Someone, Natalie, I think, was asking me about crisis pregnancy centers in class last week and whether they engage in deceptive advertising practices in order to get pregnant women in the door and to dissuade them from getting abortions. To be sure, many don’t. Many are simply attempting to provide resources for pregnant women and girls who have no interest in procuring an abortion. But deception and lies are common enough that the Baltimore City Council, responding to a NARAL Maryland report and an investigation by Representative Henry Waxman, voted to require “crisis pregnancy centers” in Baltimore to post signs saying that they don’t provide abortions or birth control.
Slate does a nice job covering the story and the kinds of deceptions all-too-commonly used by these centers. It’s worth a read: