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Adams says that Spitzer's office wants CPCs to publish additional disclaimers in their advertisements stating that they do not perform abortions.

Care Net General Counsel Kurt Entsminger says that in addition to advertising under "Abortion Alternatives" in the phone book—which is required by law—every new client who walks into a Care Net center is asked to sign a "Limitation of Services" form. The form states, in bold capital letters, that the center does not offer abortions or referrals. "We don't know how our centers could make it any more clear to clients that we don't offer abortion services," says Entsminger.

However, not all centers follow the same guidelines or practices. A source affiliated with one center under investigation told Christianity Today, "The bottom line is, we do get people in here who think we do abortions. We don't feel compelled to be so explicit [on the phone] that the majority of women would hang up on us."

Other CPC organizations say they do not look favorably on such behavior. "Deception is never something we condone," says NIFLA President Thomas Glessner. "Ambiguity creates problems, and centers should not engage in it."

Dopp says the attorney general has strong "indications that some centers have misled women" by misrepresenting their services, and have violated previous consent degrees prohibiting pregnancy testing and "the diagnosis of pregnancy." Defenders call the claim ludicrous.

"They want to claim that free pregnancy tests constitute the unauthorized practice of medicine," says Adams.

Political Paybacks?
Supporters of the centers say the legal offensive is politically motivated, citing Spitzer's close ties with abortion-rights groups. McCarthy of the ACLJ called the investigation "a campaign to disrupt, discredit, and harass the pro-life counseling centers in New York City." Spitzer's accusations mirror those of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, (NARAL). Abortion-rights activists say crisis pregnancy centers — which they call "stealth clinics" or "compulsory pregnancy indoctrination centers"—are really front groups designed to target and intimidate abortion-minded women.

An undated 60-page NARAL booklet, "Unmasking Fake Clinics," instructs activists to visit centers while pretending to be pregnant and secretly to tape record meetings with staff. The booklet says information gathered should be presented to "a sympathetic state attorney general who may be persuaded to pursue an undercover investigation." The brochure further lists one of its goals as obtaining "a court order prohibiting a CPC from engaging in unlawful practices, such as deceptive advertising or unauthorized practice of medicine."

CPC defenders say Spitzer's investigation and NARAL's campaign are too similar to be unrelated—a charge Spitzer's office denies. "There has been no communication between our office and NARAL on this topic," says Dopp.

But center supporters say Spitzer's enthusiastic support of NARAL suggests otherwise. They point to a January 1999 speech in which Spitzer told the group that its commitment to protecting reproductive rights "is my commitment." Spitzer also established a tax-subsidized Unit for Reproductive Rights. Jennifer K. Brown, a former fellow in the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project and a former president of NOW-NYC who coordinated NOW's Reproductive Rights Committee, is heading the unit.

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February (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46