Waiting Room

What Are CPCs?

Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are non-profit organizations that aim to reach people seeking reproductive healthcare to deter them from accessing abortions and contraception (birth control) and discourage them from having sex before marriage. The centers often try to look like health facilities, even though they are largely unregulated and typically are not staffed by licensed clinicians. 

According to CPC organizations, published histories, and published peer-reviewed research, all CPCs at least offer free pregnancy tests and information designed to influence people’s pregnancy decisions away from abortion. Most also advertise limited medical services.

 

There are generally two types of CPCs:
  • Pregnancy Test Icon

    CPCs that offer free pregnancy tests and information.

  • Ultrasound Icon

    CPCs that offer also offer limited medical services, such as limited obstetric ultrasounds, STI testing, and HIV testing.

Although CPCs frequently advertise themselves as “clinics” or as health facilities, they only offer a limited set of health services. CPCs are not typically staffed by licensed healthcare professionals and are not regulated as health facilities. CPCs do not follow medical or ethical practice standards and frequently use deceptive tactics and provide inaccurate and misleading health information to reach their own goals. 

 

CPCs often advertise and offer unproven services:

A wealth of clear and rigorous scientific evidence shows that having an abortion does not lead to mental health problems. However, CPCs often falsely claim the opposite, including that abortion leads to post-traumatic stress syndrome. The centers frequently purport to offer “abortion recovery” services.

CPCs also frequently advertise “abortion reversal” services. “Abortion pill reversal” is an experimental procedure of high-dose progesterone following the initial dose of mifepristone (the first of two drugs typically used in medication abortion). The American College of Obstetricians (ACOG) describes “abortion reversal” as “unproven and unethical.”

 

CPCs particularly target:
  • Young people, especially students
  • People of color
  • People with low incomes

 

Health and medicine organizations’ positions on CPCs: 

Public health and medical organizations warn that CPCs pose risk to individual, family, and public health and encourage governments to exclusively support programs that provide medically accurate, unbiased, and comprehensive information that support individuals to make informed, voluntary decisions.

Multiple health and medicine organizations have position statements on CPCs, such as:

In addition to operating centers, many CPCs are also involved in teaching sexual abstinence-only-before-marriage programs in local public schools. Major international and national health organizations — such as the World Health Organization (WHO), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Public Health Association (APHA), and Society of Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) — support evidence-based comprehensive sex education and warn abstinence-only programs are ineffective and may be harmful.

 

Despite experts’ consensus recommendations, federal, state, and local governments continue to support CPCs by:

  • Including CPCs in HIV and STI referral directories
  • Funding CPCs through dedicated state grant programs
  • Providing tax breaks to individuals and companies that donate to CPCs
  • Inviting CPCs to teach sexual abstinence-only programs in public schools

Some states and local areas have taken actions to protect residents from CPC harms, such as:

  • Consumer warning alerts about CPCs
  • Legislation to prohibit CPCs’ deceptive advertising
  • Ordinances to prohibit CPCs’ deceptive practices
  • Legislation to ban “abortion reversal”

 

Potential harms to clients caused by CPCs and their lack of regulation:
  • Negative health outcomes
  • Delayed healthcare
  • Not getting the healthcare they want and need
  • Missed opportunities for prevention and treatment services
  • Stigma
  • Mistrust of medical providers
  • Loss of confidentially and security of private information
  • Criminalization
  • Adverse economic outcomes

 

References and additional reading:

Bryant AG, Swartz JJ. Why Crisis Pregnancy Centers Are Legal but Unethical. AMA Journal of Ethics. 2018;20(1):269-277. doi: 10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.3.pfor1-1803

Bryant AG, Narasimhan S, Bryant-Comstock K, Levi EE. Crisis Pregnancy Center Websites: Information, Misinformation and Disinformation. Contraception. 2014;90(6):601-5. doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2014.07.003

Cartwright AF, Tumlinson K, Upadhyay UD. Pregnancy Outcomes After Exposure to Crisis Pregnancy Centers among an Abortion-Seeking Sample Recruited Online. PLoS One. 2021 Jul 28;16(7):e0255152. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0255152 

Crisis Pregnancy Centers in the U.S.: Lack of Adherence to Medical and Ethical Practice Standards. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2019 Dec;65(6):821-824. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.08.008 

Rosen JD. The Public Health Risks of Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Perspectives in Sexual & Reproductive Health. 2012;44(3):201-5. doi: 10.1363/4420112

Swartzendruber A, Newton-Levinson A, Feuchs AE, Phillips AL, Hickey J, Steiner RJ. Sexual and Reproductive Health Services and Related Health Information on Pregnancy Resource Center Websites: A Statewide Content Analysis. Women’s Health Issues. 2018;28(1):14-20. doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2017.10.007

Warren E, Kissling A, Norris AH, Gursahaney PR, Bessett D, Gallo MF. “I felt like I was a bad person…which I’m not”: Stigmatization in Crisis Pregnancy Centers. SSM – Qualitative Research in Health. 2022;(2). doi: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2022.100059