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