Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and a group of Senate colleagues in cosponsoring the Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation (SAD) Act, which would crack down on false advertising related to abortion services by crisis pregnancy centers. The bill directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prohibit deceptive or misleading advertising related to the provision of abortion services and to collect penalties from organizations in violation of the law.
“Anti-abortion crisis care centers routinely mislead vulnerable women about the services they provide, delaying care and jeopardizing women’s health,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “As women continue to seek abortion services in Nevada, it’s crucial that these fake clinics are held accountable.”
Every year, thousands of pregnant people seeking objective and medically sound reproductive health care end up walking into crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), which falsely and deliberately advertise themselves as comprehensive reproductive health care providers; however, their intent is to discourage pregnant people from having abortions. There are seven CPCs in Nevada, and many routinely use a variety of deceptive tactics, including making false claims about reproductive health care and disseminating inaccurate, misleading, and stigmatizing information about abortion and contraception. Additionally, most CPCs in the United States do not employ licensed medical personnel or provide referrals for birth control or abortion care.
Senator Cortez Masto has been a tireless advocate for reproductive rights in the U.S. Senate. From the beginning, she raised the alarm about the danger the Dobbs case represented to Roe v. Wade and joined Congressional colleagues in filing a brief in the case urging the Supreme Court to uphold Roe. She is leading legislation to protect the right to cross state lines to seek abortion services. She has repeatedly called on Congress to do more to protect women’s health care by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act, legislation she cosponsored to guarantee equal access to abortion everywhere. Earlier this year, she introduced legislation to ensure that women across the country can access and afford over-the-counter birth control options and plan their own reproductive lives on their own terms. She was a vocal opponent of the Trump administration’s efforts to limit access to family planning and reproductive care and worked to block federal court nominees who would roll back women’s health care and reproductive freedoms.
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