Minneapolis, MN – On Saturday, May 10, Minnesota Abortion Action Committee (MNAAC) protested a fundraiser hosted by Abria Pregnancy Resources, a Twin Cities anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center. Pro-abortion activists and community members alike lined a stretch of Lake Harriet Parkway while anti-abortion participants were participating in Abria’s ninth annual “Life is Wonderful 10K, 5K, Walk & Fun Run.”

The well-attended protest amplified community members’ objections towards Abria’s presence and invited curious passersby to learn about the dangers of crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs).

MNAAC is a grassroots, reproductive justice organization that fights for reproductive rights, including abortion access, bodily autonomy and gender-affirming care. Much of their work consists of educating community members about the dangers of CPCs and organizing protests against them.

Crisis pregnancy centers are anti-abortion organizations that pose as health centers and purport to offer comprehensive reproductive healthcare, but instead use medical misinformation, religious shame tactics, and social pressure to dissuade people from accessing abortions.

Abria’s Minneapolis and Saint Paul locations are two of Minnesota’s 73 CPCs, a number far outweighing the state’s nine in-person abortion clinics. Despite that discrepancy, reproductive rights organizations celebrate the number of CPS dropping down from 90 in recent years.

Abria scheduled its fundraiser on Mother’s Day weekend – collecting registration fees and monetary donations for “life affirming medical care, maternal resources and compassionate support to women and couples facing unexpected pregnancies.” They listed rewards for various fundraising thresholds and cited that raising $1000 represented “the cost to provide women what she needs to choose life.”

Lake Harriet neighbor and Pro-Choice Minnesota member Jill Lock called out Abria’s misleading messages of supporting mothers. Esther Crotser (MNAAC) and fellow protester Michael Wood surprised and disrupted Abria’s participants by running alongside them with pro-abortion banners while chanting “Abortion is healthcare, abortion is essential!” Various community members along the lake paused to observe the disruption and various protest speakers.

One MNAAC member recalls, “Countless people stopped on the lake path and asked about our protest. Many seemed to initially think Abria’s run/walk was in honor of Mother’s Day or to broadly support reproductive healthcare, and wondered why we were protesting the event since our speakers, signs and chants seemed aligned. Once we explained that the fundraiser was hosted by the CPC Abria Pregnancy Resources – and for some, introduced them to the goals and tactics of these anti-abortion organizations – they voiced support for our programming and concern about Abria.”

Kristen Blesdoe, a member of MNAAC, stated, “Abria Pregnancy Resources will try to tell you that they do give people information about abortions – they even have a whole page about it on their website! However, if you visit that page, you’ll see that it talks about abortion only in stigmatizing terms as ‘serious’ and ‘invasive’, implies that it might not even work. It’s not until the bottom of the page that you finally see this sentence: Abria offers support at no cost to you regarding your decisions but does not refer for or perform abortions. Does this sound like a ‘safe, non-judgmental place’ to you?”

In addition to Abria Pregnancy Resources, MNAAC has organized protests of other Twin Cities CPCs including Birthright, First Care and Tandem. The grassroots organization supports organizations aligned with reproductive justice including Minnesota’s abortion fund (Our Justice) and Community Aid Network of Minnesota (CANMN).

Sarah Berlin is a member of the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee (MNAAC)

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