In Bad Faith How crisis pregnancy centers deceive and manipulate women

28:24 minute documentary produced and directed by Sunny Chapman

Introduction

Some describe it as emotional terrorism. The private side of the anti-choice movement,far away from the noisy clinic blockades and the horrifying assassinations of doctors and clinic workers, is the phenomenon of the so-called crisis pregnancy center (CPC).

The first CPC opened in Hawaii 1967 as a response to liberalized abortion laws there. There are currently over 3,500 CPC's nationwide. Their advertising is vague and deceptive, leading many woman to initially think they are calling an abortion clinic. CPC counselors are told not to reveal to the callers that they are anti-abortion. The "clinics" are usually not staffed by medical personnel but by trained volunteers. So-called Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPC's) are carefully disguised anti-abortion centers whose sole raison d'etre is to use misinformation and scare tactics to stop women from having abortions. In Bad Faith takes us inside the crisis pregnancy center, witnessing the spectacle of guilt and gore through the eyes of a vulnerable, frightened teenager.

A political issue illustrated by one woman's personal story

Katy is a 26 year old artist and teacher. As a pregnant teenager, she mistakenly went to a Crisis Pregnancy Center for help. As Katy's story unfolds, we see the deceptive tactics CPC's use to gain their objectives.

Katy calls a CPC after seeing an advertisement in the Yellow Pages promising a free pregnancy test and abortion counseling . Nothing in the ad indicates that the center is anti-choice. The CPC is listed under the clinic heading in the Yellow Pages. The advertising leads Katy to think that the CPC offers a full range of reproductive health care including abortion. The woman who takes Katy's call does not indicate that the center is opposed to abortion.

Arriving at the center, Katy is separated from the friend she came with and isolated with the CPC counselor. She is given a pregnancy test and told that the results will take 45-60 minutes. Actually,most CPC's use over the counter pregnancy tests which give results take less than 5 minutes. Katy is put in a room by herself to watch a disgusting video (probably The Hard Truth) which presents a distorted, dishonest and frightening view of abortion, full of gory shots of fetal remains. Afterward, the counselor gives Katy brochures which present more frightening lies. The counselor tells Katy more lies; that abortion is extremely dangerous, and that if she has an abortion she may never bear children. The counselor promises Katy that if she has her baby, the CPC will provide help such as clothing, diapers and a crib.

Was Katy allowed to make her own choice or was she unfairly influenced? Would she have made the same choice if she had been counseled by a person without an agenda?

Visual treatment and approach

In Bad Faith was filmed entirely in digital video. Katy tells the story of her experience at the CPC. Inter cut are dramatic scenes of self-proclaimed "sidewalk counselors" in front of real women's clinics, trying to convince women to go to CPC's instead of having abortions.There are also dramatic scenes of women fighting their way through frightening crowds of clinic blockaders. Throughout the story Katy tells, there are inter cuts of health care professionals and other informed speakers who comment on the CPC experience:

Dr. Raymond Robinson, an Ob-Gyn who provides abortions. He tells of the experiences his patients have had with CPC's, and shares his opinion of their practices.

David Hurwitz, a teacher and volunteer safety escort at a women's clinic who talks about some of the problems CPC's create for the women he assists.

Tracy Sefl, a sociologist from the University of Illinois who attended a training workshop for CPC volunteers as an observer.

Sunny Chapman , pretending to be a young pregnant woman, recorded a series of phone calls to CPC's. Her questions and the extremely misleading answers given by the CPC counselors show the little has been done to regulate CPC's in the ten years since Katy's visit.

Noreen Wilhelm, Director of External Relations for Planned Parenthood of the greater Miami Valley and longtime women's right's activist who suggests ways people can challenge CPC's in their communities.

Jasmine Sornabala, an attorney specializing in adoptions and the daughter of a doctor who provides abortions

Katy's story is illustrated with actual materials used by CPC's. For example, when Katy talks about the brochures she was given , there are still shots of some of the brochures that CPC's distribute. A brief sample of one of the gory videos shown at CPC's is included. There are also still shots of CPC signs and advertisements.

There are also many text inclusions. During the scenes of the actual phone calls made to CPC's, text appears that refutes what is being said by the "counselor".

For example, in one scene the caller is being told that if she has an abortion , she may suffer from "post abortion syndrome". While this is being said, text scenes appear that have a quote from a New York Times article about a medical study that completely debunked the existence of "post abortion syndrome".

In another scene, the caller is being told by the CPC that the pregnancy test will take an hour. This phone is illustrated by a still of the caller, a text box explaining that most CPC's use home pregnancy sold over the counter tests that take less than five minutes, and stills of some of the popular brands, with result times clearly displayed.

Audience

One of the goals of In Bad Faith is to bridge the gap between general audiences and educational film viewers. I also hope to inspire activism and community involvement in viewers.

Another goal of In Bad Faith is to create an ongoing dialogue between two generations of feminists who don't always communicate as well as we could. The film was made by a "second wave" feminist (myself, born in 1950), but addresses a problem that mostly affects younger women and focuses on the story of a woman in her twenties. Activists from different age groups will be invited to participate in public screenings to foster an inter-generational dialogue.

As well as public screenings, In Bad Faith will be offered to broadcast outlets and entered in festivals. I hope to distribute the tape the tape to libraries, universities and activist groups as well.

Conclusion

In Bad Faith is intended to be useful as an activist's tool . One of the focuses of the extensive research I did on CPC's was to look for ways to challenge them.

These solutions are presented in the tape and in print in the companion study/activist guide. The guide will consist of two parts: an overview of the purpose and practices of CPC's; and suggestions on how anyone can take action on the CPC issue. There is a list of several actions people can take to challenge CPC's. There are also sample letters to send to public officials, and a sample brochure exposing the CPC agenda that can be customized easily.

In Bad Faith and Misguidance (an 11:44 version which focuses on Katy's story) are the only tapes available that focus in depth on the issue of crisis pregnancy centers. It gives the audience an insider's perspective on the effects of emotional terrorism.Katy's compelling personal story will move people who perhaps are not usually interested in political issues, and hopefully inspire them to take action.