Alina Habba Bar Complaint + Nomination, Ectopic Pregnancy Misinformation

Alina Habba Bar Complaint + Nomination

Last week, CfA asked the New Jersey Office of Attorney Ethics (OAE) to investigate Alina Habba, the Interim United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, for potential violations of the New Jersey Rules of Professional Conduct related to her ordering the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, subsequent prosecution of Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, and announcing a criminal investigation into New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matt Platkin.

The complaint was covered by Politico, The Wall Street Journal, and others.

CfA Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said, “In less than three months on the job, Alina Habba has managed to steamroll over a shocking number of ethical boundaries. She has been explicit in her intention to weaponize her position to ‘turn New Jersey red.’ Unfortunately, while she appears to have repeatedly broken her oath to uphold the constitution, she’s demonstrated a willingness to abuse her position, putting put partisan politics above her professional responsibilities.”

On Tuesday, President Trump announced that Habba would be his permanent selection for the post—making certain that her track record in those first three months will be even more under the microscope as she faces an upcoming Senate confirmation.

Ectopic Pregnancies, CPCs, and Google AI

On June 23, NBC published a piece titled, “Crisis pregnancy centers told to avoid ultrasounds for suspected ectopic pregnancies,” which highlighted how anti-choice groups like the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) were advising CPCs that they could face legal trouble if they misleadingly represent their ultrasound services. “I do not want to see on any website or advertising is, ‘Come to us and we’ll rule out an ectopic,” said a representative for NIFLA on recordings obtained by NBC.

This week, research from Reproductive Health and Freedom Watch shows that “all three major UPC networks are training staff to identify ectopic pregnancies via ultrasound - then to shield their centers from legal liability when a woman presents with one.”

Earlier this year, a CfA report showed that Google’s top-of-search “AI Overviews” were serving answers containing misleading CPC talking points about abortion, ultrasound and ectopic pregnancy—including claims similar to those it appears NIFLA no longer wants centers to make. These types of claims remain in AI Overviews for some searches, which continue to direct searchers looking for legitimate medical services to CPCs instead.

Even if CPCs decide they want to remove false promises about their ability to rule out ectopic pregnancy from their websites now, it’s unclear whether Google’s AI will stop serving these answers up to searchers. Either way, the company should take seriously the fact that it is currently serving women inaccurate information about where they can go to receive potentially life-saving medical care.