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This Week's Updates:
CfA Calls on Attorneys General to Investigate Deceptive Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Since the 1960s, many women seeking reproductive care have instead found themselves in so-called crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), which use deceptive and manipulative tactics to discourage abortions. While CPCs may mimic the aesthetics of actual medical clinics, they are not held to any health or safety standards and have a record of providing low-quality services to their clients. Now, CfA has filed complaints urging five state attorneys general to investigate CPCs that appear to have violated consumer protection laws by making misleading claims about the confidentiality of the personal health information they collect – claims that could lull clients into a false sense of security.
CfA identified CPCs in Idaho, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington that told clients on their websites that their health information would be protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)—despite the fact that the law does not cover the vast majority of CPCs. In reality, clients have little to no control over their sensitive health information after they’ve shared it with a CPC, yet centers appear to exploit misconceptions around HIPAA in order to get the data anyway. Many CPCs are open about the fact that their primary purpose is not to provide comprehensive medical care, but to stop abortions. As more states pass laws criminalizing abortion, there’s ample reason to believe that CPCs could share the information they deceptively collect with law enforcement to prosecute women seeking reproductive care.
CfA’s complaints were covered by NBC, The Hill and Law360. So far, one CPC has pulled the misleading HIPAA statements that CfA highlighted.
HHS Protects Abortion Data with New Rule
This week, the Biden Administration’s office of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized a rule that prevents medical providers from telling law enforcement if a patient has received an abortion, as long as the procedure was conducted in a state where it is still legal. This rule is particularly important as more women travel to access reproductive care, which could expose them to prosecution in their home states. Unfortunately, these protections do not appear to cover unregulated facilities like CPCs, meaning staff members at anti-abortion centers may still be free to share their patients’ health information with the police. This is especially concerning because CPCs outnumber legitimate reproductive healthcare clinics, and often target individuals who are low-income, under 18, and lack formal education. HHS has few options to regulate CPCs, which underscores the importance of CfA’s state complaints into their deceptive practices.
Manhattan District Attorney Calls on YouTube to Address Ghost Gun Tutorials
On Wednesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg cited research from CfA’s Tech Transparency Project (TTP) in a letter to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, asking him to explain why his company has repeatedly failed to remove videos that show viewers how to build untraceable “ghost guns.” These weapons lack serial numbers, meaning they can’t be tracked by law enforcement, and include everything from 3D printed handguns to AR-15s assembled from kits. YouTube’s Community Guidelines do not allow videos that “instruct viewers on how to make firearms, ammunition, and certain accessories,” but a quick search reveals that this rule is barely enforced. According to Bragg, his office has already seen multiple cases where children claim to have used YouTube to build ghost guns. Bragg is especially concerned about this content being amplified by the platform’s algorithms; in his letter, he cites a 2023 TTP report which found that YouTube was recommending real-life firearm content to minors interested in video games. Now, Bragg’s office is demanding that YouTube immediately modify its algorithms to avoid recommending violent content to minors.
