Dear John,

Welcome to the third edition of the #BadFaithMedicine Breakdown! In it, we chronicle our recent activities to call out anti-abortion fake clinics and their efforts to push #BadFaithMedicine.

Latest Updates:

New on the blog, we have two pieces by Reproaction fellow Angie Marie Luna digging into abstinence-only sex education and toxic masculinity.

Abstinence-Only Education: Highly Funded, Highly Ineffective, and Very Harmful

“Not only is abstinence-only education – sometimes referred to as “sexual risk avoidance” – ineffective because it doesn’t delay sexual initiation nor reduce sexual risk behaviors, it is also harmful.”

The Harmful Effects of Gender Roles Through the Development of Toxic Masculinity (Machismo)

“We all make choices about our behavior that can either perpetuate toxic masculinity or disrupt it.”

Say it with us: Fake clinics are BAA-D! Check out & share this amazing new graphic made by our own outreach and culture manager, Caitlin Blunnie!

Image description: a cartoon drawing of a mother sheep and baby sheep standing in a field on a sunny day. The mother sheep has a speech bubble that says “Fake clinics are BAA-D!” and the baby sheep has a speech bubble that says “BAA-D”.

Anti-Abortion Fake Clinic Chain of the Month: Heartbeat International

Heartbeat International is an anti-abortion fake clinic chain headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with more than 1,400 centers around the U.S. and more than 2,550 in its network internationally. They work closely with another anti-abortion fake clinic chain, Care Net, to run OptionLine. This hotline connects callers – often people who don’t know their service doesn’t refer for abortion – to anti-abortion fake clinics within the Heartbeat or Care Net networks.

Heartbeat International, like similar anti-abortion fake clinic chains, has a track record of providing stigmatizing ‘counseling’ and misinformation. Women of color are often especially targeted by anti-abortion fake clinics. Heartbeat International and their affiliates use radio spots, targeted online pop-ups, billboards, bus ads, and more to promote their anti-abortion fake clinics, and have a whole branch of their organization dedicated to manipulating online ads and web tools to better capture potential clients. If you want to learn more about the racist tendencies and broad reach of anti-abortion fake clinic chains, check out our webinars on anti-abortion fake clinics and racism and on fake clinics worldwide.

To add to the troubling and racist and sexist tendencies of Heartbeat International, they drive home their practice of #BadFaithMedicine by supporting the unproven, unethical theory of “abortion pill reversal.” Reproaction has been following the troubling rise of this possibly-dangerous regimen since its creation by George Delgado, an anti-abortion doctor who directs a Heartbeat International-affiliated clinic in San Diego. Heartbeat International took control of his “abortion pill reversal” hotline in 2018, using their international anti-abortion influence to push it.

Our team has been following the unethical practice and harms of “abortion pill reversal” for a while, and if you want to read up on this and other #BadFaithMedicine tricks, here is some of our research about it:

-       "Abortion Pill Reversal" Myth Perpetuates Mistreatment of Women of Color (truthout.org)

-       Fact sheet: Abortion Pill Reversal

-       Failed Study Proves What We Already Know: “Abortion Pill Reversal” Is an Unsupported Claim

-       Who Else Has Had it With The ‘Abortion Pill Reversal’ Doctor’s Nonsense? University of California, San Diego

-       Unproven and Unethical 'Abortion Pill Reversal' Strategy Rests on Old Anti-Abortion Politics

-       “Abortion Pill Reversal” Myths & Emotional Injustice

Check out our fake clinic database see if any of the fake clinics in your community are peddling the #BadFaithMedicine of “abortion pill reversal.”

The need for abortion care doesn’t go away during natural disasters, and abortion funding is mutual aid. To learn more about how you can support people in Texas right now, check out this resource.

This wraps up February’s edition of the #BadFaithMedicine Breakdown! I leave you with well wishes until next month!

In solidarity,

Tenaja Henson
Campaign Coordinator, Reproaction
Based in Greensboro, North Carolina

P.S. Donate here to support our work.
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