WATCH: 5 BLATANT LIES A Crisis Pregnancy Center Tells An Undercover Reporter

So-called “crisis pregnancy centers” are popping up around the country. There are about 2,500 of them currently in the United States, whereas there are only 1,700 abortion clinics.

A crisis pregnancy center claims to offer advice to women who are unsure of what to do about unplanned pregnancies. NARAL Pro-Choice America has investigated these centers and found that they disseminate lies about abortion and birth control.

Recently, the Ireland edition of the Times sent an undercover reporter to The Women’s Centre in Ireland. It is very similar to an American crisis pregnancy center, and it has been connected to a Catholic anti-abortion group. Abortion is illegal in Ireland, but many women travel to the U.K. for the procedure.

The undercover reporter, who was pretending to be eight weeks pregnant, recorded her whole conversation with a counselor at the center.

Here are the outrageous lies that the counselor told the undercover reporter:

1. A 7 week old fetus feels more pain than a person.

The crisis pregnancy center counselor says:

“The reality is a baby in the womb will feel pain considerably more than we would, or a toddler, or a full-term, due to the sensitivity of the developing nervous system.”

Determining when a fetus can feel pain is difficult, but a 2005 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that fetuses are unlikely to feel pain before the third trimester.

2. At 7 weeks pregnant, it’s too late for the abortion pill.

When the undercover reporter asks the counselor if she can take the abortion pill, the counselor tells her that it’s far too late for that, because she’s 7 to 8 weeks along.

In reality, women who are up to 10 weeks pregnant can safely use the abortion pill.

3. Abortion causes breast cancer.

The counselor says:

“You go from being pregnant to unpregnant so rapidly your cells become damaged … There will be a breast cancer risk.”

Abortion opponents all over the world have tried to peddle this myth. Doctors in five U.S. states are legally required to tell patients considering abortion that abortion carries a risk of breast cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, there is no evidence to link abortion and breast cancer.

4. Abortion causes women to be abusive mothers.

In perhaps the most shocking part of the video, the counselor claims that women who get abortions go on to neglect their children or overprotect their children.

The head of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in Ireland called that claim “outrageous.”

5. Abortion is dangerous.

The counselor tells the undercover reporter that if she gets an abortion, she runs the risk of needing a hysterectomy or needing her bowel removed.

This statement is technically true, but the counselor does not mention that childbirth is actually more likely to lead to an emergency hysterectomy than abortion. The rate of hysterectomies performed because of childbirth complications ranges from 0.24 to 8.7 per 1,000 deliveries.

Comparatively, the rate of emergency hysterectomies performed because of abortion complications is only 1.4 per 10,000.

Childbirth also carries a risk of bowel injury if the birth is a C-section, which about 1 in 4 births in the U.K. are.

Multiple studies have found that statistically, abortion is safer than childbirth.

Watch the full video here:

Featured Image: Screenshot Via YouTube Video.