A new documentary aims to reframe public perceptions of pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) and nonprofits that offer services to women facing unplanned pregnancies.
Fake Clinics?, directed by Cindy Morales, was released in early November and features staff, volunteers, and clients who say the centers provide essential support that is often overlooked or misunderstood. Morales is the executive director of Pro Life Champions and founder of Shout My Story, a campaign created in response to websites like ShoutYourAbortion.com.
Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow with the Catholic Association, wrote in her Substack Nov. 14 that the documentary “shows the countless ways [PRCs] help mothers to flourish,” and debunks lies about the pro-life centers.
The documentary’s description states: “Pregnancy Help Centers are being labeled as fake clinics, but what is the real story? We explore the truth of the matter.”
The film arrives at a sensitive political moment for PRCs nationwide. McGuire noted that in the coming weeks, the United States Supreme Court is expected to weigh in on First Choice v. Platkin, a case involving New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and several PRCs in his state. Platkin issued a sweeping subpoena to First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, demanding the identities of nearly 5,000 private donors, 10 years of internal documents, advertisements, client communications, and personnel records under the guise of investigating potential violations of the state’s Consumer Fraud Act despite no specific complaints or evidence of wrongdoing, a move developed in collaboration with Planned Parenthood.
The opening segment of Fake Clinics? focuses on the criticism PRCs receive from Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups. Morales assembles a collection of public statements from Democratic lawmakers who argue that PRCs engage in deceptive advertising and exist “to fool people who are looking for pregnancy termination help.”
Then, the documentary shows a series of clips in which officials describe PRCs as misleading operations that endanger patients, asserting that new regulations are needed to “protect patients from the deceptive practices of so-called crisis pregnancy centers.” Another clip shows a news anchor showcasing a map of these “fake clinics,” presented as evidence that the threat posed by such centers is “very real.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., appears in the montage, calling for aggressive action against PRCs.
“We need to shut them down here in Massachusetts, and we need to shut them down all around the country,” she says.
As one Catholic Analyst said, “The documentary’s strength is its juxtaposition with actual staff and volunteers at PRCs as well as with interviews with the women they have served.”
The filmmakers juxtapose the statements with interviews from PRC personnel who dispute those claims. Representatives from several center networks appear in the film and say their organizations follow strict policies related to transparency and advertising.
“I think that those who believe that because we offer alternatives to abortion, that makes us coercive… I think that’s in their mind. Because in our world, offering help is not coerciveness. Offering truth is not coercive,” Kathy Bozyk, executive director of the Southside Pregnancy Center, said.
Kim Mesa, a patient advocate at the Downtown Pregnancy Help Center, emphasized health care is about an informed decision.
“We make it very clear that she gets to choose,” Mesa said in the documentary. “She gets to make the choice for what she decides about her pregnancy. We do not force her, we do not coerce her, we do not encourage her one way or another. We give her the time and the space to make an informed decision.”
The documentary highlights the types of services PRCs say they offer free of charge: prenatal and parenting classes, connections to medical care, housing referrals, and job-training programs. One Houston-area PRC worker describes helping clients secure immediate medical appointments and placing some in vocational programs intended to lead to higher-paying careers.
Medical volunteers interviewed for the film also push back against allegations that centers lack qualified staff, saying such claims dismiss their credentials and training. They emphasize what they describe as a commitment to informed consent and medically accurate information.
The film also includes interviews with mothers who credit PRCs with providing emotional and material support at difficult moments. Several say they felt outside pressure, such as from partners, family, or circumstances, to pursue options they were unsure about, and that the centers served as a stabilizing resource.
“If anything, staff interviewed point out, it is often someone else in a woman’s trying to deceive or coerce her. One woman served by a PRC said that her boyfriend was exerting strong pressure on her to abort. Even when the sonographer showed her baby on the ultrasound screen, her boyfriend insisted that it was ‘not real’” the analyst said.
“They’ve been the family I needed,” one woman says in the film.
Current and former staff of crisis pregnancy centers interviewed in Fake Clinics acknowledge that PRCs face sustained criticism and, in some cases, threats or vandalism. One staff member describes the atmosphere as living with a “target on our back.”
The full documentary is available to watch here.
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