Language Matters: Pregnancy Resource Center
For years, Centers like Alpha Center have been referred to as "Crisis Pregnancy Centers". This might even be a term that you use to describe us when speaking with your friends and family about what we do. As the culture has shifted over the years, we have found that that term has many negative connotations and we wanted to share more about this shift and the terminology that we prefer to hear our supporters use so that we do not play into the hands of our opponents.
Crisis Pregnancy Center?
The Term “Crisis Pregnancy Center” has long been abandoned by many in the pregnancy care world for a few reasons:
Pro-Abortion Organizations have weaponized the term. A quick Google search of Crisis Pregnancy Center brings up several listings for “fake clinics”, which claim that centers like ours are misleading and unethical, providing inaccurate or false information about abortions and pregnancy. NARAL says “CPCs exist only to scare them [women] out of considering their full range of reproductive health-care options, particularly abortion.” While we do believe that women deserve better than abortion, Alpha Center provides medically accurate information and does not provide false information or use scare tactics when talking to our patients about their pregnancy options.
Google Search Results for “Crisis Pregnancy Center”, June 2023
2. There’s a perception that “crisis pregnancy centers are unregulated and often nonmedical” - NPR
Alpha Center is staffed by Registered Nurses and we have an OBGYN as our Medical Director, which makes us a limited medical clinic. We have been offering STD testing for 21 years and Ultrasounds for 23 years. While we do not provide diagnostic imaging through our ultrasounds, we do offer gestational dating ultrasound and information about the viability and location of a patient’s pregnancy. Our nurses have all been through ultrasound training and completed their training hours.
So, what are we?
Pregnancy Resource Center is a more accurate term for what Alpha Center does - focusing on what we provide (resources and information about your pregnancy to help you make the best choice for you) rather than the potential mindset of the woman experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. Alpha Center provides not only information about a woman’s pregnancy to help her make a decision, but also supportive services regardless of what choice she makes about her pregnancy . These include parent mentoring, labor and delivery classes, support for a past abortion, support for a miscarriage or stillbirth, material support, and connections to other Northern Colorado resources if their needs fall outside of our scope of care.
Marketing-wise, “Pregnancy Resource Center” is also a term that hasn’t been co-opted by the pro-abortion movement, so when you do a web search for a pregnancy resource center, our clinic as well as others show up instead of articles about fake clinics.
Another Option
When speaking to others about Alpha Center, you can also use the term Sexual Health Clinic, as we provide more than just pregnancy related services! Alpha Center also provides Routine STD Testing and Professional Counseling at no cost to our patients because of donors like you.
Wait, Why Provide STD Testing?
Alpha Center provides routine STD testing for a few reasons. The first is that this year, 26% of our pregnancy patients are return patients and 22% were referred by friends or family! STD testing allows us to interact with potential future patients or friends of future patients before they are experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. During each of our STD appointments, our nurses give them a quick rundown of our other services. Given that 95% of our patients rate their experience as excellent, they feel safe referring us to their friends.
Secondly, STD testing allows us to show the love of Christ to a greater number of individuals who may not be attending church and may not be interested in church. Having a positive experience with a Christian organization is planting seeds for the future! Many of our patients are far from Christ and share how much they appreciate our care and how much more loving it has been compared to other medical experiences they’ve had.
Keep Sharing!
We are so thankful for supporters like you who share about Alpha Center with others! As we are a no-cost clinic for our patients, we rely on donors like you to continue to provide those services. Thank you for continuing to support our Pregnancy Resource Center!
