Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University (OSU), Columbus, OH, USA.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Cincinnati (UC), Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Cult Health Sex. 2023 Aug;25(8):1024-1038. doi: 10.1080/13691058.2022.2116489. Epub 2022 Sep 5.
In the USA, the most popular form of anti-abortion activism, crisis pregnancy centres (CPCs), provide a variety of services to prevent abortions. Moving beyond debate about misinformation and the ethics of CPCs, this study considers the services they provide and given their popularity among state legislatures, their connection to the state. Using interviews with ten CPC staff in Ohio (a state providing support to CPCs) and supplemental data from both state and CPC organisations, we find three relevant themes. First, CPC services reflect ideas about personal responsibility and Christianity held by the CPC staff. Second, we show that CPCs have assumed a variety of state duties (e.g. pregnancy testing and parenting classes), appealing to lawmakers in conservative states eager to transfer responsibility for disadvantaged residents to other entities. Finally, we consider the future direction of CPCs, highlighting tension between organisational goals (focusing on abortion prevention) and the on-the-ground experience of CPC staff (where non-pregnant clients need material aid). Drawing theoretical connections between CPC staff and social service workers sheds light on whose responsibility it is to address poverty in a post-welfare era.
在美国，最流行的反堕胎激进主义形式是危机怀孕中心（CPC），它们提供各种服务来防止堕胎。本研究超越了对错误信息和 CPC 伦理的争论，考虑了它们提供的服务，以及鉴于它们在州立法机构中的受欢迎程度，它们与州的联系。我们采访了俄亥俄州（一个为 CPC 提供支持的州）的十名 CPC 工作人员，并从州和 CPC 组织获得了补充数据，发现了三个相关主题。首先，CPC 的服务反映了 CPC 工作人员持有的个人责任和基督教观念。其次，我们表明，CPC 已经承担了各种国家职责（例如怀孕测试和育儿课程），这吸引了渴望将贫困居民的责任转移给其他实体的保守州的立法者。最后，我们考虑了 CPC 的未来发展方向，强调了组织目标（专注于预防堕胎）与 CPC 工作人员的实际经验（非孕妇需要物质援助）之间的紧张关系。通过在 CPC 工作人员和社会服务工作者之间建立理论联系，阐明了在后福利时代谁有责任解决贫困问题。
