Demonstration Planned At Marlborough 'Crisis Pregnancy Center'

MARLBOROUGH, MA — Members of the Indivisible Mass Coalition will host a demonstration Saturday at a so-called "crisis pregnancy center" in Marlborough that the groups say misleads people seeking abortion care.

The Marlborough standout will focus on First Concern Pregnancy Resource Center located near the corner of Bolton and Main streets. The business offers free services like pregnancy tests, STD testing and ultrasounds, but does not offer abortions. First Concern also operates in the same building as Planned Parenthood, which offers similar reproductive care, but does offer abortion care.

The centers often rank highly in internet searches for abortion care, leading some to believe they offer abortions.

"These centers typically obfuscate the facts about abortion and, in some cases, lie to vulnerable pregnant people," the Indivisible Mass Coalition said in a news release.

The Marlborough standout is part of a series of coordinated demonstrations by Indivisible Mass on Saturday aiming to draw attention to pending state legislation that would outlaw crisis pregnancy centers. The groups are also planning demonstrations at pregnancy centers in Southbridge and Attleborough.

Crisis pregnancy centers jumped to the fore of the abortion debate last year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe V Wade. In Worcester, two centers were vandalized, leading to calls from city councilors to ban them locally.