Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that a California truth in advertising law violated the rights of so-called crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs). The law, passed in response to concerns about deceptive practices by CPCs, required them to provide women with certain medical information, including details about access to low-cost clinics.
The Court found 5-4 that a case brought by crisis pregnancy centers was likely to prevail in its lawsuit claiming the law violates the First Amendment. This clears the way for a suit against the state of California, and could mean that CPCs will have the legal right to lie to women.
Debates about the value of these centers often miss key details about what they actually do. Proponents of crisis pregnancy centers say they’re merely providing support and an alternative to abortion. Opponents call them fake clinics, and argue that they deceive women. They do, but that’s just scratching the surface. These clinics endanger women’s lives, and some have even threatened or stalked former “patients.”
Here’s how crisis pregnancy centers put women in danger.
Luring Vulnerable Women With False Advertising
The CPC fight against women begins with their dishonest advertising campaigns. Most promise free pregnancy tests, and some claim they offer abortion or family planning services. Because they receive government funding, they often have higher budgets than nonprofit clinics and abortion clinics operating on a shoestring budget. So they use high-value keywords on Google and other search engines, edging out real clinics.
Many women walking through the doors of CPCs believe they’re there for counseling, or for an abortion. Instead, they’re met with an onslaught of shame, incorrect medical information, and sometimes, threats.
Incorrect and Damaging Information
Women dealing with the stress of an unplanned pregnancy are inherently vulnerable. They’re afraid, overwhelmed, perhaps conflicted about what to do next. They may be in abusive relationships, have little or no money, or be terrified of the consequences of missing work or school. CPCs probe the minds of the women who walk through their doors, then they exploit their vulnerability. They tell them abortion is dangerous, that the baby is more developed than it is, that the pregnancy is farther along than it is. They cite nonexistent or discredited research linking abortion to breast cancer and mental illness, but fail to mention the myriad dangers of pregnancy.
The more aggressive crisis pregnancy centers may be more direct, threatening to tell women’s partners, parents, or bosses that they are considering abortion.
Blame, Shame, and Few Actual Resources
No other legal, potentially life-saving medical procedure is as stigmatized as abortion. Even women who know they want an abortion may feel guilt and shame. CPCs compound this blame and shame. Then they tell women that “resources are available.” But the “resources” they offer—a pregnancy test, used maternity clothes, used baby clothes—are a tiny fraction of what women facing unplanned pregnancies need.
In this way, CPCs reinforce the notion that pregnancy and motherhood are easy, and that women who seek abortions are simply lazy, bad people—not women who thought carefully about the demands of motherhood and decided they couldn’t do it. There’s no offer to pay medical bills, cover daycare costs, offer postpartum support, provide a doula, help a woman leave an abusive relationship, cover the cost of taking time off of work, or fight against an employer who discriminates against pregnant women. Offers of baby and maternity clothes are insulting to all women—those who struggle and keep their babies, those who agonize over giving a baby up for adoption, and those who make the often-difficult decision to have an abortion.
More than just shaming women and then offering little in the way of resources, the abortion stigma CPCs promote has a very effective goal: punishing women who seek abortions. Research published this year in Psychology of Women Quarterly found that, the more a woman internalizes anti-abortion stigma, the more likely she is to suffer mental health issues following an abortion. These CPCs are priming women for psychological issues that may haunt them for years.
No Medical Privacy Regulations
Crisis pregnancy centers are not real medical clinics. This means they aren’t governed by HIPPA or other privacy regulations. Yet many women think these facilities are clinics, so they provide an array of sensitive health information—everything from their Social Security number to details about a history of sexual abuse.
CPCs can then do with this information as they see fit. In at least one case, a CPC stalked a teenager seeking abortion, and even called the police on her. In other cases, CPCs have revealed contact information of women considering abortion to anti-choice extremists, potentially putting these women in danger.
With the Supreme Court now saying that lying to women is a First Amendment right, CPCs are likely to be emboldened, becoming progressively more extreme.
Stealing Resources for That Could Prevent Abortion
CPCs often receive government funding. In many cases, the money comes from programs for women, infants, and children, or from grants designed to fund healthcare for the needy. These programs are scientifically proven to lower the abortion rate. CPCs are not. But Republican lawmakers have decided to take money from the babies they claim to care about and give it to fake clinics that terrorize those babies’ mothers.
Delaying Abortion Until It’s Too Late
CPCs hope that, if they can’t convince women not to have an abortion, they can at least make abortion impossible. They may promise a consultation with a doctor in a week, and another week, and another week. They might tell a woman she’s already in her second trimester. By the time a woman realizes she’s being scammed, her pregnancy could be much more advanced. An abortion may be more expensive and medically difficult. And thanks to state-level abortion restrictions, it may even be illegal.
Fake, Harmful Clinics: More Rights Than Real Medical Providers
Now, these fake clinics may soon have more rights than actual medical facilities. Abortion clinics and other medical facilities are regulated under state and federal laws. And abortion restrictions across the country govern what abortion clinics can and can’t tell women. Many states force clinics to lie. Alabama abortion clinics, for instance, must call the fetus an “unborn child,” tell a woman death is a significant risk of abortion, and give a range of incorrect details about fetal development.
The Supreme Court may have ruled against women and for fake medical care, but that doesn’t mean the fight is over. Abortion clinics across the country are on the front lines of the fight for reproductive justice and freedom. You may be able to help your local abortion clinic by getting involved in grassroots movement, campaigning for legislative change, volunteering as a clinic escort, or learning about reproductive justice efforts in your area. To find abortion clinics in your city, click here.
Maternal mortality in the U.S. is worse than anywhere else in the developed world. Republican legislators are determined to make it even worse by removing access to affordable health care, forcing women to return to work immediately after giving birth, and giving women faulty information about their health. They want women punished at every age and every stage. And they don’t care if they die, or if their babies die with them. It has never been about life.