What you need to know about crisis pregnancy centers in Florida

You think you might be pregnant. You Google pregnancy tests near you and settle on making an appointment at a women’s center advertising them. Their website chat bot operator promises they provide non-judgmental pregnancy counseling. You walk into the facility on the day of your appointment and see staff in scrubs and medical coats.

But it turns out you’re not in a medical facility, and most of the staff that work there are not medical professionals – they're just volunteers. During your appointment, they reveal they do not actually provide abortion care, and start pressuring you to continue your pregnancy. You leave confused, traumatized, and frustrated – and further along into your pregnancy.

Welcome to crisis pregnancy centers in Florida, also known as fake clinics, anti-abortion clinics, pregnancy resource centers, or pregnancy support centers.

Starting May 1, 2024, abortion will be illegal in Florida after six weeks of pregnancy — before many people know they’re pregnant. And unfortunately, that’s not all Floridians have to worry about: crisis pregnancy centers recently received an annual budget increase of nearly fivefold to $25M, up from $4.45M. Nearly $1M of this is said to be spent on deceptive marketing meant to target pregnant people in Florida and talk them out of abortion care.

Here’s what you need to know about crisis pregnancy centers in Florida, and how you and your loved ones can avoid accidentally visiting one. 

Crisis pregnancy centers are nonmedical institutions that lure pregnant people into their offices under the guise of providing abortions or information about abortion. Crisis pregnancy centers don’t provide abortion or offer a full range of health care, and they won’t give you honest facts about sexual health and your pregnancy options.

They’re typically affiliated with religious organizations that oppose abortion and other reproductive health care options, * and their goal is to spread propaganda to deceive women seeking comprehensive pregnancy information. Most in Florida utilize public tax dollars to provide their “ministries” or “missions.”

Since they’re not actual medical facilities, they don’t have to be licensed, inspected, or part of the state’s hospital system to operate in Florida. Most of their staff is comprised of volunteers they call “trained workers” – not doctors, nurses, or other clinicians with medical degrees. They cannot legally be held to give correct information that conforms to medical standards of care because the “counseling” they give is considered free speech.

They’re also not subject to HIPAA, the federal patient privacy law.

“There is no Planned Parenthood in my county, so I thought it was a smaller version of it. And they said if you were considering abortion to come on in, so I felt that was an invitation.” (source)

Most crisis pregnancy centers try really hard to seem like a normal doctor’s office offering legitimate medical services and counseling.

• They might have the word “choice” directly within their name or website, as well as offerings like “judgment-free pregnancy support” or “compassionate counseling.”
• They might advertise free services or reproductive health information, like pregnancy tests, abortion counseling or education, consultations on abortion pills, birth control or emergency contraceptives, pre-abortion screenings, or “after-abortion help.”
• They often post signs or are located close to real health centers like Planned Parenthood. 
• Their staff might be wearing things like scrubs or medical coats, so patients confuse them with medical personnel.
• Their offices might have things like exam rooms and ultrasound machines – which the people operating may or may not be licensed to interpret. *

The American Medical Association’s (AMA) Journal of Ethics said this about crisis pregnancy centers in 2018:

“Despite claims to the contrary, these centers do not meet the standard of patient-centered, quality medical care. Because the religious ideology of these centers’ owners and employees takes priority over the health and well-being of the women seeking care at these centers, women do not receive comprehensive, accurate, evidence-based clinical information about all available options… as we have seen, they also employ dubious communication strategies to scare women and dissuade them from having abortions.”

Spotting fake clinics in Florida isn’t easy. There are about 160 anti-abortion pregnancy centers in Florida compared with only 50 that provide abortion care.

Here are some telltale signs that you might be in one. You can leave your appointment at ANY moment if you realize you’ve accidentally made an appointment at one:

• They give you a form to fill out that asks you questions about things like your faith, your intimate relationships, or even what your college grades looked like
• They refuse to show you your pregnancy test results while pressing you about your personal life and how you should handle your pregnancy  
• They express judgment and shame toward decisions to pursue abortion, or try to guilt you about considering it
• They tell you that you have a high chance of spontaneous miscarriage, thus abortion care is not necessary
• They are you to come back and do another ultrasound later in their pregnancy and make a decision about the pregnancy then
• Hand you a replica of full-term fetus or ask you things like what you might name a baby
• Ask to pray over your stomach.
• Promise free baby care products using their “baby bucks,” a credit for infant care products like diapers and clothes for every hour spent in “counseling”

Not only are crisis pregnancy centers dangerous for people interested in abortion care, visiting a non-licensed clinic can also jeopardize desired pregnancies, as the National Institute of Health explains below:

“In addition to the purposefully deceptive nature and explicit anti-abortion objectives of CPCs, engagement with CPCs may also lead to direct harms for both pregnant and non-pregnant women. Individuals seeking pregnancy confirmation at CPCs not only experience delays in accessing abortion care when desired, but in the case of desired pregnancies, may also experience delayed entry into prenatal care or delayed recognition of pregnancy complications or medical conditions because of visiting a non-licensed clinic.”

At Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida, a medical professional will always be the one performing your ultrasound. All technicians, MAs, RNs, and LPNs have undergone extensive training on how to properly detect pregnancy and potential complications, such as ectopic pregnancies, molar pregnancies and miscarriages. These complications are critical to detect early in pregnancy to avoid serious conditions such as infections, cancer and death. 

* The Florida Constitution prohibits using state money to fund religious organizations, but crisis pregnancy centers usually try to obtain consent from clients before engaging in religious counseling, as well as mark the sessions via an honor code system as non-billable to the state. Florida is 1 of only 14 states that fund these centers through “alternatives to abortion” programs.

* Florida does not require ultrasound technicians to possess licensure or certification which always for crisis pregnancy centers to leverage this loophole; in contrast, every ultrasound performed at a Planned Parenthood facility is performed by a medical professional with the proper ultrasound raining.