State House News Service | New awareness campaign targets “anti-abortion centers”

By Alison Kuznitz | Originally Published by State House News Service

BOSTON (SHNS) – State officials unveiled a new public awareness campaign Monday to crack down on crisis pregnancy centers that officials say purport to offer legitimate reproductive health care but ultimately provide misleading information that can deter patients from going through with abortions.

Officials made their announcement at Women’s Health Services in Brookline, where anti-abortion activists typically gather. Campaign ads in English and Spanish, which launched Monday, are intended to help Bay Staters understand their full scope of reproductive care options and help them to recognize the centers.

“Every day, individuals in the Commonwealth walk into anti-abortion centers unaware that these facilities are masquerading as comprehensive medical providers and pose a significant risk to the health and well-being of those seeking help, support, and options,” Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said in a statement. “As a physician, I find this kind of deception and misrepresentation unconscionable, and as Commissioner, I feel compelled to push back as hard as possible against these shameful practices and blatant misinformation.”

DPH said it developed the campaign with advocacy organization Reproductive Equity Now, and that it is funded by a $1 million from a fiscal 2023 supplemental budget. Campaign messaging will appear on social media platforms, billboards, radio and transit.

“The troubling practices of anti-abortion centers serve to undermine the trust that people should have in our health care system,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said in a statement. “Education and accurate information can help counter the misinformation and unethical tactics these centers use to prey on people at a particularly vulnerable time.”

The Department of Public Health in January issued guidance about the facilities after receiving complaints. State officials said there are nearly 30 centers operating in Massachusetts, though only four are subject to DPH licensure.

DPH said many of the centers “advertise themselves as full-service reproductive health care clinics, yet they do not provide abortion care or abortion referrals, contraception, or other important reproductive health care services.” They’re typically connected to national advocacy or religious organizations pushing an anti-abortion agenda, according to DPH.

“Absent the provision of medical care, DPH does not have jurisdiction over these facilities and cannot oversee the quality of services they provide,” DPH said. “However, if these facilities are providing medical care or advertising services that are consistent with a clinic, DPH maintains a responsibility to oversee the safe provision of medical services and health care in the state.”

Reproductive Equity Now published a guidebook in May alleging that the centers offer medical disinformation, are located near legitimate abortion clinics to confuse patients and may lie to patients about how far along they are in their pregnancy.