Beware of Fake Health Centers!

At a time when women need access to as much evidence-based, medically accurate information about their reproductive health as possible, there is a wide-spread effort to mislead and lie to women through so-called "crisis pregnancy centers" or CPCs, fake health clinics run by anti-choice organizations.

There are more than 3,000 CPCs across the country (over 80 in Wisconsin), and they are usually strategically located near hospitals and abortion clinics in order to confuse or harass women. They may offer free ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, and diapers, despite often having no doctors or licensed medical professionals on the premises. Their websites typically advertise “abortion information” and "pregnancy options counseling," or carry slogans like “We inform. You decide.”

However, these centers are not licensed medical facilities, and they neither provide nor refer patients for abortion care. Instead, they actively dissuade pregnant people from seeking and obtaining abortions by manipulating and shaming pregnant people, and by spreading falsehoods regarding the safety and outcomes of the safe and legal medical procedure. Much of this misinformation is fabricated based loosely on flawed, biased, or outdated studies, and does not in any way reflect the current scientific and medical evidence regarding abortion care.

What are these fake health centers?
These centers pretend to be medical clinics that offer health care services and
all-options counseling for pregnant people. THEY DO NOT. These fake centers are funded by anti-abortion groups and go by different names like "crisis pregnancy centers" (CPCs) and "pregnancy resource centers." Their aim is to prevent people who are pregnant from accessing abortion in a timely manner. They advertise services such as pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, counseling, and resources. Some even say they offer abortion referrals. However, in reality, they fail to provide medically accurate information and even mislead women about their abortion care options.

If you notice any of these signs, it may be a fake health center:

• They are not willing to give you any information about their services over the phone, or require that you visit them in person. A center that is not up front about their services is probably hiding something.
• The center's website or printed materials don't mention any licensed medical staff.
• They tell pregnant people that they are either too early or too late for an abortion.
• They require visitors to read or listen to religious materials.

Learn more about our efforts to expose these fake clinics.

To seek medical care from someone you can trust at a licensed family planning center:

• Visit www.besafewi.org or call 1-800-230-PLAN to find a Planned Parenthood Health Center in Wisconsin
• Visit opa-fpclinicdb.hhs.gov to locate other licensed Family Planning Centers in Wisconsin
• Call the MCH Program Phone Line: (608) 266-8178