On Monday, California’s pro-abortion attorney general Rob Bonta and attorneys general from 15 other states published an open letter in which they accused crisis pregnancy centers of disseminating misinformation and causing harm. In a video that was released last month, Bonta expressed concern that there are more crisis pregnancy centers in California than abortion care clinics. He noted that these centers do not provide abortion or abortion referrals.
In essence, Californians enjoy an absolute right to abortion. This is a source of frustration for those like Bonta who believe that there should be more restrictions on abortion. According to a database compiled by CalMatters, there are more women-helping centers than there are abortion clinics. This is despite the fact that less than 62% of counties have an abortion clinic, while nearly 80% have a crisis pregnancy center, Kristen Hwang reports. In rural areas where there are acute primary care shortages, the centers outnumber abortion clinics by a ratio of 11 to 2.
In a letter of eight pages, dated October 23, Bonta et al. argue that CPCs harm patients by delaying their access to critical reproductive healthcare. They claim that CPCs dissuade pregnant people from seeking abortion care and frequently hold themselves out as full-spectrum healthcare providers, when in fact they are not.
In addition to charging CPCs with not providing the “full-scope of reproductive healthcare” (abortion), the 16 AGs accused CPCs of “actively aiming to prevent people from accessing abortion care.” The AGs also accused CPCs of promoting abortion pill reversal services (APR), which they described as “an unproven and potentially risky medical protocol.”
In addition, the letter asserted that CPCs disseminate misinformation by claiming that abortion can often result in what they referred to as a “fictitious condition,” which they designated as “post-abortion syndrome” or “post-abortion stress,” as well as “grief and regret.” As the Catholic Vote observed, “This is not the first time that Bonta has targeted abortion-pill reversal resources.” In September, Bonta initiated legal proceedings on behalf of the state of California against Heartbeat International, an international organization that provides support to crisis pregnancy centers and offers abortion pill reversal services.
Chelsea Garcia is a political writer with a special interest in international relations and social issues. Events surrounding the war in Ukraine and the war in Israel are a major focus for political journalists. But as a former local reporter, she is also interested in national politics.
Chelsea Garcia studied media, communication and political science in Texas, USA, and learned the journalistic trade during an internship at a daily newspaper. In addition to her political writing, she is pursuing a master's degree in multimedia and writing at Texas.
