About six months ago, a female UNM student walked into Care Net Pregnancy Center on Candelaria Avenue expecting to get a pregnancy test.
“The lady who was giving me the pamphlets and information and all this stuff, she started asking me really personal questions about my relationship with my partner at the time,” said the student, who preferred to remain anonymous. “Then she started asking me, ‘Well, what are you going to do if you’re pregnant?’ And I said, ‘Have an abortion.’ She told me basically that God was going to send me to hell for doing that.”
Care Net is one of two “religious crisis pregnancy centers” in Albuquerque which are right next to Planned Parenthood facilities on San Mateo Boulevard and Candelaria Avenue.
Holy Innocents Center for Life is a Catholic ministry that offers free ultrasounds adjacent to the Planned Parenthood on San Mateo Boulevard as part of what they call “Project Defending Life.” Care Net is a non-denominational religious center that offers free pregnancy tests next to Planned Parenthood on Candelaria Road. However, Care Net has no exterior signs indicating its religious affiliation.
Martha Edmands, director of Public and Governmental Affairs for Planned Parenthood of New Mexico, said she is worried that women may be confused by the signs offering free pregnancy tests and help for pregnant women, because they are close to Planned Parenthood.
“We’ve been in the Candelaria location for a long time before Care Net moved in,” she said. “They put up their sign that says ‘free pregnancy testing,’ and sometimes people think they are coming to us and they walk in there.”
Mary LeQuieu, Albuquerque area executive director of Care Net, said setting up shop next to Planned Parenthood four years ago was a coincidence.
“(The realtor) insisted that we look at this location,” LeQuieu said. “It was best priced and had the best arrangement and was in the area we wanted to be in, so that was purely incidental.”
Father Stephen Imbarrato, Project Defending Life founder and president, said he picked the location next to Planned Parenthood on purpose because of the abortion services offered there. He said members of Project Defending Life stand outside Planned Parenthood to talk to the girls going in and offer alternative services to them.
“When they’re open, we’re there,” he said. “We have people praying in the back and the front. We don’t scream, we don’t yell. We don’t say, you know, ‘Don’t kill your baby,’ or all this other stuff. We minister.”
Edmands said Planned Parenthood is nervous that some religious centers are providing girls with inaccurate information.
“Girls should realize who they are talking to and that there is a possibility that they might be getting biased information,” she said. “They often give information that is going to frighten or scare or try and change someone’s mind about what their options are.”
The female UNM student said she left Care Net feeling awkward and pressured. She said she went to Care Net about six months ago for a pregnancy test because the sign said they were free, and she was misled by their location.
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“I thought they were a Planned Parenthood,” she said.
The female UNM student said a woman working there started giving her pamphlets discouraging abortion and delayed giving her the results of the pregnancy test.
Project Defending Life and Care Net do not encourage any contraceptive use, according to representatives at both centers.
Edmands said she is worried about religious centers that advocate for only abstinence because it isn’t realistic.
“Not only are they anti-abortion, but some of them are anti-contraception, and it’s just not helpful,” she said. “If they are not going to refer someone who is sexually active for what kind of contraception options there are, and tell them the only option is to get married because they are sexually active — that’s scary. It sounds like a disaster in the making. The last thing we need is a 16-year-old getting married.”
Marelenn Sandoval, who attends Project Defending Life parenting classes weekly, said the ministry has helped her husband and herself immensely.
“They offer pretty much anything,” she said. “You ask them for help and they help out in every way. We come here for the mom class every Wednesday.”
Sandoval said Project Defending Life hosted a baby shower for her and gave her free ultrasounds throughout her pregnancy.
“For people who can’t afford to go pay for an ultrasound — it’s like $200 — they give them to you for free,” she said. “So if you think the baby turned the wrong way you can check, or if you just want to see the baby they offer it any time you can.”
Sandoval, 19, was married last month. She said she is Catholic and never thought about abortion.
Project Defending Life also offers financial, emotional and spiritual support as well as free ultrasounds, Imbarrato said.
“It’s proven that 90 percent of moms who see their babies in the womb choose to not have an abortion,” he said.
Care Net offers professional counseling, birthing classes, a mentoring program, parenting classes, and post-abortion counseling – all for free, LeQuieu said.
She said the parenting classes are called “Earn While You Learn,” and allow women to earn points and buy pregnancy goods.
“As they take classes, they get points,” LeQuieu said. “They can then use (them) to purchase baby clothes, maternity clothes, diapers, baby formula, toys — that kind of thing. The incentive is that they get to use the fake money to purchase these items which are all donated by the community.”
Today is the 37th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, which allows women to legally have abortions.
