movement say is a much-needed rebranding for pregnancy centers away from emphasizing ending abortion and toward placing womens health care front and center. Many younger conservative Christians, in particular, are concerned with how the movement treats women.
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Read more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/a-new-chain-of-christian-pregnancy-centers-will-provide-a-controversial-service-contraception/2019/11/07/7b89bd14-f458-11e9-ad8b-85e2aa00b5ce_story.html