Early last Thursday evening, June 2, a dozen teenage girls and two guys crowded the sidewalk outside of the Ave's only pregnancy clinic. Armed with picket signs and lime-green flyers, the protesters were ready to greet pedestrians by slamming the clinic.

People eyed the protest warily, likely presuming it was a typical anti-choice rant against an abortion clinic. On the contrary, these kids-a mixed crowd of suburban kids and urban hipster teens-were on hand to alert the University District to the pro-life "crisis pregnancy clinic" stationed above a travel agency, near 47th Street. The clinic-run by (cleverly named) Life Choices, which also has two suburban locations-specializes in giving women free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and heaps of anti-abortion propaganda, the protesters say. Life Choices also happens to oversee the SHARE sex-ed program that has some Eastside parents riled up ["Parental Dissent," Amy Jenniges, May 26]. There are five other likeminded crisis pregnancy centers in Seattle (and nine abortion clinics).

"They give evasive answers about their services, they're unwilling to answer if you can make an appointment with a doctor, they delay giving back a [pregnancy test] response," ostensibly to keep women in the clinic, says Blythe Chandler, a NARAL Pro-Choice Washington spokesperson, and adviser to the young protesters, ticking off just a few of the problems she sees with crisis clinics in general. Many of the crisis clinics even get federal funding. (According to tax returns, Life Choices does not. Federal law prohibits federal funding of abortion services, like those Planned Parenthood provides). According to a May 15 NARAL report on crisis clinics nationally, some employ graphic photos of aborted fetuses, or falsely tell women that abortions increase the risk of breast cancer and sterility. "Lies, tricks, manipulation available here," claimed one protest sign.

Most of the young protesters said their peers are often unaware that places like Life Choices are anti-abortion organizations in disguise. That's why they're turning the tables and protesting, much as anti-choice activists have been protesting abortion clinics for decades. Thursday's protest was a first against Life Choices.

The teens had called the clinic, pretending that they'd just tested positive on a home pregnancy test, to hear Life Choices' response. "They were friendly," allows Mei Mei Woo, a Franklin High School student in a white hoodie. But otherwise, the staff members were evasive on the phone. Woo asked about her options, and the clinic's staff, she says, pressured her to make an appointment instead of answering. "They kept saying come down here," says Woo, who originally hooked up with NARAL for a community service project.

Woo's classmate, Emma O'Neill, had a similar experience when she called, pretending to be pregnant. "They said 'we can give you an ultrasound to let you know if your baby is developing normally,'" she said, but they wouldn't discuss abortion. O'Neill suspects the ultrasound offer is an attempt to appeal to a woman's emotions-by introducing "your baby"-to dissuade or delay abortion. (Abortion is legal until 25 weeks in Washington State, but it's hard to find a provider after 12 weeks, and later abortions are more expensive.)

Life Choices CEO Corey Kahler says their clinics aren't deceptive or "in your face," as the protesters allege (a "textbook" claim against crisis clinics, he says). True, "we don't perform or refer for abortion," he says, but they do say it's an option. Instead, Life Choices provides "a service to the community when it comes to pregnancy issues," referring women to resources that empower "life affirming decisions."

IN OTHER NEIGHBORHOODS

SOUTHEAST SEATTLE: Citywide, auto theft has increased nearly 25 percent since last year. In Southeast Seattle, auto theft is up a whopping 70 percent. "You are more likely to be a victim of a vehicle crime than any other crime reported to the Seattle Police Department," writes South Precinct's Crime Prevention Coordinator Mark Solomon in his biweekly newsletter. Solomon tells neighbors his captain won't authorize him to write about anything but auto theft all summer. He's only half joking. PHINNEY RIDGE: The city wants to build a four-story parking garage at the Woodland Park Zoo, off of Phinney Avenue. Neighbors are irate: They're annoyed that the city is championing a big parking garage on park land, while reducing parking requirements elsewhere. And they're ticked about plans for a neighborhood residential parking zone. The zone would push zoo visitors' cars into the paid garage and require residents to buy permits to park on the street. -AJ