On Mother's Day, the Trump administration launched the website Moms.gov, which directs "expecting parents who are navigating difficult or unexpected pregnancies" to crisis pregnancy centers around the country."Many centers offer pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, STD/STI testing and treatment, parenting support, childbirth classes, medical referrals, and material goods like clothes and diapers — at no cost to you," Moms.gov explains.Stay up to date with our Up First newsletter, sent every weekday morning.There are thousands of crisis pregnancy centers across the country — around 2,500 according to a 2024 estimate from the Government Accountability Office.Many are Christian organizations; all try to keep people from having abortions.
Staff are often volunteers who may or may not have medical training, and some wear scrubs or white coats and have clients fill out medical questionnaires.Many also offer free ultrasounds and tout the benefits of the test."It's important to rule out an ectopic pregnancy or a natural miscarriage and find out how far along you are via limited ultrasound," reads the website of MyChoice Pregnancy Care Center in New York's Hudson Valley."Contact us for a free ultrasound."Ectopic pregnancy is a rare complication that happens when an embryo implants outside of the uterus.
If it implants in a fallopian tube, the tube can rupture, which can be life threatening.The problem is that a single ultrasound can't determine whether a pregnancy is ectopic.This week, Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit watchdog organization, sent a letter to New York Attorney General Leticia James requesting that her office investigate whether crisis pregnancy centers in New York are fraudulently advertising to women about their ability to diagnose ectopic pregnancies."By leading patients to believe that their services are adequate substitutes for medical diagnoses, [crisis pregnancy centers] may cause women to forgo comprehensive medical care, resulting in their suffe...