State needs to regulate crisis pregnancy centers

Establishing ny.gov/planning is a laudable move by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to combat “the insidious spread of misleading, medically inaccurate information about reproductive health” from crisis pregnancy centers. There are 98 crisis pregnancy centers in New York alone (more than 4,000 nationally). Their sole goal is to prevent abortion care, regardless of the person’s choice. Crisis pregnancy centers don’t have licensed medical staff, and they frequently dispense misleading, inaccurate information that can endanger people’s health. They often wrongly claim abortion is linked to breast cancer and long-term post-traumatic stress disorder, intentionally give false gestational ages and use emotionally manipulative tactics.

New York’s current reproductive rights law, written in 1970, is inconsistent with, and falls short of, the constitutional protections of Roe v. Wade. The Reproductive Health Act would codify Roe in New York state. As of now, New Yorkers have no state statutory protection if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

The Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination is an extreme threat to our health and rights, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo has correctly recognized. Yet ny.gov/planning doesn’t go far enough. Its list of reproductive health providers doesn’t explicitly state which of them provide abortion care. People needing that information quickly should rely on other additional sources, such as Protruth and Planned Parenthood.

Crisis pregnancy centers should be regulated by the state to prevent them from lying to people seeking accurate medical information and abortion care. Gov. Cuomo should push for legislation that does just that while applying tangible pressure on the Senate to pass the RHA.

Donna Newton New York City Co-chair, activist organization WHARR