"We do not provide birth control. We do not encourage birth control."

“We do not. We do not provide birth control, we do not encourage birth control.” These words were spoken last week by Gloria Singleton, Director of Beaufort’s Crisis Pregnancy Center (CPC) - The Beaufort Women’s Center (Source). This Center is one of thousands of CPCS in the United States that do not offer “referral for birth control” (Source). Singleton said that abstinence is the “sole option for prevention” (Source), but yet the Center advertises as a place to go if you “think that you might be pregnant” (Source).
Therefore, it would seem that many of the clients coming to the Center for care are already sexually active. These women deserve to be provided with medically accurate reproductive health information that will help them prevent another unplanned pregnancy. We believe that abstinence should be considered first as a birth control method that prevents pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections with 100% certainty, but we also believe that females seeking reproductive health services should be informed about contraceptives and how to avoid an unplanned pregnancy if they choose to be sexually active.
In contrast, according to the Beaufort Gazette, “Singleton said her agency is largely opposed to Planned Parenthood, particularly when it comes to its belief that unwanted pregnancy could largely be reduced through comprehensive sex education and expanding access to contraception” (Source). This is unfortunate considering the fact that Beaufort County is ranked 14th out of 46 counties in South Carolina for the number of teenage pregnancies (Source).
To learn more about Crisis Pregnancy Centers, read CPCs: An Affront to Change.