Legal Voice joined the Alliance: State Advocates for Women’s Rights & Gender Equality today in releasing a report, “Designed to Deceive: A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center Industry in Nine States.” The report sheds light on the activities and funding sources of crisis pregnancy centers — centerpieces of an extreme anti-abortion strategy that has been quietly unfolding for decades, behind higher-profile legislative and legal battles.
The report shows that, rather than offer legitimate healthcare and resources, CPCs target pregnant people of color and pregnant people with lower incomes with deceptive marketing; provide few or no real medical services; and systematically mislead clients about services they do provide, potentially resulting in delayed care and unnecessary risks to their clients’ health.
The report, which details the activities of CPCs in Idaho, Washington, Montana, and Alaska finds:
- The widespread promotion of abortion pill reversal, a dangerous and unscientific procedure that creates stigma and threatens pregnant peoples’ health;
- A vast digital infrastructure with explicit links to the anti-abortion movement, used to target and harass pregnant people with lower incomes and pregnant people of color; and
- A majority of CPC’s do not provide medical services
