WBUR | Lawsuit alleges Worcester's Clearway Clinic misled woman about unviable pregnancy
Story Originally Appeared in WBUR
Tomorrow marks one year since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned the federal right to an abortion. We have two Cognoscenti essays out this morning — one from local OB/GYN Charlotte Lee and another from Brandeis anthropology professor Anita Hannig — reflecting on the moment.
Keep an eye on wbur.org for more coverage today on how Massachusetts is feeling the effects of Dobbs a year later. But first, a new local story tied to the roiling abortion debate:
A Worcester crisis pregnancy center is promising to continue its work, despite a lawsuit alleging it did not tell a woman she had a dangerous, unviable pregnancy. WBUR’s Deborah Becker reports that the lawsuit alleges Clearway Clinic told the patient her pregnancy was healthy after performing an ultrasound last fall. But a month later, she required emergency surgery because the fetus was growing outside the uterus. Her attorneys say if she had been properly diagnosed, the surgery and removal of one of her fallopian tubes could have been avoided.
The response: Jill Jorgensen, the executive director of Clearway, said the clinic has “never had a complaint like this in the past,” but declined to address individual claims due to HIPAA rules.
Zoom out: The suit also accuses Clearway of luring women into the clinic for pregnancy care with a goal of preventing abortions. NPR recently reported crisis pregnancy centers often top Google results when patients search for abortion clinics.
Go deeper: Becker has more here on the debate over crisis pregnancy centers in the post-Dobbs world.