Warning Signs of a Fake Abortion Clinic: How Can I Tell a Clinic is Real?

The far right has pumped millions of dollars into crisis pregnancy centers. These so-called fake clinics purport to offer unbiased help to women in need, including ultrasounds, referrals to abortions, and prenatal care. Instead, they gain access to confidential health information, then use it to intimidate women–and sometimes even to expose their desire for an abortion publicly. These clinics may tell women they can have an abortion, then continually delay until it’s past the legal limit. No matter what choice you make with your pregnancy, seeking care at these clinics presents a serious damage to your health.

Many women do not know they’re at a fake abortion clinic. In some states, fake clinics outnumber real women’s health clinics 10 to 1. They’ve gotten millions of dollars in government money, taking funds away from services for women and children in need. They use this money to trick women seeking abortion and other healthcare to come to their clinics instead. If you’re currently pregnant, you’re a potential target.

Knowing the warning signs of a fake abortion clinic can protect you. Here are 10 signs that the clinic you have chosen is a crisis pregnancy center, not a real abortion clinic:

1. You’re taken into a counseling office, not an examination room.
2. The pamphlets, photos on the wall, and other materials in the facility feature photos of babies and families, not information about contraceptives or abortion options.
3. All of the information the clinic offers focuses on adoption or keeping your baby.
4. The clinic tells you that you can get an abortion, but delays the procedure by more than 48 hours.
5. There are not anti-abortion protesters outside of the clinic.
6. You do not meet with a doctor or nurse, and when you ask to meet with one, you get evasion tactics and delays.
7. You Google the clinic, and do not find information about abortion services.
8. The clinic says it can refer you for abortion, but does not offer abortion in-house.
9. There is a very short wait; real abortion clinics are severely underfunded, so patients usually wait a long time.
10. There is religious or inspirational literature in the clinic.