HR846-119

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Stop Antiabortion Disinformation Act or the SAD Act.

2. Findings Congress finds the following: Abortion services are an essential component of reproductive health care. After decades of escalating attacks on abortion rights, on June 24, 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, reversing decades of precedent recognizing a constitutional right to abortion and permitting decimation of an already precarious landscape of access to abortion. The effects were immediate and disastrous. As of January 2025, abortion is unavailable in 14 States, leaving 17.9 million women, as well as transgender and gender nonconforming individuals, of reproductive age (ages 15 to 49), without access to abortion in the home State of such individuals. Travel time to an abortion clinic, already burdensome under Roe, has quadrupled since Dobbs, as scores of clinics in already underserved areas have been forced to close and more patients have been forced to travel to other States (with over 170,000 people traveling out of State for care in 2023 alone). As distance to an abortion facility increases, so do the accompanying burdens of time off from work or school, lost wages, transportation costs, lodging, child care costs, and other ancillary costs. These burdens do not fall equally. Since Dobbs and additional State bans and restrictions on abortion care have taken effect, data shows that women with low incomes and women of color have experienced the largest increase in travel times to abortion clinics. This is particularly burdensome for women and pregnant people of color in the South, the area of the country that has seen the highest increases in travel time. The freedom to decide whether and when to have a child is key to the ability of an individual to participate fully in our democracy. Unfortunately, rampant misinformation and disinformation have affected the ability of people to access needed abortion care. Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) often disseminate and promote inaccurate information about abortion and contraception. CPCs are antiabortion organizations that present themselves as comprehensive reproductive health care providers with the intent of shaming, deceiving, or discouraging pregnant people from having abortions. According to the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) Public Health and Surveillance, there are more than 2,500 CPCs in the United States, though some antiabortion groups claim that the number is closer to 4,000. According to 2020 data from JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, CPCs outnumber abortion clinics nationwide by an average of 3 to 1. In some States, this statistic is higher. For example, The Alliance: State Advocates for Women’s Rights & Gender Equality (The Alliance) found that in Pennsylvania, CPCs outnumber abortion clinics by 9 to 1. The Alliance also found that in Minnesota, CPCs outnumber abortion clinics by 11 to 1. CPCs routinely engage in a variety of deceptive tactics, including— making false claims about reproductive health care and providers; disseminating inaccurate, misleading, and stigmatizing information about the risks of abortion and contraception; and using illegitimate or false citations to imply that deceptive claims are supported by legitimate medical sources. CPCs typically advertise themselves as providers of comprehensive health care. However, most CPCs in the United States do not employ licensed medical personnel or provide referrals for birth control or abortion care. Most CPCs are not Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-covered entities, but many deceptively claim to be compliant with HIPAA in order to collect sensitive information and mislead pregnant people about the privacy practices and obligations of CPCs. CPCs have been found to disclose the health data of pregnant people, including to law enforcement. By using these deceptive tactics, CPCs prevent people from accessing reproductive health care, intentionally delay access to time-sensitive abortion services, and can subject people to harmful interactions with law enforcement. The consequences of these tactics and delays are far greater in the wake of Dobbs. CPCs target under-resourced neighborhoods and communities of color, including Black, Latino, Indigenous, Asian-American, Pacific Islander, and immigrant communities, by locating CPCs near social services centers and comprehensive reproductive health care providers. CPCs place advertisements in these neighborhoods that mislead and draw people away from nearby providers that offer evidence-based sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion care. This exacerbates existing health barriers and delays access to time-sensitive care. People are entitled to honest, accurate, and timely information when seeking reproductive health care.