national | REPORTS
Legislation aims to curb deceptive advertising by crisis pregnancy centers
By Martha Calhoon
The stories follow a familiar
script: A woman who suspects
she might be pregnant
visits a local agency that advertises
“abortion options,” believing she’ll be
counseled on a full range of choices.
But this place doesn’t give referrals to
abortion providers, or information on
contraception, and doesn’t staff medical
professionals. Instead, volunteers
in lab coats perform an ultrasound on
the woman, show her graphic pictures
of aborted fetuses, and insist that an
abortion would put her at risk of
infection and emotional trauma.
Finally, she’s handed tiny baby
booties and sent home, misinformed
and distraught.
There are as many as 4,000 of these
so-called crisis pregnancy centers
(CPCs) throughout the U.S., many of
which mask their anti-abortion counseling
agenda with advertising that
promises legitimate medical care. It
is this misleading promotion that
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) has
challenged by reintroducing the Stop
Deceptive Advertising for Women’s
Services Act. The bill, which died in
committee after being first proposed
by her last year, would require the
Federal Trade Commission to enforce truth-in-advertising standards for organizations
claiming to offer abortion
services.
“When women seek out medical
information, they shouldn’t have to
dodge intentionally deceptive establishments,”
says Maloney. “They
shouldn’t have to do extensive research
just to find out if a family
planning clinic is as it seems.”
CPCs have used market research—
such as a 1998 study conducted
by the anti-abortion Family
Research Council—to learn how to
best portray their facilities as unbiased
health providers. They often advertise
in the phone book under
keywords like “clinics,” “pregnancy
services” or “abortion services,” and
use facility names meant to imply a
full range of services, like “The
Women’s Resource Center.” Some
CPC offices have also intentionally
mimicked the signage of recognized
family planning clinics. In Massachusetts,
for example, a CPC named
Problem Pregnancy established itself
on the same floor as a Planned Parenthood
clinic, under a sign that read
“PP Inc.”
A 2006 study by the House Committee
on Oversight and Government Reform also reported that 87 percent
of the CPCs they investigated gave
false and misleading information linking
abortion to such health issues
as breast cancer, infertility, depression
and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Despite medically discredited information
and practices, CPCs have
received considerable government
support. Since 2001, they have been
granted $60 million in government
funds—some from congressional earmarks
designated for pregnancy support
and health services, but most
from the Bush administration’s abstinence-
only programs (as CPCs promote
abstinence for unmarried
people). As a result of this financial
windfall, CPCs have flourished under
the Bush administration and now outnumber
abortion clinics in the U.S.
Maloney plans to push for congressional
hearings on the bill. If the legislation
passes, CPCs will still have
the right to exist, but will be required
to be honest about their function. |
