Austin, Texas City Council Votes to Regulate Crisis Pregnancy Centers

Last week, the Austin, TX City Council voted unanimously to require Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) that don’t offer or refer clients for abortion care or birth control services to post signs with that information at their facilities.

This ordinance comes two months after the Baltimore, MD City Council passed a similar law requiring CPCs without licensed medical professionals to post signs informing women that they were not receiving information from medical professionals. The majority of CPCs often use deceptive advertising practices to give the appearance that they are legitimate medical clinics that provide a variety of reproductive health care services, including family planning and abortion care.

In reality, most CPCs do not provide full options counseling and generally will not refer for abortion care or birth control. Women who mistakenly visit CPCs describe being harassed, intimidated, and given blatantly false information at their appointments.

If you have experience with a deceptive CPC, we would be interested in hearing your story.

>Learn more about CPCs.