Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by the Collegian or its editorial board. Letters to the Editor reflect the view of a member of the campus community and are submitted to the publication for approval.

Dear Collegian,

On Nov. 2, an advertisement was run for the Alpha Center. Costing the Alpha Center $95 to be run next to the comics (one of which is about hysterectomies) for a sixth of the page, the ad claims to offer “an appointment at no cost to you.” This includes pregnancy testing, pre-abortion screening and ultrasound services.

My question to you is what is being done to maintain truth in your ads? Alpha Center is a self-proclaimed faith-based crisis pregnancy center (according to their Yelp page) and a nonprofit organization that is fairly anti-abortion, according to a study on CPCs with a small sample size done by Katrina Kimport, Rebecca Kriz and Sarah C. M. Roberts.

“The ad placed in the paper last Monday is purposely misleading, prompting possibly
ignorant and vulnerable college aged women to seek care there.”

According to their website, they claim, “Help. No matter what.” They also note that they are a Christian medical clinic. In 1985, the organization opened their first hotline under the name “Fort Collins Right to Life,” thus further cementing their pro-life attitude.

Help no matter what? What if I want an abortion? Even a quick Google review search will confirm their misleading and anti-choice motives. One review written 11 months ago by Kiara Tibbs notes that it “unfairly targets college students” among other allegations of targeting and misleading those who are seeking fully comprehensive medical care. Several tags for the reviews include “shame,” “college” and “judging.”

The ad placed in the paper last Monday is purposely misleading, prompting possibly ignorant and vulnerable college-aged women to seek care there. Alpha Center uses neutral tactics to trick people into thinking they will receive comprehensive medical care by mentioning it’s free, purposely focusing on people who have lower economic status than most. And who’s more broke than college kids?

They even have an “In school?” tab, directing people to a link to learn more about planned leave at Colorado State University. Even more disturbing is the overall lack of clarity in their website’s explanation of their services. At every turn, they suggest making an appointment without concrete explanation of their options.

You will only find that they don’t offer abortions in small print after exclaiming you need to make an appointment right now to “make an educated choice for your unplanned pregnancy.” Their staff is composed of copious amounts of nurses, coordinators and counselors but no one who is a doctor of medicine or received any kind of doctoral degree. What they won’t tell you? In the state of Colorado, you do not need to possess a license or certification to operate an ultrasound machine.

Comprehensive sexual medical care should not be purposefully misleading. As a publication that “endorses nothing but the truth,” it’s deplorable that access to vulnerable college-aged women seeking treatment would be sold out for $95 for a sixth of page seven, especially next to a comic about the forced hysterectomies immigrant women face at America’s border.

I ask you, The Collegian, to please protect your audience and your fellow peers from
purposefully misleading information and maintain the women’s right to choose to avoid drastic consequences.

Sincerely,

Savannah R. Brown, freshman psychology major, person with a uterus.

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