The Battle Over the Waiting Room: How a Pro-Life Ministry Became the Target of a New Campaign

In a recent opinion piece for LifeNews, a writer describes encountering an advertisement from Catholics for Choice promoting a training workshop titled “Fake Clinics: Catholicism’s Role and How to Spot Them.” The workshop, according to the author, teaches participants to identify and oppose pregnancy resource centers, which the group characterizes as “anti-abortion propaganda machines of the religious right.”

The author argues that these centers serve women in moments of crisis — offering free tests, ultrasounds, and material support — and that the campaign misrepresents their mission. The piece also notes that Catholics for Choice was founded in 1973, following Roe v. Wade, and that the American bishops have publicly stated the group does not speak for the Church.

For people of faith, the dispute raises a deeper question: what does authentic spiritual witness look like when a woman sits alone in a waiting room, holding a positive test and searching for hope? The answer, the author suggests, is presence — not politics.