Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada Deceitful on Crisis Pregnancy Centres (Post 6)

Part 8 – Arthur’s “high and low” reports

So let’s talk now about the so-called “studies or investigative reports” Arthur found in Canada (Source: Page 6 of Arthur’s 2016 report):

The Pretenders (CTV 2000; W-Five).
Exposing Crisis Pregnancy Centres in BC (Arthur 2009).
Deception Used in Counselling Women against Abortion (Smith 2010a; Toronto Star).
Are Anti-Choice Crisis Pregnancy Centres Targeting Female Students on Ontario
University Campuses? (Tilley 2011).
Surrey charity gives dubious abortion advice: investigation (Woodward 2012; CTV).
Phony Abortion Clinics In Canada Are Scaring Women with Lies (Khandaker 2013a;
VICE).
Enjeux éthiques de l’intervention auprès de femmes vivant une grossesse imprévue au
Québec (Gonin et al. 2014).
Mieux comprendre les ressources conseil grossesse anti-choix au Québec (FQPN 2014).
Toll free but not judgment free: evaluating postabortion support services in Ontario
(Laroche and Foster 2015).

Now there are a couple of interesting things to note about these “studies”.

First, of these nine studies, six of them are not referenced at all in Arthur’s current study (all the ones in bold above). So why are these even included in this 2016 study?

Clue: look at the titles of the studies. All are inflammatory and one-sided in their negativity of CPCs. Their main purpose for being identified at all is simply to make sure the reader is well aware of other anti-CPC reports out there. They add no additional information to Arthur’s current study, and as mentioned before, all of them used limited sources or were retracted, or found fraudulent (e.g. Arthur’s Exposing CPCs in BC) or penned by pro-choice writers with a partial axe to grind.

Of the two Quebec studies Arthur mentions, one of them relies heavily on Arthur’s own 2009 discredited report.

Lastly, Arthur identifies her own 2009 report, but never references the report that rebuts that deceptive and discredited report. I suggest that Crisis Pregnancy Centres in British Columbia: A Respectful Rebuttal to a Disrespectful Report doesn’t have the same cachet as Arthur’s other nine examples. Especially if you place its title right beside the title of her own Exposing Crisis Pregnancy Centres in BC like this:
“Exposing Crisis Pregnancy Centres in BC”
“Crisis Pregnancy Centres in British Columbia: A Respectful Rebuttal to a Disrespectful Report”

I thought it was very gracious of CAPSS in their choice of the word “disrespectful” to describe Arthur’s 2009 report. In fact, it was very Christian of them.

The Pretenders (CTV 2000; W-Five). This isn’t online so I couldn’t review it. I’ve asked CTV twice now to provide me with a link to the show. They never responded. 

Upon further investigation, I learned something very interesting about this show. A CPC involved in this CTV story sued the CTV’s W-Five for serious inaccuracies in the show. I also learned that an out-of-court settlement was agreed upon by both parties. 
 
Apparently, the disputed broadcast is not to be aired again.
 
No wonder I couldn’t find it online. So why is Arthur identifying it at all then? I assume the public is unaware of the show since if you Google it, you won’t find it. So anyone reading Arthur’s current report would think:
“Wow, CPCs are pretending, and maltreating women, how horrid, and I can’t find it online but it must be true!” (Source: Imagination of Patricia Maloney getting fed up of the untruths, deception and misinformation about CPCs)
 
And now Joyce Arthur is using this no longer available and disputed report as further “evidence” that all or most CPCs in Canada mislead women. Arthur even helps the reader along by this notation in her report about the show, a notation that we have only Arthur’s word for, since the show is unavailable for viewing:
“CTV. Nov 5, 2000. ‘The Pretenders.’ W-Five documentary news program exposing maltreatment by the Calgary Pregnancy Care Centre of a woman seeking abortion. (Not online)” (Page 34 of Arthur’s 2016 report)

“Maltreatment” by a CPC? No proof and no evidence that this is true. And no way to see the W-Five show. Just Arthur’s say so. And it infers a generalization to all CPCs.

Next we have this:
Surrey charity gives dubious abortion advice: investigation (Woodward 2012; CTV).
This CTV investigation was initiated by a “client complaint,” CTV stated. When I first heard about this allegation, I could only imagine that the “client” had a copy of Joyce Arthur’s 2009 report in hand, a report that has been shown to be inaccurate.
In fact, when I researched the accuracy of this allegation, I discovered – wait for it – that there never was a client complaint. Astonishing.


Further, the CTV clips had its own inaccuracies. After airing, the Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Vancouver sued CTV for defamation. The Vancouver CPC settled out of court. Here is a statement made by their executive director Brian Norton following the settlement at that time:

“CTV NEWS Update - We described in previous communications with our supporters concerns we had with how CTV News portrayed our Vancouver CPC in a series of television broadcasts earlier this year. We are pleased CTV has since amended the broadcasts posted on its website, as well as the associated web articles.

CTV News Director Margo Harper wrote us concerning its investigation’s purpose:
Our investigation focused predominantly on whether the medical information claims offered by Crisis Pregnancy Centres were accurate … [and] the abortion risks outlined in the brochures offered by these centres were accurate.

Ms. Harper confirmed to us in writing of CTV’s conclusion on these critical issues:
Video of the Vancouver centre was featured briefly in the second story with a voice-over that said the centre offered ‘no far-fetched health warnings’.
CTV News made no claims in our reports suggesting [your CPC] brochures were inaccurate.

While far from a perfect outcome, many of our concerns have been addressed and we will not be spending any more of our time or resources on this issue.” (Source: Christian Advocacy Society of Greater Vancouver, Newsletter, dated December 2012 (page 2)) (emphasis added)

In a nutshell, CTV said that the centre offered “no far-fetched health warnings’ and made “no claims in our reports suggesting [your CPC] brochures were inaccurate.”

So then what was the point of Arthur mentioning the show at all, when it is not even referred to in her report other than identifying it as one more example to support Arthur’s anti-CPC crusade? Once again it is the title of the initial report and what it implies about CPCs (e.g. Surrey charity gives dubious abortion advice) that Arthur likes.

It seems the show was just another notch in Arthur’s belt of CPC attacks. She had to mention it notwithstanding CTV’s News Director Margo Harper’s written statement.

Here is what the BC Catholic says about this CTV investigation: http://bccatholic.ca/the-news/1842-crisis-pregnancy-overseer-sues-ctv-alleging-defamation

“Norton said the investigation didn’t focus on the medical authenticity of CPC Vancouver’s medical information and instead used abortion-supporting ‘experts’ to denounce all crisis pregnancy centres for misleading the public with abortion misinformation.

He said CTV gave extensive coverage to Greg Smith, the executive director of Options for Sexual Health (Planned Parenthood B.C.) and Dr. Wendy Norman of BC Women’s Hospital and the former president of Options for Sexual Health. He added that CTV did not interview any of the medical experts involved in writing CPC Vancouver’s … [client options] brochures.”

And this from LifeSite News, quoting extensively from a statement issued by then MP Maurice Vellacott: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pro-life-mp-releases-his-own-expose-on-ctv-pregnancy-centre-investigation

“The report ignored the scientific literature referenced in the centres brochures which substantiates the centres’ claims that abortion is associated with increased physical and psychological health risks. The reporter was told that this brochure had been reviewed and approved by 25 professional counsellors, physicians and medical researchers. None of this was mentioned in the CTV report.

“CTV also declined to interview physicians with expertise in the area of health risks associated with abortion who had been willing to corroborate, on air, the claims made in the brochure.

“Furthermore, Dr. Dan Reilly, an obstetrician/gynaecologist who also teaches ethics at McMaster, was interviewed by CTV and briefly appeared on the broadcast, but only his comments that challenged the validity of some of the comments made by the Surrey centre volunteer were aired. Dr. Reilly’s written confirmation of the accuracy of the health risks described in the centre’s brochure was passed on to CTV, but those comments by Dr. Reilly never made it into CTV’s report. Also left out of CTV’s report was the fact that the counsellor at the Vancouver centre received a complete endorsement from Dr. Reilly that her comments were medically correct.

“CTV chose to air Dr. Wendy Norman’s comments about abortion being ‘very safe’, neglecting to tell the viewers that Dr. Norman is an abortion provider and researcher and ‘has practiced exclusively in the area of abortion since 1997.’ Her comments to CTV seem to be at odds with the results of a study she herself co-authored which found that ‘Postabortion infection after therapeutic abortion, although uncommon, may have devastating consequences including infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and pelvic pain syndrome.’”

Part 9 - Exposing Crisis Pregnancy Centres in BC

As noted previously, CAPSS wrote a lengthy rebuttal of Joyce Arthur’s first report in 2009. Arthur’s “study” can pretty much be discounted in its entirety if anyone, including Arthur herself, had the goodwill to actually read the CAPSS 55-page rebuttal to that horrid 2009 report:


I’ll go out on a limb here, and say that I’m pretty sure Arthur read the CAPSS rebuttal. But she never commented on it publicly. She never told the BCHA about it.

I don’t imagine she much liked it. I believe it was too close to the truth. What did Jack Nicholson say in that movie A Few Good Men?

“You can’t handle the Truth.”

I’ve also written extensively on Arthur’s 2009 report on my blog:


Here are more moot references in her 2016 report. They are all American references, and / or are invalid web sites: 
NARAL (American) https://www.prochoiceamerica.org/
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/329/abortion-debateprint.htm (invalid link: page not found)
The American National Abortion Federation https://prochoice.org/ (American) 
The American Cosmopolitan Magazine (American) 
CPC Watch http://www.cpcwatch.org (This site is about Car Seat Safety Checks; nothing about CPCs on this site)  
The American Guttmacher Institute (American) https://www.guttmacher.org/

And of course Arthur references her own writings at Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada and her Pro-Choice Action Network, the credibility of which are as suspect as any of Arthur’s writings.

Two French studies:


One of these sites references Arthur’s 2009 report twelve times, plus two other references to her ARCC website. That’s fourteen references in total to Arthur’s own writing. Naturally she would include these references.

CONCLUSION

On the whole of it, one must wonder what Arthur’s agenda is as she continues to hound and persecute CPCs for the good work they do for women in crisis pregnancy situations. Why does Arthur feel this obsessive need to denigrate and spread falsehoods about CPCs on a continual and unabated basis? Where does this hate come from?

I can’t answer any of these questions. But I can provide the reader, in contrast to Arthur, an honest and verifiable perspective about crisis pregnancy centres.

Crisis pregnancy centres are safe places for women to go to when experiencing confusion or fear about an unintended pregnancy. There they will receive love and compassion from people who are trained in giving them information about their options, and ultimately supporting them whatever they decide to do.

It’s difficult to read and research the hatred that exists towards these centres. There is so much misinformation and untruths out there made by persons – prominently here in Canada by abortion activist Joyce Arthur – who clearly have an agenda to destroy these centres.

Their motives are difficult to understand, but the results of their actions harm and discredit the centres, the people who work there, and the women they serve. Ultimately, it will be the women and men who use these centres who will be most affected by the witch hunts of persons who wish to see these centres closed.

One quote I found regarding the work CPCs do was this: “They share God’s love through their actions.”

Amen I say to that.
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)