Crisis Pregnancy Centers: Denying Women Accurate Information About Pregnancy Options

For example, many CPCs give women misleading information about abortion, falsely claiming that abortion causes infertility, breast cancer, suicide, and other harmful psychological effects. Some CPCs also use other coercive strategies, such as showing women graphic images and videos about fetal development while they wait for the results of their pregnancy tests, in an attempt to scare them out of considering abortion.

CPCs often try to confuse women about the services they really offer by advertising under keywords like “abortion” or “clinics,” by choosing names similar to the names of actual abortion clinics, or by operating in locations close to abortion clinics. The Center successfully sued to shut down a CPC in Louisiana that operated under a name almost identical to the name of an actual abortion clinic. That CPC would pretend to make abortion appointments for women, and string them along until it was too late for them to obtain abortions. To learn more about that case, click here.

Despite the misleading and coercive tactics of CPCs, many of them receive government funding. Between 2001 and 2005, CPC’s received over $30 million of federal funds through abstinence-only programs. During that time, Congress also provided an additional $1.3 million specifically for CPCs. In addition, some state legislatures have authorized funding for CPCs, and others have provided them with tax breaks. Moreover, some states raise money for CPCs by issuing “Choose Life” license plates, which generate fees provided to CPCs.