Originally published at National Catholic Register
COMMENTARY: The pregnancy-care-center movement is a movement of women, by women, for women.
Over the years, I have had many encounters with the pregnancy-care-center movement. I’ve encountered them when I’ve been a speaker at pro-family and pro-life conventions. I’ve provided training for administrators and counselors of these centers. I’ve interviewed some of them for my podcast.
The totality of this experience convinces me that the pregnancy-care-center movement is an authentic “women’s movement.” I think they have more right to describe themselves as a “women’s movement” than some of the self-described “feminists.”
First: pregnancy care centers are numerically dominated by women. At most of the meetings I’ve attended, the audience of staff and volunteers is 90% women. In fact, I was recently at one meeting that was striking for its “high” percentage of men: 25%!
Some of the centers do have guys who volunteer to sit in the waiting room. The counselors at these centers have learned that many women feel pressured by their boyfriends to abort their children (a point “pro-choice” advocates seldom acknowledge). The male volunteers hang around the waiting room for the sole purpose of having that “man-to-man” talk that some of the younger guys may need
