Pro-life pregnancy centers sue NJ over alert alleging the centers engage in 'deceptive practices'

Attorney Eileen Den Bleyker explains why she is representing the New Jersey Consortium of Pregnancy Centers in suing the state after a consumer alert alleges the centers engage in deceptive practices.

"Many CPCs do not provide health care at all, despite suggesting to the public that they do,"  the consumer alert reads. "CPCs are not licensed medical facilities and do not employ licensed medical professionals, which means that CPC staff likely are not required to keep your health information private or follow medical ethics rules and standards of care. CPCs may also provide false or misleading information about abortion, including the physical and mental health effects of abortion, to deter people from choosing abortion." 

"Not wanting to jump to any conclusions, the first thing we said was, ‘What is the problem?’ If there is a problem, we want to know about it, we want to see where it is, we want to correct it," Den Bleyker said. "... We focused their attention on those and asked for documents to support those (claims)... where are the facts?" 

The attorney, who is also a member of the board of directors of a pregnancy center, first submitted a government records request asking for information about complaints against the pregnancy centers, a list of the centers and any investigations into them. The state replied that they needed a time extension, which was granted. A month later, government records request officials said the request was not proper because the consortium did not adequately describe what they were looking for.