"Pregnant? Scared? We Can Help." So claim billboards popping up around the country advertising the services of local "Crisis Pregnancy Centers" (CPCs). While these so-called clinics claim to offer help for women facing unplanned pregnancies, they are in fact run by anti-abortion organizations with the aim of preventing women from obtaining abortions. These fake clinics use deceptive methods to get women in the door and then bombard them with misleading information. To address this problem, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) has introduced the Stop Deceptive Advertising for Women's Services Act (H.R. 5052) which would enforce truth-in-advertising standards for reproductive centers. NOW is asking for people to urge their representative to support this legislation, so women can be provided with accurate medical information. Read more

Women who have gone into CPCs have reported being harassed, intimidated, and made to feel guilty for considering abortion. In many cases, women who enter these centers are not informed that the clinic does not actually provide abortion services. CPCs, some of which are located near women's health clinics, lure women in by offering free pregnancy tests. Women have reported that the CPCs lied to them about the results of the pregnancy test (telling them they weren't pregnant) so that they would miss the window of time during which they could safely obtain an abortion. Alert readers will note that Crisis Pregnancy.com, for example, purports to support pregnant women choosing adoption (instead of abortion, which is never mentioned), but actually tries to encourage women to "bond" with "their" baby after it is born.

NOW's HR 8052 page | HR 8052 website | National Organization for Women | Statement from NARAL Pro-Choice America | Planned Parenthood's Fake Clinics Action Page