In an urgent new effort to ensure that the city of Los Angeles remains a safe haven for women seeking reproductive health care, City Attorney Mike Feuer on Aug. 4 proposed a new law to prohibit pregnancy service centers from misrepresenting the services they offer – and give women a private right of action if they are misled.

Given the time-sensitive implications of ensuring that accurate information is available to a woman considering her pregnancy-related health care choices, Feuer took the unusual step of transmitting the draft ordinance directly to the Los Angeles City Council for consideration.

So-called crisis pregnancy centers may mislead women into believing they offer a full range of reproductive health care services, including abortion or abortion referrals, when in fact they do not – potentially preventing women from obtaining timely and effective medical care, including to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, Feuer said.

Once typically low-income patients arrive, some centers have been reported to pressure pregnant women not to terminate their pregnancies, to provide nonmedical ultrasounds or to offer inaccurate information on reproductive health issues.

“With the Supreme Court’s radical decision overturning Roe v. Wade, thousands of women under great stress will travel to Los Angeles for abortion care from states where abortion is outlawed, joining L.A. residents in need of pregnancy-related services,” Feuer said. “For these women, time is of the essence. And they face great peril if they are misled by those to whom they turn for help. Pregnancy centers are entitled to express their opinions. They are not entitled to misrepresent their services, with women suffering the consequences.

“This new law would empower women with important new protections. I also hope the attention this proposal receives will deter misleading advertising. Given the urgency, I call on my colleagues on the City Council to consider this proposed law and enact it immediately.”