As part of the #ExposeFakeClinics week of action, we’re sharing stories about Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) and the harm they do to patients seeking real reproductive health care. Learn more about the campaign and what you can do to help stop these deceptive practices: Expose Fake Clinics.

A woman in her early 30s came to our family planning clinic for advice and an abortion. She had known she was pregnant for three or four months, and had gone to a clinic that promised early pregnancy assessment and advice. She had visited three times, each time asking for a referral for an abortion, and each time being told she had plenty of time, and that she should come back for another sonogram. She did as advised, and had three sonograms but never got the referral. She found our clinic and when we saw her it was much too late; the limit for abortion had long since passed. The clinic she saw first lied to her and delayed her so long an abortion was out of the question.

She cried when I told her she was too far along. She shared that she had been struggling with addiction, and that her son was being evaluated for developmental delays, likely autism. She knew she had more than she could handle, caring for him and taking care of herself. She knew a baby would be too much for her. The father was not interested in helping.

I was furious that I could not help her and furious that someone else determined the course of her life against her wishes. I won’t forget her.