Fake Abortion Clinics Shape Massachusetts Reproductive Health Landscape

While Massachusetts has some of the strongest abortion rights laws in the country, accessing the procedure is not always straightforward. As in other parts of the country, anti-abortion actors in the state work to impede access to safe reproductive health care and abortion — and have been doing so for decades.

There are only four Planned Parenthood health centers in Massachusetts, but 33 fake clinics — called “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs) — actively operate in the state. CPCs market themselves as reproductive health clinics but their central purpose is to serve as anti-abortion counseling centers with agendas to convince — or even deceive — people into carrying their pregnancies to term. CPCs’ targeting and manipulation of pregnant people not only robs them of their right to choose, but in more serious cases, can put their lives at risk by delaying their decisions and confusing them about available resources. The office of the Massachusetts Attorney General has even published warnings to the public about CPCs’ efforts.

As Amherst students look towards a second Trump presidency with threats of national abortion restrictions through Congress and the FDA, CPCs continue to impede legal abortion and will likely be further empowered to do so after Trump takes office.

The History of CPCs
The history of CPCs in the United States runs deep. The first CPC in the United States opened in 1967, and today, they operate in every state, outnumbering real abortion clinics more than three to one. A recent report showed that CPCs have received $430 million in federal funding over the past five years, including anti-poverty funding, in addition to the millions in funding from individuals, anti-choice foundations, and some church communities.

A Google search of CPCs generates as many published reports by anti-abortion research institutions that laud the benefits of CPCs as it does resources that reveal CPCs as deceptive. When a client passes over the threshold of a CPC, they have most likely already been impacted by its manipulative tactics.

Manipulation Tactics Amongst CPCs
Even for those who have already made up their mind about wanting an abortion, the difference between a legitimate abortion clinic and a CPC is difficult to discern. CPCs have misleading names that indicate pro-choice stances and/or medical expertise: “Your Options Medical Center,” “Clearway Clinic,” and “Boston Center for Pregnancy Choices” are all fake clinics in Massachusetts. Many establish themselves near real clinics or Planned Parenthood health centers, sometimes directly next door or across the street.

Problem Pregnancy, a CPC in Worcester, is located across the street from Planned Parenthood and even closely mimics Planned Parenthood’s double P logo. When you google the clinic, the results include “First Trimester Abortion” and “Abortion Near Me.” In reality, they provide pregnancy tests and “limited ultrasounds,” but small print at the bottom of the site will tell you: “Problem Pregnancy does not perform or refer for abortions.”

Google reviews are full of comments: “I'm not necessarily sure why this is listed under abortion clinics,” one said, “Problem Pregnancy has given me false medical information on many accounts. Contrary to their pamphlets, abortion does not cause breast cancer. They advertise that their services are free, but what they failed to mention is that there is no medical staff on-site.”

“The women who work here are solely focused on changing your mind if you wish to have an abortion,” wrote another.

Most CPCs are not medically licensed but represent themselves as if they are legitimate medical facilities. Often, they are run by religious organizations. Their websites mimic those of medical clinics, with pictures of people in scrubs, links to schedule appointments or consultations, and testimonials.

Unlicensed individuals may pose as health care providers at CPCs: wearing white coats, seeing women in exam rooms, and providing fraudulent medical advice. Some CPCs manipulate their clients into signing contracts promising to carry their pregnancies to term. They also pressure women to involve their male partners in their decision. Only licensed medical facilities are required to abide by HIPAA, so CPCs may share medical information that clients disclose.

What Is It Like to Interact with a CPC?
To understand their strategies better, I called a handful of fake clinics in Massachusetts and asked directly whether they provide abortions. While the CPCs I called denied that they perform abortions, all four of the people I spoke to attempted to confuse me and obscure their intentions, refusing to give me any details on the services they do provide. Two of the representatives I spoke to referred me to other fake clinics in the area.

During my call with Problem Pregnancy in Worcester, I asked repeatedly what services the clinic provided. The responder repeatedly replied, “help for pregnant women,” and would not say anything else. When I asked if they provide Plan B, she said “I’m very confused, I told you we don’t provide abortion services, so why would you be asking that?” After I responded that I don’t consider Plan B to be an abortion service, she condescendingly said, “Oh, really?” Then I asked, “Do you?” and she said, “absolutely.”

When I spoke with a representative from Boston Center for Pregnancy Choices — another unlicensed CPC — she also refused to give me any information on the services the clinic provides. When I asked for a referral for a clinic that does perform abortions, she wouldn’t name any specific clinic, and kept insisting that I should “search for ‘abortions’ on Google and click on the first link.” I finally asked whether she “wasn’t allowed to tell me,” and she responded that “one good option would be Your Options Medical Center,” another fake clinic in Brookline (a suburb of Boston).

Like my experiences on the phone, CPCs may be vague about what medical services they provide, deflect direct questions on whether they provide abortions, and sometimes continuously postpone an appointment to push people past the date when they could legally or viably have an abortion.

Their manipulative strategies only intensify once someone is inside a clinic. CPC staff are known to prey on emotional vulnerabilities and attempt to guilt-trip their clients into carrying their pregnancies to term. CPCs have lied about the risks posed by abortions, fabricating links between abortion and severe mental health crises and breast cancer.

Many CPCs will tell patients they will die if they get an abortion, despite childbirth having a 14x higher mortality rate than the abortion procedure.

How is all of this — intentionally misleading clients and seeking to restrict access to medical services — legal?

Most fake clinics are discreetly run by religious organizations, allowing them to identify as “religious outreach” and granting them legal protection under the First Amendment.

Unlicensed clinics do not have to comply with medical board requirements, so lying to or misleading their “patients” is not considered medical malpractice. CPCs often encourage “abortion pill reversal,” an unproven and unsafe procedure to reverse an abortion.

Pro-choice activists are working nationwide to dismantle the dangerous effects of CPCs, but millions of dollars of funding and widespread networks of support have allowed CPCs to embed themselves deeply in the U.S. In Massachusetts, the threats to reproductive rights coming from all directions leave the future of abortion access in the state uncertain. Next semester, Amherst’s Reproductive Justice Alliance will be collaborating with the Young Democratic Socialist Association to host awareness events and engage in other social activism to counter CPCs.