AP Bans ‘Crisis Pregnancy Centers,’ Directs Journalists to Use Negative Term Instead

The Associated Press added an entry to its style guide directing journalists to put the term “crisis pregnancy center” in scare-quotes, and to use “anti-abortion center” instead, to convey that “the centers’ general aim is to prevent abortions.”

The AP added this entry between Nov. 20 and Nov. 27, 2022, according to The Daily Signal’s search of the Wayback Machine. The guide describes the centers as “set up to divert or discourage women from having abortions” and warns writers against “potentially misleading terms” like “pregnancy resource centers or pregnancy counseling centers.”  

“If using the term anti-abortion center, explain later that these often are known as ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ (with quotation marks) and that their aim is to dissuade people from getting an abortion,” the style guide entry states.  

“It’s disgraceful that so-called journalistic professionals succumb to pro-abortion political activists to do their bidding,” Thomas Glessner, president of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, told The Daily Signal. His organization won an important 2018 U.S. Supreme Court case against then-California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who applied state law forcing pregnancy centers to post information about nearby abortion facilities.

“If they actually cared about integrity, they would know that pregnancy centers seek to help women who are facing unplanned pregnancies with material and emotional support,” Glessner added. “Many centers also provide medical services for free.”

The AP did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment about when, exactly, it adopted this guidance, and how it would respond to criticism about it.

The AP’s pregnancy center definition follows at least 80 attacks against pregnancy centers since the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade in early May, according to the Catholic Vote tracker. Abortion advocates have firebombed and spray-painted the centers, which provide free medical and financial support to pregnant and new mothers, with pro-abortion and anarchist messages and symbols.

“These centers are the backbone of the pro-life movement, serving as boots-on-the-ground representatives of a movement that cares deeply for both mom and baby,” Glessner said. “It’s a disgrace that the media have taken such an active stance against these centers, especially at a time in our history when women really need help, acknowledgement, and someone to lean on during a difficult time.”

The Associated Press is the most common stylebook among journalists and news outlets on the Left and Right, including The Daily Signal. The Daily Signal does depart from AP style when the style guide adopts partisan messaging on abortion, transgender identity, and other issues, however.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/02/03/disgraceful-associated-press-directs-journalists-use-crisis-pregnancy-center-new-abortion-guidance

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