Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs)
Description
This collection contains student-led activism in opposition of the local crisis pregnancy center (CPC) in the town of Middlebury, currently known as "The Women's Center." CPCs are religiously-affiliated, pro-life organizations which seek to deter women and pregnant people from getting abortions. Though they pose as legitimate medical facilities, CPCs are not licensed medical facilities and rarely staff licensed medical professionals. Since the founding of the CPC in Middlebury in the late 1980s, the organization has had a presence on campus, advertising to students. In recent years, this presence has largely been in the form of attending the Student Activities Fair. Student-activists have organized around banning that presence, which has not been successfully granted by the college as of yet.
Date
1986 - Present
Collection Items
Middlebury Campus Articles from the 1980s/90s Re: Women’s and Gender Activism
Several articles from The Middlebury Campus reveal the relationship between the local CPC and Middlebury College in the late 1980s (following the founding of the CPC) and early 1990s. For example, one article details a students’ experience interning…
1987 Ad for CPC in Middlebury Campus
This 1987 edition of The Middlebury Campus contains an advertisement from the local CPC, which at the time was called the Addison County Crisis Pregnancy Center, revealing its ties to the broader network of the CPCs across the country. This same ad…
The Campus: ““Pregnant in Middlebury, VT:” Fake Abortion Clinics and the Right to Accurate Information”
This opinion piece by Toria Isquith, published in the student-run newspaper The Middlebury Campus, discusses crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), specifically the one housed in Addison County. The article explains the dangers of CPCs and provides the…
Middlebury CPC Pamphlet
This pamphlet was created for Professor Carly Thomsen’s “Politics of Reproduction class in Fall 2017 by a group of students. In addition to creating a website about CPCs, http://reproductivehealthvt.com/, the group obtained an actual pamphlet from…
Flier Used at 2018 Student Activities Fair
This flier was created by Miranda-Max de Beer (Class of 2019) and Mika Morton (Class of 2019). It contains information about CPCs and the misinformation they spread. De Beer and Morton handed out this flier at the 2018 Student Activities Fair, which…
The Campus Voice: Interview of Toria Isquith
This interview of Toria Isquith was conducted for The Middlebury Campus’s podcast titled “The Campus Voice.” In the interview, Isquith discusses her activism against the local Middlebury CPC’s presence on campus, including her petition to ban the CPC…
“I Went to a Fake Women’s Health Center, and Here’s What You Need to Know”
This blog, published on the National Women’s Law Center website, was written by Kelsie Hoppes. It outlines Hoppes’ experience visiting the local CPC in Middlebury. She provides an overview of the visit including services offered and the information…
The Campus: “Students Lead Charge to Ban Crisis Pregnancy Center from Campus”
This opinion piece by Joanne Park discusses a student-led effort to ban the Addison County CPC from advertising and participating in on-campus events. Activists Toria Isquith and Kelsie Hoppes are quoted in the article describing their petition…
Petition to Ban the Pregnancy Resource Center of Addison County from Campus Events
In the fall of 2018, several students including Toria Isquith (Class of 2019) and Kelsie Hoppes (Class of 2018.5) circulated an online petition seeking to “Ban the Pregnancy Resource Center of Addison County from Campus Events.” The petition, which…
2018 Library Display on CPCs
This poster was part of a display in Davis Family Library titled “Reproductive (In)Justice: Crisis Pregnancy Centers.” The poster, which contains information on CPCs nationally as well as locally, was created by Tate Serletti and Rebecca Wishnie as…