New Jersey aims to be a safe haven for abortion. Crisis pregnancy centers stand in the way, leaders say

Options for Women, a faith-based nonprofit, advertises parenting classes, adoption options, abortion education and “a safe place to make a sound decision” in an unplanned pregnancy.

There’s no indication on its website that the clinic is part of the anti-abortion movement.

But Options for Women is one of New Jersey’s dozens of crisis pregnancy centers: unregulated clinics that reproductive rights experts and state leaders say deceive women and discourage them from receiving abortions.

The Murphy administration is trying to crack down on these clinics as the governor seeks to make New Jersey a safe haven for women in the post-Roe era, but similar plans have had mixed results in other Democratic-controlled states such as California and Connecticut.

Although crisis pregnancy centers exist in many red states with strict abortion laws, blue states like New Jersey make a logical choice for the centers to establish a strong presence. They often outnumber abortion clinics in progressive states that have put abortion protections in place, said Ashley Underwood, director of the reproductive rights organization Equity Forward.

“Anti-abortion centers do not provide legitimate maternity care or maternal health support," Underwood said. “These centers serve as the storefront of the anti-abortion movement."

Efforts to regulate pregnancy centers’ marketing tactics are playing out as legal challenges to the abortion pill mifepristone work their way through the courts, with the possibility of it being taken off the market, further limiting options for women.

Abortion-rights supporters and Democratic leaders say crisis pregnancy centers disguise themselves as abortion clinics and try to draw women in with signs and ads similar to those used by licensed clinics. Once inside, women visiting a crisis pregnancy center are dissuaded from having an abortion, the critics say. These centers also promote false science, such as a procedure to reverse the effects of an abortion pill — an unproven treatment that does not guarantee success, according to the Abortion Pill Rescue Network.

But Anne O'Connor, vice president of legal affairs at the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, said crisis pregnancy centers support women and offer free medical services such as ultrasounds and testing for sexually transmitted infections. They also offer supplies, like diapers and formula, and hold parenting classes, she said.

Marie Tasy, director of New Jersey Right to Life, pushed back against negative characterizations of these centers after the state attorney general issued an alert about the centers and what he called deceptive advertising.

“I don’t believe they have in any way deceived people,” she said of the centers. “This is unfortunately a very biased agenda by this administration that is doing the bidding of the abortion industry.”

As red states like North Carolina and two dozen others have moved to limit abortion access, Democratic leaders in states such as California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York have moved to expand reproductive rights and send a nationwide signal that they embrace people seeking the procedure.

The Illinois Legislature passed a bill last month banning "deceptive" marketing by crisis pregnancy centers and Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker is expected to sign it. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a law last year directing the state to study the impact of the centers. And in California, Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan introduced a bill in February to restrict "misleading" advertising by these centers. But that bill and another one died in a legislative committee this month.

New Jersey state lawmakers introduced a similar bill in February 2022 that would outlaw crisis pregnancy centers’ deceptive advertising under the consumer fraud act. But a previous version of that bill never made it to a full vote and the latest measure has yet to receive a committee hearing.

Jackie Cornell, executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey, said part of the problem states have passing deceptive advertising measures is they get ensnared in freedom of speech issues, as California did at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018. As for the bill stalling in New Jersey, she said, it’s “false to assume that a Democratic majority is synonymous with a pro-reproductive health majority.”

Federal lawmakers are also trying to limit what crisis pregnancy centers can advertise through the “Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation Act.” The bill, led by Democratic Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker of New Jersey, would direct the Federal Trade Commission to ban "deceptive or misleading" advertising for abortion services.

Assemblymember Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Mercer), who sponsored New Jersey’s crisis pregnancy center legislation along with Mila Jasey (D-Essex) and Ellen Park (D-Bergen), said the bill is essential to protecting abortion access.

“Women deserve accurate and unbiased information, and that’s not what these organizations provide,” Reynolds-Jackson said in an interview. “It’s misleading and it’s a threat to both mom and baby.”

“Their advertising tactics are meant to prey on people seeking abortions,” she added. “It’s all to influence this decision that a woman has the right to make on her own.”

Crisis pregnancy centers abound

New Jersey had 43 abortion clinics in 2021, according to the most recent data available from the University of California at San Francisco’s Abortion Facility Database. These facilities are staffed by licensed professionals and provide abortions on site.

But New Jersey also has more than 50 crisis pregnancy centers, according to the anti-abortion organization New Jersey Right to Life. Nationally, crisis pregnancy centers outnumber abortion clinics by a factor of three to one, according to Equity Forward.

There are roughly 2,500 centers nationwide, according to the Crisis Pregnancy Center Map.

Crisis pregnancy centers use colors, logos and website designs similar to licensed health care clinics to draw patients in, Cornell and Underwood said. They park mobile vans directly outside clinics like Planned Parenthood to attract patients seeking care.

“It’s by design that it’s very difficult for most people to be able to know when they’re in an anti-abortion center or when they’re in an actual clinic," Underwood said.

Some crisis pregnancy centers advertise a process called abortion pill reversal, which they say would allow women to reverse their abortion and keep their pregnancy after taking one dose of an abortion pill. Cornell and Underwood said the process was medically impossible.

Because these centers are typically unlicensed and operate with little to no oversight, it’s difficult to collect data on who they serve.

The Lozier Institute, an anti-abortion think tank, released a report on New Jersey’s CPCs in February, but only provided data from 2019. That report found that CPCs served 35,138 patients in the state in 2019, providing services and materials valued at nearly $3 million. The CPCs were staffed by a total of 133 employees, the report said, 29 percent of whom were licensed medical professionals. CPCs were also supported by 533 volunteers, 10 percent of whom were licensed.

The report was produced in partnership with Care Net, an evangelical Christian network of anti-abortion centers. There are no alternative sources to confirm the report’s findings and the Lozier institute did not respond to a request for comment.

Centers say there's a 'misunderstanding'

Many crisis pregnancy centers advertise abortion options on their website but do not actually offer abortion pills or procedures.

Options for Women, in Camden County, has an abortion section on its website that provides information on abortion options. When reached by phone, a representative from Options for Women said they do not offer abortions.

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin issued the consumer alert last December to warn residents of crisis pregnancy centers and what he said are deceptive marketing tactics.

“Crisis Pregnancy Centers try to convince pregnant people not to have abortions,” the alert said. “CPCs may appear to be reproductive health care clinics, but they do not provide abortion care or provide referrals for abortion care, contraception, or other reproductive health care.”

The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, an anti-abortion organization that oversees 1,700 pregnancy centers nationally, said the consumer alert is inaccurate and unfairly tarnishes the reputations of these centers.

“We think there’s definitely a misunderstanding on what pregnancy centers do," O'Connor of the NIFLA said. “They don’t seem to have any factual basis for the consumer alert."

A consortium of pregnancy centers overseen by NIFLA filed an open public records request following the release of the consumer alert seeking documents that supported the alert's claims. The request was denied on the grounds that it was overbroad.

The consortium is now suing the state for access to these documents.