WORCESTER, Mass. — Two pro-life pregnancy centers were hit with overnight vandalism about 15 hours after the state’s attorney general issued a consumer advisory warning Massachusetts residents about such centers. 

One, Clearway Clinic, sustained smashed glass in two doors and three windows. “Jane’s Revenge” was spray-painted in black capital letters on the walkway by the entrance — a reference to the shadowy pro-abortion group that has been targeting pro-life organizations across the country with late-night property damage during the past two months. 

A little more than 2 miles away, Problem Pregnancy, a crisis-pregnancy center that is across the street from a Planned Parenthood location, was hit with blue and gold paint. 

They are the latest among more than 30 pro-life pregnancy centers damaged by vandalism since May 2, when the draft of a U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked. While most consist of broken glass and graffiti, a few of the attacks include arson. 

On Wednesday, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey issued a warning to the state’s residents against crisis-pregnancy centers, which her statement shortens to “CPCs.” 

“CPCs do NOT provide comprehensive reproductive healthcare. CPCs are organizations that seek to prevent people from accessing abortion care,” Healey’s advisory states. 

A press release issued at the same time quotes Healey as saying:  “While crisis pregnancy centers claim to offer reproductive healthcare services, their goal is to prevent people from accessing abortion and contraception. In Massachusetts, you have the right to a safe and legal abortion. We want to ensure that patients can protect themselves from deceptive and coercive tactics when seeking the care they need.” 

Healey, a Democrat, is running unopposed in the Democratic primary for governor of Massachusetts and is the favorite in the general election in November. 

The press release also quotes Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who has heavily criticized pregnancy centers several times in recent weeks; and the head of a pro-abortion group in Massachusetts. 

 

State-Licensed Medical Clinic 

But the head of one of the pro-life pregnancy centers attacked about 2:30am Thursday said Healey and other abortion supporters have the wrong idea. 

Clearway Clinic, founded in 2000, is a state-licensed medical clinic with licensed nurses and board-certified doctors that provides free health care and practical assistance to women and babies, is transparent about not offering abortions or abortion referrals, and has a 98% client-satisfaction rate, said Kelly Wilcox, the executive director. 

In a written statement, Wilcox said clinic officials “are deeply saddened that misunderstandings about what we do have led to pro-abortion extremists targeting our center.” 

“We call on our state officials to publicly condemn the domestic terrorist attack against our organization. Violence against our center harms the women, babies, and families that rely on us for help in times of need,” Wilcox said in the statement. 

The Register asked Wilcox about the state attorney general’s advisory warning about pregnancy centers like hers. 

“I think her statement indicates that we need to be proactive to educate our community about our mission, our values, and our approach in serving women and families,” Wilcox said by email. 

A spokesman for Healey, asked about the attacks in Worcester, could not be reached for comment by deadline. 

 

Increasing Pressure 

Elsewhere, abortion-friendly public officials have put increasing pressure on pregnancy centers in recent times. 

In May 2021, the Connecticut Legislature passed a statute outlawing what it called “deceptive advertising” by pro-life pregnancy centers. A federal lawsuit challenging it on freedom-of-speech and free-exercise-of-religion constitutional grounds is pending. 

On June 23, three Democratic members of Congress (including Warren) introduced a bill calling for a federal ban on what it calls “disinformation” in the advertising of pro-life pregnancy centers. 

On June 28, New York Attorney General Letitia James sent Google a letter, calling on the world’s largest search-engine company to make sure that searches for abortion services don’t bring up pro-life pregnancy centers, but instead what she called “legitimate health care providers who offer abortion and abortion counseling.” 

She described a recent Google search in western New York for the words “abortion Binghamton, N.Y.” that brought up two pregnancy centers in the area along with abortion businesses. 

She said crisis-pregnancy centers “are not health care providers and will not provide abortion counseling or abortion referrals.” 

“CPCs exist solely to intercept and dissuade pregnant people from making fully informed decisions about their healthcare such as the choice to obtain an abortion. Including these organizations in a list for an individual seeking abortion services is dangerous and misleading,” James said in the letter to Google. 

 
‘We Need to Heal’ 

The Family Research Council had compiled a list of attacks on 35 pro-life pregnancy centers between May 2, when the Dobbs draft decision leaked, and July 8. 

Michael Kenney, president of the Pro-Life Partners Foundation, which builds alliances among pro-life organizations, said the recent verbal and physical attacks on pregnancy centers reminds him of the title of a new book by Ryan Anderson and Alexandra DeSanctis. 

“A book published earlier this month, Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing, comes to mind when I hear politicians, educators, and lawyers say that they will not support, protect, and defend pregnancy resource centers," Kenney told the Register by email. "These centers exist to help mothers, fathers, and their preborn children. They are a starting point for healing.  We are all in this together, and we need to heal as a nation.”