Federal Appeals Court Reverses Block on Baltimore’s CPC ‘Truth-in-Advertising’ Law
Last week the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an important ruling in the battle over the business tactics used by so-called crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) to dissuade women from accessing abortion services.
CPCs frequently advertise themselves as clinics that provide a full range of reproductive health services, but in reality many are non-medical organizations that dissuade women from obtaining abortion and birth control services. In addition to deceptive advertising, some centers provide factually inaccurate information to patients and disregard patient confidentiality. Baltimore was the first city in the nation to pass legislation requiring these centers to disclose that they neither refer for nor offer abortion services. The ordinance was passed after NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland Fund released an extensive report documenting the harms posed by these centers, which was featured heavily in the legal defense of the city’s law. The ordinance was the first of its kind in the country, and was soon followed by similar ordinances in Austin, San Francisco, New York City, and Montgomery County, Maryland.
More: Federal Appeals Court Reverses Block on Baltimore’s CPC ‘Truth-in-Advertising’ Law