Connecticut Lawmakers Consider Bill to Fight Back Against Fake Abortion Clinics
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2019
Contact: Liza Dee, [email protected]
National Institute for Reproductive Health and NARAL Pro-Choice CT Call on State Lawmakers to Pass House Bill 7070, Ensuring Access to Comprehensive Reproductive Health Care
New York – The Connecticut state legislature today held hearings on a bill to prevent fake women’s health centers – also known as “crisis pregnancy centers” – from spreading misinformation and false advertising to deceive women who seek abortions. House Bill 7070 aims to protect women from these fake clinics, which masquerade as legitimate medical providers and regularly dispense misleading information in their attempts to trick women or block them from accessing the reproductive health care they need.
“Every woman who is pregnant or thinks she might be is entitled to trustworthy, timely, and high-quality medical care – not deceitful junk science,” said Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health. “That’s why we are calling on Connecticut lawmakers to pass legislation blocking these deceptive crisis pregnancy centers from spreading lies designed to prevent women from seeking abortions. While the Trump-Pence administration and hostile state legislatures continue their attempts to strip women of access to reproductive health services, Connecticut and states across the country must push back by passing laws that ensure abortion care is protected at the state level, so everyone can access safe, legal, affordable medical care in their communities.”
In Connecticut and across the country, fake clinics continue to outnumber legitimate abortion providers – with more than 2,400 fake clinics operating nationwide. While these groups often present themselves as members of the medical community providing counsel to women, they are regularly backed by resources from sophisticated networks of anti-choice groups aiming to strip women of the opportunity to make their own choices about their bodies, lives and futures. Often, they are not licensed to provide any medical care.
NIRH’s Director of Policy, Jordan Goldberg, J.D., provided critical testimony to legislators in support of House Bill 7070. In 2017, NIRH worked with NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut to support and testify in favor of a Hartford ordinance that combats the deception wrought by the city’s fake pregnancy centers. NIRH has also worked directly with New York State and New York City to promote policies expanding access to reproductive health care, including the adoption in 2011 of a New York City regulation that requires fake clinics to post signage indicating they do not have a licensed medical provider on site.
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The National Institute for Reproductive Health
The National Institute for Reproductive Health builds power at the state and local level to change public policy, galvanize public support, and normalize women’s decisions about abortion and contraception.
Using a partnership model, NIRH provides state and local advocates with strategic guidance, hands-on support, and funding to create national change from the ground up. We form strategic partnerships with a wide range of organizations to directly impact the reproductive health and lives of women across the country. Each year, NIRH works in at least 20 states and more than a dozen localities; to date, NIRH has partnered with more than 150 reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations in 39 states and 56 localities across the country.
About NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut, Inc.
The legislative arm of NARAL works to pass pro-choice legislation and defend against anti-choice legislation at the State Capitol, believing strongly that all women have the right to access the full range of reproductive choices including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion.