Around New England
Massachusetts Crisis Pregnancy Centers ‘Deceptive Advertising’ Bill To Get Hearing Monday, July 24
July 20, 2023
Pro-life crisis pregnancy centers would be subject to investigation by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office and civil penalties of up to $1,000 for instances of “deceptive advertising … whether by statement or omission,” under a bill scheduled to get a hearing next week.
The proposed measure, Massachusetts House Bill 377, is scheduled to have a hearing at or after 1 p.m. Monday, July 24 before the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure in Room B-2 at the Massachusetts State House in Boston.
The cities of Somerville and Cambridge have enacted comparable local ordinances, but no crisis pregnancy centers are in those cities.
Supporters of such measures say that crisis pregnancy centers deceive women into entering their facilities through false advertising and then give them a pro-life pitch, in some cases trying to delay their decision to have an abortion until it is too late.
Opponents of such measures say they don’t, and that such measures unfairly and unconstitutionally single out crisis pregnancy centers’ staff members and volunteers for their moral beliefs.
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