A mobile pregnancy center with an anti-abortion mission is providing weekly services across the street from ASU's Tempe campus.
Choices Pregnancy Centers of Greater Phoenix, a nonprofit reproductive healthcare organization, opened a mobile unit outside of the Campus Christian Center near South Mill Avenue and West 11th Street on April 10.
Every Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., students and members of the public can go to the unit for free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, as well as options counseling.
However, the organization does not perform abortions or refer patients to abortion providers. It does offer education about services for abortion pill reversal, according to its website. One page lists several risks associated with abortion.
Marc Burmich, the president and CEO of Choices, said the organization is one of the largest "pro-life" pregnancy resource groups in Arizona. He said they exist to provide support and education to those experiencing unplanned pregnancies.
"There are major large organizations, nationwide organizations, like Planned Parenthood and others, that provide what they consider to be care," Burmich said. "But it's a scope of care, and there's education involved in that that we at Choices believe to be limited in scope."
Kelley Dupps, the director of communications and external affairs at Planned Parenthood Arizona, said Planned Parenthood is committed to providing access to a full range of medical care and unbiased information, support that Dupps said Choices does not provide.
Choices often misrepresents the risk of abortion and birth control, delaying care, Dupps said. It also misrepresents its medical credentials, he said.
Centers like Choices, sometimes called crisis pregnancy centers, often do not operate as licensed medical clinics, according to a policy brief published in the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics. The brief also states that the crisis pregnancy centers provide misleading counseling and substandard medical care.
In 2024, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes issued a consumer alert about crisis pregnancy centers and tactics they may employ to dissuade individuals from receiving an abortion.
In a written statement, a Choices spokesperson said the organization's care is led by a board-certified OB-GYN, two nurse practitioners, seven registered nurses and a diagnostic medical sonographer.
Choices did not respond to a specific request for comment about arguments that it provides misleading information and substandard care. Burmich said when providing care to patients, including ASU students, the Choices medical team doesn't hold anything back, answering questions about abortion and pregnancy.
Dr. Eric Hazelrigg is Choices' medical director, the spokesperson stated. Hazelrigg has voiced his opposition to abortion in the past and worked to have the Arizona Supreme Court allow for the enforcement of a near-total abortion ban in 2023 and 2024.
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"Regardless of what she ends up doing, we hope that she (someone visiting the center) chooses life," Burmich said. "But even if she doesn't, we know we're going to walk alongside her to help her any way that we possibly can."
Students for Life at ASU attended and promoted a Choices mobile clinic event on April 10 to show support for its services across from campus.
Jacinda Sweeten, the president of Students for Life at ASU and a junior studying political science, said she feels Planned Parenthood focuses on quickly providing services, while Choices tries to talk to an individual and find out how they can best help them, which may involve spiritual guidance.
"I feel like the very humanizing aspect is very important here, because not only are we humanizing the preborn child, the child in the womb, but we're also humanizing the woman," Sweeten said.
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Dupps said Choices pushes an ideology, whereas Planned Parenthood seeks to provide healthcare and education.
"Every pregnancy is unique, and you should have someone along your journey who understands the medical and health, psychological and all of the impacts that pregnancy has," Dupps said.
Edited by Carsten Oyer, Henry Smardo, Sophia Braccio and Katrina Michalak.
Reach the reporter at apruiz@asu.edu and follow @andiruiz2405 on X.
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Andi Ruiz is a lead politics reporter at the State Press dedicated to serving her community with truth and honesty in her reporting. She has been working in broadcast and news since high school and was recently an anchor at The Cut Network during her first year at Cronkite. She is going into her second year at ASU as a Barrett Honors student studying journalism and mass communication.
