These centers follow a format suggested by the Pearson Foundation that is deliberately designed to misinform and mislead young women. Going by the names, Crisis Pregnancy Center, Pregnancy Aid, Birth Right, Open Door, or Pregnancy Counseling Center, these groups want to be a woman's first contact when she thinks she might be pregnant, so they can talk her out of considering abortion. Many offer free pregnancy tests but do not have any medical staff onsite, no doctors, no nurses, no nurse practitioners. Most anti-abortion centers will not give out information by phone, they insist you come into their office.
Women describe being harassed, intimidated, and given blatantly false information.
They complain that confidential information they gave was used against them. In some cases, they were followed home, and mail and phone calls arrived uninvited to their homes. Some centers also offer baby clothes and vague promises of assistance if a woman keeps her baby. Most such centers have no medically trained or medically supervised personnel, and provide no health services. They offer free pregnancy tests and vague information.