She found healing & now directs pregnancy center

arolyn Anson was told she was not ready to be a volunteer at the Crisis Pregnancy Center (now known as the Hope Pregnancy Center) because she needed healing from her past abortion experience. But, after reading an advertisement in the Baptist Messenger of Oklahoma, Anson would be on her way to not only find healing, but also help other post-abortive women. This eventually led to her new position as the director of Hope Pregnancy Center (HPC) North in Oklahoma City.

Twenty-three years ago, Anson felt God's calling on her life was to be a volunteer at the Crisis Pregnancy Center. She received the proper referrals through her church, which led to her meeting with the center's director.

"We laughed and cried together," Anson said, "and at the end of that meeting, she said she would love to have me be a part of Crisis Pregnancy Center, but she felt healing was necessary before I could start. I asked her how do I get the healing. She said she really didn't know, but she said she would be praying for me that I find the healing I needed."

Anson went home discouraged and found her copy of the Baptist Messenger in the mail that day.

"I opened it up, and I always check the back page because that was my own church information," she said. "And most often, I would flip through it to say that I reviewed it. But on this particular day I opened it up, and there it was -- 'Abortion Recovery.' And that's exactly what I needed before I could become a volunteer at the Crisis Pregnancy Center."

Anson responded to the advertisement for an abortion recovery seminar and found out they had room for one more. This was the beginning of the change in her life.

"After I went through my own abortion recovery, it was then in December 1993 that I called the director, and it was a funny experience," Anson recalled. "She said she had pulled my file and was getting ready to call me to see if I was able to find my healing. I became a volunteer in January 1994."

Anson responded to the advertisement for an abortion recovery seminar and found out they had room for one more. This was the beginning of the change in her life.

"After I went through my own abortion recovery, it was then in December 1993 that I called the director, and it was a funny experience," Anson recalled. "She said she had pulled my file and was getting ready to call me to see if I was able to find my healing. I became a volunteer in January 1994."

Helping others find freedom

In 2000, when Crisis Pregnancy Center changed its name to Hope Pregnancy Center, it also was a change for Anson. She became involved in abortion recovery ministry. She met with women one-on-one, helping them, encouraging them, praying with them as they went through the process of being "forgiven and set free" from the guilt of having an abortion.

Anson went through training of the national curriculum called Facilitating Biblical Healing. She then helped organize HPC's program "Forgiven and Set Free," which is now a 12-week course that meets twice a year. When asked how many women she had helped through the years, she said "A LOT."

She remembers one of her first clients who experienced multiple abortions. Many years later, the client experienced a stroke and died. Anson attended her funeral where her son shared with Anson that his mom had never been happier, knowing she had found forgiveness.

Anson is all too aware of the number of women who struggle post-abortion.

"One of less than four women sitting in our church pews, who are 45 and under, are post-abortive and still afraid to tell their secret to the church," she said. "They are still afraid that people would look down on them."

In 2008, HPC started to offer abortion recovery in group sessions. At first, Anson was cautious with the format.

"I did it one-on-one for years," she said. "This was a new concept to me, and I didn't know how groups would work. I wondered how women would be able to sit at a table with other women and share the secret they have carried for many, many years."

Anson warmed up to the group format and has seen many clients come through the HPC doors, helping them experience the healing she experienced.

"What they discover is (having an abortion) has affected every area of their lives," she said. "Their motherhood, being a good wife, their entire womanhood has been affected by this. They had no idea it would affect so many areas of their lives and how they carry these burdens in their life and don't even realize it.

"We talk to them, help them and encourage them to lay these burdens down," she noted. "We encourage them to take them to the foot of the cross and lay them down and leave them there for good."

A new adventure

Anson has seen great success as an HPC volunteer, helping women who were facing unwanted pregnancies and those who needed to be forgiven of their past abortions. She had been working in human resource management for many years and could have continued her life content in that field, at least from the world's perspective. However, God had a different plan for her.

"I could tell God was moving me from my secular job in human resources where I have worked for a very long time," Carolyn said. "I was very secure in the position that I had. But the reality was God had something different for me."

In 2012, Anson was approached by a group wanting to open a pregnancy center, near N.W. 23rd St. and Classen Blvd. in Oklahoma City. She accepted the director position for the new center, and at first, it ran successfully. However, circumstances developed that caused the center to close.

"It wasn't meant to be," Anson said about this experience. She had left a secure job to embark on what she believed God wanted her to do, but the center closed and left her unemployed.

But Anson wasn't discouraged. She knew God was working in her life, and He had given her contentment. For a few years, she worked as a personal assistant for a godly woman, who Anson said was a great encouragement for her and would pray with her.

"We had built a wonderful relationship," Anson said.

Also, she said the pregnancy center near 23rd and Classen has reopened and is operated through a partnering group with HPC.

Then, it finally worked out. In January this year, Anson began her new role at HPC North, and she is excited to see what God will do next.

Hopeful at Hope

Anson, who replaced Gayla White, the new state director for Hope Pregnancy Ministries, has found a new passion at HPC North.

"Because of my intense role in abortion recovery, I wasn't as familiar with some of the other programs like Empowered Parenting, shop keeping and those kinds of things," Anson said. "The really neat thing is the Lord has given me a passion for Empowered Parenting classes and other programs. Through that, what I believe the Lord is showing me is the foundation of Hope Pregnancy Center is solid. And I believe, because of this solid foundation, we are going to take these programs to a different level."

Anson said HPC has plans to do more parenting classes that will be more accessible for both men and women to attend. HPC will continue to offer its fatherhood program and will provide parenting class sessions where mothers and fathers meet separately and will be expanding and modifying to help new parents.

"There are things I am still learning. I want to learn more," Anson said. "Mostly we are staying focused on making sure everything that is already in place remains as it was, slowly build on that foundation, as the Lord leads us.

"I believe God is going to make a difference because He is equipping me for what He has called me to do," she said. "I trust that God has put me here for a reason. It will take many men and women to help the many men and women who come to Hope Pregnancy Center."

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6 of 8 LA pregnancy centers defy abortion notice law

Six out of eight Los Angeles-area "pregnancy centers" visited by KPCC are not complying with a new state law requiring them to notify their clients that the state offers access to low-cost and free abortions.

KPCC also found that authorities are not aggressively enforcing the law, which took effect Jan. 1. Some cities are deferring to the state, while others are waiting to receive complaints about pregnancy centers before investigating them.

There are 189 of these centers in California, according to the California ProLife Council.  They provide women with pregnancy tests, ultrasounds and counseling. But critics say these facilities' main goal is to persuade women not to have abortions.

The state legislature passed the notification law last year following an undercover investigation of 45 pregnancy centers by NARAL Pro-Choice California. The probe found that "90 percent of them …  lied about medical facts around pregnancy and abortion" and "attempted to shame and delay women from accessing abortion care," says Amy Everitt, the group's state director.

Pro-abortion rights groups like NARAL define any opposition to abortion as "lying," responds Matt Bowman, a lawyer representing the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, which counts more than 100 California pregnancy centers as members. He says efforts to regulate what pregnancy centers tell their patients amount to censorship.

Bowman is also senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing pregnancy centers in one of five lawsuits seeking to overturn the notification law. The suits allege the measure violates the centers’ freedom of speech and religion.

'I'm Pepsi...not Coca-Cola'

One of the centers not complying with the law is Foothills Pregnancy Resource Center in Duarte. Executive Director Lori Berg gave KPCC a tour of the facility, including what she calls the "options counseling room." There are a couple of chairs, some brochures and a small television.

"We have a video about the basic suction abortion – that's before first trimester," Berg explains. "But there's nothing gory. A woman can see for herself, this is the procedure."

Next door is a room with an ultrasound machine. The images are displayed on a big-screen TV mounted on the wall. There are also huge posters with pictures of fetuses at different stages of development.

Berg points to one poster: "This picture – eight weeks – can make a difference. Now, if someone says that’s coercive – this is science. This isn't something I dreamt up."

The center also offers support groups for women who've had abortions and gives away free diapers and clothes to new moms.

Asked to explain why she won't post the notice about access to abortions, Berg says the dispute over the law is like the Cola Wars.

"I'm Pepsi-Cola, I'm not Coca-Cola," Berg says. "Don't force me to put Coca-Cola posters or even hand out free coupons for Coca-Cola."

'Have you ever...driven over the speed limit?'

Women's Pregnancy Care Clinic, which has two locations in Pasadena and Whittier, isn't complying with the law either. Jeanette Kuiphof, who runs both centers, says she's not following the law because she hasn't been cited yet.

She draws an analogy: "Have you ever, ever driven over the speed limit? OK, did you run down to the police station and self-report yourself? Because that was the law. And you didn't comply with it."

There are three ways a center can comply with the law: It can post the notice in its waiting area, it can hand the notice to clients or it can give it to them online. Kuiphof says she'll choose the latter option, once her clinics switch to electronic health records this summer.

The law also requires a clinic to notify its clients if it is not licensed by the state as a medical facility.

KPCC also found centers in Glendale, Torrance and Los Angeles that don't post the abortion notice in their lobbies. The director of the Glendale center, Avenues Pregnancy Clinic, has not returned several phone calls. The other two – Pregnancy Help Center in Torrance and Los Angeles Pregnancy Services in L.A. - deferred to Alliance Defending Freedom.

Asked whether the Torrance and L.A. centers are complying with the law by distributing the notice directly to their clients, Alliance Senior Counsel Bowman said, "all I can confirm is that many of these centers have said, in their court papers, we cannot refer out women and their unborn children for the destruction of the child, paid for by the state of California."

The five lawsuits seeking to overturn the law are making their way through the courts. Judges have denied pregnancy centers' requests for preliminary injunctions in four of the suits, ruling the facilities must comply with the law while the cases are being heard. Plaintiffs' request for an injunction in the fifth lawsuit is pending.

Waiting for complaints

The penalty for not complying with the law is $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for each offense after that. The law says the state attorney general, city attorneys or county counsels "may" enforce it.

"The law was carefully structured to share responsibility between state and local entities to make sure that in every county, each and every pregnancy clinic was complying with the law," says Jill Habig, special counsel to Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Cities are taking different approaches to enforcement. Glendale and Whittier say that since they're not required to enforce the law, they're leaving it up to the state.

Duarte, home of Lori Berg's center, says it will enforce the law.

"So far the city of Duarte has not received any complaints, so at this point we haven't proceeded with any enforcement," says Deputy City Manager Karen Herrera.

Pasadena, home to one of Jeannette Kuiphof's centers, says it will enforce the law if it receives any complaints. L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer's office has the same position.

Back in Duarte, Lori Berg says there’s another reason she's not complying with the law: Her lawyers advised her not to because they expect the courts to overturn it.

For now, Berg is posting signs throughout her center that say, "You are treasured, valued, loved, supported, cherished," she says. "That's what we want women to feel, regardless of [their] choice."

For its part, the Attorney General Harris' office says it's committed to ensuring the abortion notice law is upheld in court.
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Abortion Services

We provide expert, compassionate abortion care services. - See more at:

Four of our 11 health centers offer abortion care services - two in Metro Phoenix, one in Flagstaff, and one in Tucson.

As a licensed medical provider, our physicians and health centers are here to serve all of your needs. We offer both abortion-by-pill (medication abortion) and in-clinic abortion care (surgical abortion). We are here to help, and can discuss all of your options with you - as well as provide adoption and pre-natal care referrals.


• All women seeking abortion care are required to have an in-person appointment with a physician to listen to a state-mandated script of information 24 hours before an abortion appointment as well as have an ultrasound.

• All care will be provided by a physician, as required by state law.  


Click here for more information about minors accessing abortion care.
Click here to view the consent form.

Parent or guardian signatures on consent forms for abortion patients under 18 years old will now have to be notarized at a bank or business that offers notarization services.


For more information, or to make an appointment, please call us today: Metro Phoenix, 602.277.PLAN (7526); Southern Arizona, 520.408.PLAN (7526); elsewhere in Arizona, toll-free 855.207.PLAN (7526).

Profesionales de la salud ahora podrán negar a mujeres el acceso al cuidado de la salud, incluyendo el control de la natalidad en la farmacia y la anticoncepción de emergencia en el ER, si los profesionales sanitarios objetan la atención requerida basado en sus creencias personales. Arizona Planned Parenthood proporciona una variedad de métodos de control de la natalidad y métodos anticonceptivos de emergencia. Estamos aquí para que pueda obtener el control de la natalidad que desee.

- Mujeres tendran que  tener una cita en persona con un médico para escuchar un guión  impuesto por el estado de información 24 horas antes de una cita de aborto y también un ultrasonido.

Oprima aquí para una copia del formulario de consentimiento parental en español.

Para hacer una cita o para más información – En Phoenix, llame 602.277.PLAN. En Tucson, llame 520.408.PLAN. En cualquier otra parte de Arizona, llame gratuito al 855.207.PLAN.
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The abortion truth that liberals can’t deny — but try to

Maybe the makers of “The Big Bang Theory” don’t watch “Meet the Press.”

Hillary Clinton got into a bit of trouble when she told host Chuck Todd “the unborn person doesn’t have constitutional rights.”

Clinton was merely noting some restrictions on abortions are permitted under the law. But the real kerfuffle was over the idea that a person can exist in America without any rights — or that fetuses are people at all.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation cautions activists to avoid the “p” word. It’s not a person until it’s born or, as Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) once suggested, until you bring it home from the hospital. Until then, it’s a fetus or “uterine contents.” Planned Parenthood advises that activists don’t say “abort a child,” preferring “terminate a pregnancy” or some such.

Clinton is rarely that blunt. She usually likes to use the term “women’s health.” That way she can claim that people who are against abortion-on-demand are against “women’s health.”

Anyway, it was hardly a big controversy — more like a Twitter dust-up. That’s probably why the writers of the hit CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” missed it.

One of the characters, Bernadette, recently got pregnant. In the episode that aired April 7, Bernadette, her husband Howard and their friend Rajesh use a home ultrasound kit. When they hear the unborn baby’s heartbeat, Rajesh exclaims, “You guys made a person!”

Howard replies, “We did!”

This highlights a phenomenon I’ve written a lot about: On some issues, Hollywood can be downright right-wing. From the value of guns in “The Walking Dead” to the honor of police in countless dramas to the importance of family in most sitcoms, there’s a lot more conservatism, broadly understood, on TV than conservatives or liberals ever notice.

And so it is with abortion. With the exception of “Maude,” an awful left-wing 1970s TV show (along with some “edgy” HBO series), there have been no major sitcoms in which a character has had an abortion.

Why? One reason is abortions aren’t funny. There’s no reason to write a storyline in which a character gets pregnant only to decide later not to have a baby. That’s not a punch line, it’s a tragedy. Even the very liberal Mindy Kaling, star and producer of “The Mindy Project,” says the show won’t touch the issue of abortion — and Kaling plays a gynecologist!

Maybe you could write a funny scene where a woman goes to the doctor to get a mammogram or deals with some other aspect of “women’s health.” I don’t know. But you can’t write a knee-slapper about a woman deliberately terminating an unborn person’s life.

Sometimes the pregnant character agonizes about her choice (and occasionally there’s a miscarriage), but the moment Rachel from “Friends” or Murphy Brown or Bernadette chooses to keep it, the “it” stops being an it, and becomes a he or she.

Emotionally, that’s how it works for many, perhaps most, people. When a woman wants to keep her baby, it becomes a baby long before it’s born. No father speaks to a belly full of “uterine contents,” and no mother thumbs through a book of baby names for a fetus she is going to dispose of anyway.

That’s how a lot of public policy works, too. Under federal law and many state laws, if you murder a pregnant woman, you can be charged with two homicides.

The White House is asking for a lot of money to fight the Zika virus. “I think Democrats and Republicans in Congress are interested in making sure that pregnant women and unborn children in this country can be properly protected,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in February.

Unborn children? Yes, both parties want to protect unborn children from disease-carrying mosquitoes. But that bipartisanship falls apart when it comes to Planned Parenthood.

This emotional parsing is understandable. The problem is that emotion isn’t the best foundation for law. In the past, emotion led lots of Americans to think blacks weren’t persons either.

Logic, science and, finally, moral reasoning said otherwise. If over here an unborn child is a person but over there it isn’t, and the only thing distinguishing the two is someone’s feelings, we’ve got a problem. And it’s not just a problem of language.

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Pregnancy resources for Cochise women limited

Many reproductive health resources in Cochise County focus on preventing teen pregnancies and promoting family planning, leaving abortion and sex education limited.

Limitations include a slant toward abstinence-only, Christian-based education in some schools and organizations, and a bias against homosexuality in HIV education.

A lack of free abortion referral services and “women’s right-to-know” counseling sessions earned Arizona a listing in 2014 as “extremely hostile”  toward abortions from the Guttmacher Institute, a sexual and reproductive health and rights research and policy group.

Services offered

Services available from Cochise County Health and Social Services, CareNet Pregnancy Center of Cochise County and area schools are limited, but still contribute to contraceptive use, sex education, family planning and the women’s right to know counseling.

Cochise County Health and Social Services offers abstinence-based education in eight high schools and six middle schools across the county through their Teen Pregnancy Prevention program. According to statistics provided by Judith Gilligan, prevention services director for Cochise Health and Social Services, 1,461 children and teens between the ages of 12 and 18 in Douglas, Bisbee, Sierra Vista and Willcox were served by program in 2015.

Four curriculums are offered to high schools, and three are offered to middle schools. Each curriculum slightly differs for age or school preference, but most include sections about abstinence, the consequences of sex, sexually transmitted infections, condoms or contraception and “refusal and negotiation skills.”

“There are two kinds of evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention curriculums – abstinence ‘only’ which means no protection methods are taught at all, and abstinence-‘based’ which means abstinence is proposed as the best method to prevent pregnancy but protection methods are also taught,” Gilligan said.

Meanwhile, the department’s Family Planning program offers pregnancy tests, contraceptives, STI treatment and family planning counseling. These resources are confidential and free for those under 18 and below 150 percent of the Federal Poverty level.

Unlike the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program, however, Family Planning is unable to work directly with schools, according to Catherine Welch, Family Planning Coordinator. This is because the federal Title X program allows for confidential access to contraceptives and family planning care for teens, but in Arizona, parental notification is required for sex education and care.

The offices for Health and Social Services, which provide Family Planning care, are located in Benson, Bisbee, Douglas, Sierra Vista and Willcox. Women in other towns and more rural areas will travel to one of these locations for services, Welch said.

In contrast to Health and Social Services’ multiple locations across the county, CareNet Pregnancy Center of Cochise County is set in Sierra Vista. Though the state of Arizona has 38 crisis pregnancy centers, CareNet is the only one in Cochise and the county’s only free women’s right-to-know counseling resource.

 

The counseling walks pregnant women through three options: parenthood, adoption and abortion. A non-medically trained volunteer counselor will show the development of the fetus, offer resources like informational videos, create a pros and cons list with the client and provide a “pregnancy packet,” which is a collection of pamphlets, booklets and a magazine called “Before You Decide.”
“The motivation behind the center and this organization is no one should have to go through this major a decision by themselves,” said Tina Upshaw, executive director of CareNet Pregnancy Center of Cochise County.
The center also provides a number of parenting classes called “Earn While You Learn.” Parents can learn essential skills while earning credit at the center’s baby boutique store, a donation driven shop for baby clothes, diapers, furniture, books and more.
CareNet also offers abstinence-only sex education programs at schools in the Sierra Vista area, including Buena High School, which last year partnered with both CareNet and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program.
According to Buena Principal Joe Farmer, CareNet comes in for a two-day presentation each semester. The first falls during the week of homecoming in the fall and the other during the week of prom in the spring. Given the program’s abstinence-only nature, CareNet has not taught contraceptive use over its 15-year partnership with the school.
Now that Buena partners with the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program, a condom demonstration is included in  sex education curriculums. Parents are given permission slips and may opt their children out, though Farmer estimates that less than one percent of parents choose to do so.
Beyond their partnerships, Buena employs teachers certified in Health education who cover topics like STIs, HIV education, dating, relationships and the reproductive process. The Health class at Buena runs for one semester and is mandatory for graduation.

Limitations and loaded language 

Though the number of free and low-cost providers is small, there are some essential services rendered by Health and Social Services, CareNet and the schools. However, within those are problems from the inability of some to have easy physical access to family planning to state-mandated homophobia in education.

Current legislation around HIV education in Arizona prohibits instruction that “portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative life-style” – despite recent findings from the J. Walter Thompson Intelligence group that show 52 percent of people age 13 through 20 identify as not exclusively heterosexual – or “suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex.”

Sex education is similarly restricted in the state. According to the Guttmacher Institute, Arizona mandates that if sex education is offered, it must be age-appropriate and parents must consent. Any sex education in the state must stress abstinence, though abstinence-only education is at the discretion of school boards. Finally, the education must include information on “the negative outcomes of teen sex” and life skills on “avoiding coercion.”

It is not mandated, however, that the education be medically accurate, culturally appropriate or unbiased or that it cannot promote religion. Given the ability to teach abstinence-only, contraception information is not required.

This law exists despite a congressionally mandated study in 2007 that showed that abstinence-only programs “have no beneficial impact on young people’s sexual behavior,” according to the Guttmacher Institute. Since 2001, the rate of sexually active teenagers across the U.S. has remained in the 46 to 48 percent range by age 17.

Similarly, organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine and the American Public Health Association have endorsed and supported comprehensive sex education that includes abstinence education, but also information about contraception. This approach is closer to the abstinence-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention program.

In terms of potential harm, a 2004 report by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said that out of the 13 most common abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula of the time, 11 “contain medical misinformation, use fear and shame, blur religion and science, and perpetuate stereotypes about gender roles.” That misinformation included distorted information on the efficacy of contraceptives to shaming language that places value on virginity and dismisses sexually active women.

Access to abortion, abortion referrals and medically accurate information is also scarce in Cochise County.

CareNet, the only organization in the county that offers free women’s right-to-know counseling, does not provide abortion referral services because its volunteers are not licensed medical professionals.

To receive an abortion referral, one would have to visit a medical office in the county or drive to Planned Parenthood in Tucson. There are 38 free pregnancy centers in Arizona and seven abortion providers.

Many crisis pregnancy centers, including CareNet, are operated from a Christian point-of-view.

“My drive to continue in this field is absolutely the Lord,” Upshaw said. “I’m serving God first.”

Alternatives to abortion are encouraged, and CareNet employees are unable to give clients cost estimates of abortions.

CareNet’s “pregnancy packet” also includes emotionally loaded language — such as referring to a fetus as a “baby” — in a magazine-like booklet called “Before You Decide” about parenthood, adoption and abortion.
“Lots of growth happens during this time [implantation], settling the question of whether there is life, but some disagree about when this human life becomes a person,” the magazine says. It provides a very specific point of view.

The cover includes a sensationalized teaser  — “RU Sure? The ‘safe’ drug that can kill you” — in reference to RU-486, the medical abortion pill. Inside the magazine, it is only briefly mentioned that women who took RU-486 using off-label methods died because of an infection.

Meanwhile, on the next page, it mentions that the highest risk of death due to abortion is from a dilation and evacuation after viability, which is a surgical procedure that takes place far into the pregnancy. Even then, the quoted rate of death is about 1 per 11,000.

Similarly, some statistics are simply not mentioned, such as those for a first-trimester abortion done by pill, which is considered one of the safest medical procedures. The generally accepted rate of major medical complications from a medically induced abortion is about one-fifth of one percent, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Revisions in reproductive education stall

In President Obama’s proposed 2017 federal budget, all $10 million of the budget that funds abstinence-only education has been cut. Funding for comprehensive education remains, but the budget has not been approved and state efforts to reform sex education also seem to have stalled.

Arizona lawmakers introduced House Bill 2410 and Senate Bill 1019 in January to revise laws concerning sex and HIV education curricula. These proposed changes include removing homophobic material from HIV education, stressing the importance of proper contraceptive use, introducing sex education as early as kindergarten and requiring sex education to be medically accurate.

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U.S. court upholds law on abortion information

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court has refused to block a new law requiring religiously sponsored antiabortion clinics known as "crisis pregnancy centers'' to notify patients that the state makes reproductive health services, including abortion, available at little or no cost.

The clinics argued that the law violates their freedom of speech. The state-mandated notices are "the equivalent of a referral for abortion,'' attorney Francis Manion of the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative legal organization, said in a court filing this week.

But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied a request by three Northern California clinics Wednesday for an injunction that would have blocked the law while they challenged its constitutionality. The panel of Judges Edward Leavy, Milan Smith and Sandra Ikuta, all Republican appointees, said the clinics were unlikely to prevail in their appeal of a federal judge's ruling allowing the law to take effect Friday.

Crisis pregnancy centers offer free counseling and services to pregnant women, including pregnancy tests and ultrasound examinations, but steer them away from abortions. There are about 2,500 centers nationwide and at least 228 in California, according to a legislative staff analysis of the new law.

The measure, introduced by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, requires state-licensed reproductive health centers, including crisis pregnancy centers that have a doctor on their staff, to notify clients of the full range of low-cost or free reproductive health services available under state law. Those services include contraception, prenatal care and abortion. The notices must list the phone number of the county social service center.

Clinics without a doctor are not licensed by the state and will have to tell clients they are unlicensed.

In a ruling Dec. 18 denying an injunction against the law, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of Oakland said the notices that the clinics will have to give their patients contain "only factual and incontrovertibly true information about the range of pregnancy-related public health services available.'' He said the state is not endorsing those services or preventing the clinics from speaking out against them.

Manion said Thursday that his clients will continue to challenge the law in the appeals court.
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Abortion Abortion

Introduction

An abortion is the medical process of ending a pregnancy so it does not result in the birth of a baby.

It is also sometimes known as a 'termination' or a 'termination of pregnancy'.

Depending on how many weeks you have been pregnant, the pregnancy is ended either by taking medication or by having a surgical procedure.

Read more about how an abortion is performed.

An abortion is not the same as a miscarriage, which is where the pregnancy is lost or ends naturally. The loss starts without medical intervention, although medical or surgical treatment may be needed after a miscarriage has started to help empty the womb.

Why an abortion may be needed

There are many reasons why a woman might decide to have an abortion, including:

    personal circumstances – including risk to the wellbeing of existing children
    a health risk to the mother
    a high chance the baby will have a serious abnormality – either genetic or physical

Read more about why an abortion may be necessary.

When an abortion can be carried out

Under UK law, an abortion can usually only be carried out during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy as long as certain criteria are met (see below).

The Abortion Act 1967 covers England, Scotland and Wales but not Northern Ireland, and states:

    abortions must be carried out in a hospital or a specialist licensed clinic
    two doctors must agree that an abortion would cause less damage to a woman's physical or mental health than continuing with the pregnancy

There are also a number of rarer situations when the law states an abortion may be carried out after 24 weeks. These include:

    if it's necessary to save the woman's life
    to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman
    if there is substantial risk that the child would be born with serious physical or mental disabilities

Generally, an abortion should be carried out as early in the pregnancy as possible, usually before 12 weeks and ideally before 9 weeks where possible.

Read more about when an abortion is carried out.

NHS abortions

If you want to have an abortion through the NHS, you'll usually need to be referred to a specialist service that deals with abortion.

You can ask your GP to refer you or you can go to your local family planning clinic or genito-urinary medicine (GUM) clinic. Use the post code search facility to find your nearest sexual health clinic.

The law states that any doctor with a moral objection doesn't have to certify a woman for an abortion. But they must recommend another doctor who is willing to help.

Before an abortion can proceed, two doctors must ensure that the requirements of the Abortion Act are fulfilled, and they must both sign the relevant certificate.

This will often – but not always – be your GP and the doctor at the clinic where the abortion will take place.

Although it's often very helpful to talk through the options with your GP or a family planning nurse before being referred, it's possible to refer yourself for an NHS abortion in some parts of the country.

You can self-refer for an NHS-funded abortion by contacting:

    the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) on 03457 30 40 30 – or email them at info@bpas.org
    Marie Stopes UK on 0345 300 8090 (open 24 hours) or request a confidential call back via their online form
    the Pregnancy Advisory Service on 0845 359 6666 – alternatively, individual clinics also have their own local numbers you can call, or you can fill in a confidential enquiry form on the PAS website.

Please note that these telephone numbers are not necessarily free to call and can be particularly expensive if called from a mobile.

Funding of NHS abortion services differs in various parts of the country. The level of NHS provision ranges from more than 90% of local demand to less than 60%.

In some areas, the NHS will pay for abortions at private clinics, but in other areas you may need to pay to have an abortion at a private clinic.

Private abortions

You can contact a private abortion clinic without being referred by a doctor. However, the NHS will not usually pay for this, and the agreement of two doctors is still required. The clinic will make the arrangements.

Costs for abortions in private clinics vary and will depend on:

    the stage of pregnancy (earlier abortions are usually less expensive)
    whether an overnight stay is needed
    the method of abortion used

If you are considering having an abortion, it is important to talk to somebody about it as soon as possible.

Risks

No clinical procedure is entirely risk free, but abortion poses few risks to a woman's physical health, particularly when carried out as early as possible in the pregnancy (preferably during the first 12 weeks).

Having an abortion will not usually affect your chances of becoming pregnant and having normal pregnancies in future.

The risk of problems occurring during an abortion is low. However, there are more likely to be problems if an abortion is carried out later in a pregnancy.

The risks associated with abortions are:

    haemorrhage (excessive bleeding) – occurs in about one in every 1,000 abortions
    damage to the cervix (the entrance of the womb) – occurs in no more than 10 in every 1,000 abortions
    damage to the womb – occurs in up to four in every 1,000 abortions during surgical abortion, and less than one in 1,000 medical abortions that are carried out at 12-24 weeks

Read more about the risks of abortion.

 There are many reasons why a woman might decide to have an abortion, including personal circumstances or a health risk to the mother or baby 
Post-abortion counselling

Women vary greatly in their emotional response to having an abortion. You may experience a number of different feelings and emotions.

If you need to discuss how you are feeling, you can contact a post-abortion counselling service such as the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), Marie Stopes UK, or find NHS counselling services near you.
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