Worcester Junked Crisis Pregnancy Center Law Under Advice From Then-AG Healey's Office

WORCESTER, MA — A proposed law regulating crisis pregnancy centers in Worcester in the wake of last year's fall of Roe v Wade was scrapped in 2022 after then-attorney general Maura Healey's office urged against it, according to local officials.

Last July, At-Large Councilor Thu Nguyen asked City Manager Eric Batista and City Solicitor Michael Traynor to work together to draft a local law that would regulate how crisis pregnancy centers (CPC) advertise services. Nguyen said the centers use "deceptive advertising practices" to divert people away from abortion care.

Cities including Cambridge, Easthampton and Somerville have all either considered or approved similar regulations. Somerville's law, the first in the state, prohibits any business that provides pregnancy care from engaging in deceptive advertising practices.

According to reporting by Jezebel, an anonymous woman last week sued Clearway Clinic, a CPC located off Shrewsbury Street, accusing the business of putting her life at risk after failing to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy. The Worcester Superior Court lawsuit also accuses Clearway Clinic of engaging in deceptive advertising practices.

On Friday — the day after the Clearway lawsuit was filed — Nguyen posted a statement on social media with an update on their proposed CPC law. Nguyen said Batista told them he had a proposed ordinance ready to present to councilors in September, but the attorney general's office recommended against it. A spokesman for Batista confirmed the AG's office had advised against a local regulation.

"The city solicitor spoke with a representative in the Attorney General’s office who informed the solicitor that they were not recommending municipalities act for a variety of reasons," Batista's office said in a statement.

Nguyen also said Batista told them the ordinance might not have the votes to pass if it ever reached the council floor. The order requesting a draft of the ordinance happened after a vote at the July 19 meeting with Nguyen, District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj, At-Large Councilor Khrystian King, District 4 Councilor Sarai Rivera, District 1 Councilor Sean Rose, District 3 Councilor George Russell and Mayor Joseph Petty voting in favor. At-Large Councilor Moe Bergman abstained, and District 2 Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson and At-Large councilors Kate Toomey and Donna Colorio voted no.

A spokesperson for now-Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, did not respond to a request for comment about the Worcester advice. While attorney general, Healey issued a consumer advisory about CPCs, acknowledging the threat they pose to vulnerable people seeking abortion care.

"We want to ensure that patients can protect themselves from deceptive and coercive tactics when seeking the care they need," Healey said in the advisory.

In general, CPCs lure pregnant people by advertising free services like ultrasounds, pregnancy tests and STD tests. The clinics use language similar to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, and often appear high up in Google searches. CPCs actively try to steer pregnant people away from abortion care, however.

Nguyen said the postponement of their ordinance is especially poignant because of the lawsuit filed last week against Clearway Clinic.

"But truthfully, it feels unsettling that it takes a person going through this much pain and trauma to resurface effort on a policy that could’ve been here many months ago. These are things we could’ve prevented and protected people from experiencing," Nguyen said.

Under state law, cities like Worcester and Somerville are free to pass ordinances without permission from the state. That's not the case for towns. Bylaws passed during town meeting sessions, for example, typically go to the attorney general's office for review. The AG's office sometimes strikes down those laws, most famously when Healey twice killed Brookline's effort to ban natural gas and oil in new construction.

The AG's office also doesn't typically provide legal advice to communities as they draft potential new laws. Attorney General Andrea Campbell is in the process of creating a "reproductive justice unit," which would work on issues related to abortion, including potential civil lawsuits against CPCs.

A spokesperson for Batista's office advised Worcester residents who feel deceived by local businesses to file a consumer rights complaint on the city's website.

Nguyen said they will continue to pursue a Worcester ordinance regulating CPCs.

"I will keep pushing for this ordinance. But if you care about reproductive justice, you should to. It’ll take all of us to get our governments to take this seriously on all tiers," Nguyen said.