Crisis at the Pregnancy Center: Regulating PseudoClinics and Reclaiming Informed Consent

Crisis at the Pregnancy Center: Regulating PseudoClinics and Reclaiming Informed Consent
Teneille R. Brown
Yale Journal of Law & Feminism, 2019; 30(2)
Abstract
Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) adopt the look of medical practices-complete with workers in scrubs, ultrasound machines, and invasive physical exams-to deceive pregnant women into thinking they are being treated by licensed medical professionals. In reality, CPCs offer exclusively Bible- based, non-objective counseling. Numerous attempts to regulate CPCs have faced political roadblocks. Most recently, in NIFLA v. Becerra, the Supreme Court held that state efforts to require CPCs to disclose that they are not medically licensed are unconstitutional violations of CPCs’ First Amendment right to free speech. In the wake of that decision, pregnant women in crisis-a disproportionate percentage of whom are low-income women, minority women, or women in vulnerable or dangerous situations-continue to be subject to CPCs’ ideological marketing, masquerading as medical advice.