Sign posted by a fake women’s health center in order to trick patients into entering their door instead of the abortion clinic, EMW, next door.
Statement of Melissa Fowler, Senior Director of Communications & Membership, following the Supreme Court’s ruling in NIFLA v Becerra:
“Today, the Supreme Court decided by one vote to allow fake women’s health centers to continue their deceptive practices that harm women and their families.
Fake women’s health centers have a long history of using deception and lies to attempt to dissuade women from choosing abortion care. We often hear from women on our Hotline who have unknowingly visited a fake health center because the center was designed to appear like an abortion provider–or even located next to a real clinic.
While today’s decision is a setback, we will keep fighting until fake women’s health centers are held fully accountable for their lies, deception, and the ways they disregard women’s health and interfere with their timely access to care.”
The case, NIFLA v. Becerra, was a challenge to California’s Reproductive FACT Act brought by fake women’s health centers or crisis pregnancy centers. The FACT Act requires unlicensed pregnancy centers to post a notice that they do not have a licensed medical professional on-site, and licensed centers to inform patients that they can get state-funded prenatal care, family planning, and abortion care by calling a county health department. The FACT Act was passed to curb the deceptive tactics these fake health centers often use to deceive and dissuade women from accessing abortion care. The Court ruled 5-4 that the California state law most likely violates the First Amendment.
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The National Abortion Federation (NAF) is the professional association of abortion providers. Our members include individuals, private and non-profit clinics, Planned Parenthood affiliates, women’s health centers, physicians’ offices, and hospitals who together care for approximately half the women who choose abortion in the U.S. and Canada each year. Our members also include public hospitals and both public and private clinics in Mexico City and private clinics in Colombia. Our mission is to ensure safe, legal, and accessible abortion care, which promotes health and justice for women.
CONTACT:
Alissa Manzoeillo, National Abortion Federation
202.667.5881, ext 219; 202.595.4395 (after hours/cell)
[email protected]