- Nominated Cause
- Like us, follow, & share:This is the official discussion thread for the cause First Concern Pregnancy Resource Center. Its EIN is 04-3091048 and it's a public charity based in Clinton, MA. Research more info about the cause on GuideStar and Charity Navigator.
First Concern Pregnancy Resource Center offer confidential, free pregnancy tests and peer counseling in Central Mass.
At one point in my life, I was 18 and pregnant, and really wish I had known a place like this. From their website:
“Since its inception, First Concern Pregnancy Resource Center has helped women and men of all ages who face planned and unplanned pregnancies. We offer confidential, free pregnancy tests and peer counseling. We also offer after abortion counseling, information about local resources, a mothers’ support group, father mentoring, parenting classes, and an interactive abstinence presentation for schools.
OUR MISSION
We exist to empower individuals to make informed choices and to extend help in situations where the beginning of new life has brought hardship or confusion instead of joy. Our mission is to confidentially provide honest, accurate and complete information that will help people make good choices about pregnancy, abortion and sexual behavior.
First Concern Pregnancy Resource Center is a non-profit organization. The options counseling, parent education, and life-affirming support we provide is free because of community support. If you have questions about our organization, please reach out to us today.”
Also read Charitocracy's blog post about First Concern Pregnancy Resource Center!
- Comments
-
Just to make sure everyone’s clear on this:
This center counsels people away from abortion. This is not an unbiased counseling group which suggests many options and encourages the person or people to make their own choice.
This specifically teaches abstinence and seeks to prevent abortions, no matter what might be best for the family or parent.
I’m not going to judge – but I want it to be clear that this is NOT an unbiased counseling group.
-
Not everyone will find themselves unexpectedly pregnant, but if you don’t abstain from sex, it CAN happen. It happened to me.
Teaching abstinence didn’t work for me. Maybe it has worked for someone, somewhere, and I’m glad that person didn’t have a tough decision to make, but I did.
Not everyone who gets unexpectedly pregnant wants an abortion, and people facing the same situation would be well-served to get as much information as they can about every choice they have, because whatever they choose, they will have to live with it for a long time!
(My unexpected baby is now 27. She’s a doctor in NYC. I’m proud, but if she still lived with me and couldn’t hold down a job, I would love her just as much, and never regret a single minute of her beautiful existence!)
This organization is a WONDERFUL help to so many families who find themselves unprepared for a new life to join theirs. Yes, they DO help parents who choose the path of having their child acquire the care, skills, and resources they need to begin to negotiate parenthood successfully, and no, they do not perform abortions. They also do not pretend that option does not exist, and they certainly have clients who have already had abortions. Not everyone who has made that choice feels at peace about it—some people need post-abortion support, and they can get that from First Concern.
Abortion is NOT the only choice, and for those people who need help figuring out how anything else could possibly work, First Concern is amazing.
I have to say, when I was 18 and pregnant, I faced a lot of negativity. People were embarrassed by me. People that cared about me made sure I knew I could get an abortion. I wasn’t ok inside myself with that, but quite honestly, the kind of support available to me was “here’s some prenatal vitamins. Don’t drink too much alcohol. You’re going to be poor now. Good luck.” I had to figure out a lot of things on my own, and I didn’t really have anyone to talk to about my feelings.I understand that not everyone agrees about this extremely delicate subject, (women’s reproductive health,) but I’m a woman, and I have reproduced. I have had sex at inappropriate times at an inappropriate preparedness level—emotionally, mentally, physically, and financially. People like me exist, and they need help, too. First Concern can be that help.
-
I do think it is essential for Charitocracy to vet the wording in each nominee’s description for its accuracy and honesty. This group is NOT unbiased, yet phrases its words in a way that would lead one to believe you will receive non-judgemental guidance from them. Charitocracy, I do hope you will have them change their description to a more honest description.
-
I don’t have the resources to personally investigate the nominees as far as truth in advertising goes. In my blog post linked above, I did talk about the anti-abortion bias of “crisis pregnancy centers” and “pregnancy resource centers” in general:
Please familiarize yourself with the definition of pregnancy resource centers, also known as crisis pregnancy centers. These nonprofit organizations “typically run by Christians who adhere to a strictly socially conservative viewpoint” … “are established to persuade pregnant women against having an abortion” and “have also frequently been found to disseminate false medical information, usually about the supposed physical and mental health risks of abortion.” (See Wikipedia page for references.)
Whether this information makes you more or less likely to want to vote for First Concern is a very personal decision. But since their web site (quoted below) doesn’t explicitly mention steering clients away from abortion, I figured I should mention that’s the typical pattern. Note that I have no direct knowledge of First Concern specifically. Beyond counseling, it appears that First Concern offers other valuable services to their community. So, now you know, and knowing is half the battle! (The other half is lasers.)
Since I have no experience with this organization, I can’t say how judgmental they are, how strongly they steer clients toward particular options, etc. Nothing in the description appears to be objectively false. I’m personally skeptical how “honest, accurate, and complete” the information they provide their clients is, but that’s just not enough for me to make educated edits.
In lieu of editing things from my position of ignorance, if you do have experience with First Concern you could share, or links to more information about them, that would be the best way to balance and advance the discussion here!
And thanks to everyone who cares enough to learn and swap knowledge about nominees at Charitocracy, not least of which the nominator, whose personal story is welcome and honored here despite criticism of the nominated cause. ❤️
-
Join our community or log in to join the discussion!