 "Photo: Todd Seimer")
About 50 protesters accused the Pregnancy Decision Health Center of misrepresenting itself as a legitimate pregnancy counseling service Saturday afternoon. With more than the occasional honk from passing vehicles, the protesters who were organized by the Association of Women Students and Students for Choice gathered outside the center, 6 E. 17th Ave.
Led by the OSU Radical Cheerleaders and joined by a student dressed as a uterus, the crowd shouted cheers such as "We have a right to be informed about our choices without moral judgment."
Protesters claimed the PDHC does not provide all pregnancy options as their moniker insinuates. They scare and advise women against making any decision besides keeping their babies, protesters said.
"They confuse women," said Libby Bruce, a sophomore in English and women's studies. PDHC's advertisements are ambiguous and misleading, she said. Women think PDHC provides "legitimate abortion information and counseling when it is biased and religious-based," Bruce said.
"If women want to go there that is fine, as long as they know where they are going."
PDHC Executive Director Joyce Wilson said her organization is very open and honest about who they are and what they do.
"Our goal is to help women make an informed decision and then provide all the referrals to all the services they need if they decide to choose life," Wilson said. "If they decide to choose abortion, we tell them they can find abortion without us."
PDHC offers the most complete and accurate information by providing all the facts about abortion, the different methods of contraception and information on sexually transmitted diseases, Wilson said.
If a woman PDHC has talked to decides to get an abortion, the center provides her with important medical questions to ask at the abortion clinic and counsel her after the experience, Wilson said.
"We try to work with young women, especially those who are sexually active, and talk to them about healthy sexual relationships," she said. "We believe healthy sexual relationships are within the bonds of marriage."
PDHC does not take a position on birth control, Wilson said. "But we feel contraception is more appropriately prescribed by a physician."
Controversy surrounding places like PDHC may also stem from a House of Representatives bill, which would provide "community-based pregnancy medical clinics" with free ultrasound services for pregnant women, said Lisa Perks, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Central Ohio.
Critics of PDHC question whether the center can be called a medical clinic, Perks said.
"The claim that we are not a legal health center is totally inaccurate," Wilson said. "Our medical clinic operates under a doctor's license with licensed registered nurses and licensed ultra stenographers. We meet every requirement to call ourselves a health center. Each of our offices is run by nurses."
Kate Fink, a freshman in comparative studies, said she went to PDHC to find information on STD testing. While PDHC did provide information, Fink said the woman she spoke with said, "Every time you have sex with someone you are giving away a part of you that you won't have for marriage."
Wilson would not deny the claim.
"I wasn't there, but that is true. Sexual relationships outside of marriage involve us emotionally as well as sexually," she said.
Jamie, a junior in nursing who did not want to use her last name, said she went to PDHC seeking a pregnancy test and left in tears. She said she was asked to watch a graphic video about pregnancy and abortion.
PDHC has a video with interviews from women who have experienced abortion, Wilson said. "We don't have any videos with graphic images of abortion," she said.
These two women were sent to PDHC by the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League under false pretenses, in an attempt to gain evidence against the organization, Wilson said.
"We haven't worked with NARAL at all on this," Bruce said. "They did send in undercover people during their initial research on PDHC, but that is not something we have done here."
Kristen Johnson, a senior in English, is expecting a baby in August. Upon finding out she was pregnant, she called the Pregnancy Decisions hotline, as well as Planned Parenthood and other doctors' offices.
"At that point in time, anyone who was willing to listen to my story I was grateful to. The fact somebody would take some time going over my options with me was fine," Johnson said. PDHC "explained to me about everything from abortion to where I could get baby clothes."
Johnson said she did not think PDHC deterred her from considering abortion.
"She was very matter of fact about the choice of abortion," Johnson said. "She said, 'This is what you can do to get an abortion. This is how much it is going to cost.' I felt like she gave me every bit of information on every option I had."
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