HACKENSACK, N.J. — U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) has launched a new campaign to shut down crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) in New Jersey that he says mislead women by posing as legitimate healthcare providers.
Standing in front of one such facility in Hackensack, Gottheimer announced a series of actions aimed at exposing and dismantling these centers, which he described as “healthcare hoax clinics” that put women’s health at risk by spreading misinformation and using deceptive tactics.
Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), also known as pregnancy resource centers or pro-life pregnancy centers, are nonprofit organizations founded by anti-abortion groups to discourage women from seeking abortions. In the United States, there are approximately 2,500 to 4,000 CPCs, some of which operate as medical clinics offering services like pregnancy testing and sonograms, while others function without medical licensing under varying regulations. In contrast, there were 807 abortion clinics in the U.S. as of 2020. CPCs also operate internationally in regions such as Canada, Latin America, Africa, and Europe.
“These so-called clinics manipulate women with their own ideological agenda,” Gottheimer said. “We need to do everything we can to shut down these so-called clinics. We need to stop the fake programming they’re pushing.”
Crisis pregnancy centers, which number more than 50 across New Jersey, often resemble legitimate healthcare clinics but are not staffed by licensed medical professionals. According to Gottheimer, these facilities provide misleading information to women seeking reproductive healthcare, often discouraging them from considering abortion or other medical options.
Gottheimer’s campaign includes a multi-pronged approach. First, he plans to visit deceptive CPCs throughout the state to raise public awareness about their operations. “Today marks my first stop at one of the many healthcare hoax centers around the state – women need to know they exist, and we must shut them down,” he said.
In 2023, Gottheimer is co-lead the Stop Anti-abortion Disinformation Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation would direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prohibit false and misleading advertising related to abortion services and authorize the agency to penalize organizations that violate these rules.
Third, Gottheimer sent a letter to Governor Phil Murphy and state legislative leaders, urging them to expand New Jersey’s protections for reproductive rights by restricting deceptive marketing practices by CPCs. He also expressed support for state legislation that would outlaw false advertising masquerading as healthcare.
The dangers of CPCs, according to advocates, include the spread of medical misinformation, aggressive manipulation tactics, and failure to provide legitimate prenatal care. Some CPCs have been reported to promote unproven and potentially harmful procedures, such as abortion pill “reversal,” which lacks scientific backing.
In June, a woman filed a lawsuit against a CPC after the center failed to diagnose her ectopic pregnancy, leading to emergency surgery and the loss of her fallopian tube. Cases like this, Gottheimer argued, highlight the risks these centers pose to women’s health.
Gottheimer was joined at the announcement by local officials and reproductive rights advocates, including Bergen County Commissioners Germaine Ortiz and Mary Amoroso, and Ashley Generallo, Director of the Expanding Abortion Access Program at the New Jersey Family Planning League.
“We applaud Congressman Gottheimer’s efforts to ensure that all individuals have access to accurate and reliable information about reproductive health care services,” said Rachel Baum, President of the New Jersey Family Planning League. “So-called ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ exist to push a dangerous agenda fueled by misinformation.”
Bergen County Commissioner Germaine Ortiz criticized CPCs for spreading false information under the guise of medical care. “What is a health care clinic with no doctors? No nurses? No healthcare workers at all? It is simply a facility designed to spread false information to the women seeking care,” Ortiz said.
Commissioner Mary Amoroso echoed these concerns, stating, “These centers masquerade as clinics and guidance centers providing unbiased information for women in crisis. But these centers are run by evangelicals who operate on the principle that women are just baby-making machines who fall for deceptive advertising.”
Assemblywoman Ellen J. Park (LD-37) called for stronger legal action against CPCs, saying, “Women deserve dignity, they deserve to trust their health care providers, and they deserve to have all possible options to make the best and most mindful decision for themselves and their family. We have laws against false advertisement; we should have laws against drawing in desperate women under false and misleading pretenses.”
Gottheimer emphasized that New Jersey must remain a safe haven for women seeking abortions and that the fight against CPCs is essential to protecting women’s health and autonomy, and to deny them the decision to look into alternative options to save the lives of unborn babies.