HB488: HB488 Pregnancy Center Fraud Prevention Act; enact

Limited services pregnancy centers are facilities that look like medical clinics but do not provide abortions, emergency contraception, or referrals for either. HB 488 amends Georgia's perinatal facilities law (O.C.G.A. Title 31, Chapter 2A) to add new definitions for these centers and explicitly bar them from disseminating advertising that is untrue, deceptive, or misleading about the products or services they actually offer. The bill lets the Attorney General or local district attorneys enforce the ban through civil lawsuits, but only after giving the center written notice and ten days to fix the advertising. Courts could order corrective ads, required postings about staffing and services, restitution, and civil penalties of $500 to $5,000 per violation. People who say they were harmed by deceptive advertising could also sue directly for damages. The Attorney General would have to set up an online complaint portal that is easy to use, accessible, and understandable at a fifth grade reading level.

• Bans limited services pregnancy centers from disseminating advertising that is untrue, deceptive, or misleading about their actual products or services.
• Adds new legal definitions for terms like 'limited services pregnancy center,' 'pregnancy services center,' 'client,' and 'emergency contraception' to Georgia's perinatal facilities law.
• Requires the Attorney General or a local district attorney to give written notice and a ten day correction period before filing a civil enforcement lawsuit.
• Authorizes courts to order corrective advertising, mandatory postings about staffing and services, restitution, and civil penalties of $500 to $5,000 per violation.
• Creates a private right to sue for anyone claiming injury from deceptive advertising, allowing compensatory and punitive damages, injunctions, and attorney's fees.
• Requires the Attorney General to build a public complaint portal that is accessible, understandable at a fifth grade reading level, and quick to use.

Limited services pregnancy centers (often called crisis pregnancy centers) and their staff, pregnant individuals and clients seeking reproductive healthcare information, the Georgia Attorney General's office, local district attorneys, and the Department of Public Health, which maintains related public information online.

If enacted, pregnant Georgians would gain a specific legal path, through state enforcement or their own lawsuits, to challenge pregnancy centers that advertise services like medical care or abortion referrals they don't actually provide, potentially triggering fines, corrective ads, or damage payments against those centers.

• Section 1 titles the bill the 'Pregnancy Center Fraud Prevention Act.'
• Section 2 states legislative findings that some limited services pregnancy centers use deceptive advertising, including false claims about medication abortion reversal.
• Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 31-2A-51 to define terms including 'limited services pregnancy center,' 'pregnancy services center,' 'client,' 'advertising,' and 'health information.'
• Section 4 revises O.C.G.A. § 31-2A-56 to prohibit false or misleading advertising by limited services pregnancy centers and sets up a notice-and-cure enforcement process.
• Section 4(e) sets civil penalties of not less than $500.00 and not more than $5,000.00 per violation, plus possible attorney's fees and costs for the state.
• Section 4(f) creates a private cause of action allowing injured individuals to sue for compensatory and punitive damages, injunctive relief, and attorney's fees.
• Section 4(g)-(h) requires the Attorney General to create an online complaint portal meeting accessibility and readability standards.
• Section 5 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-02-20House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-19House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-18House Hopper (House)

• Anne Westbrook (D, HD-163)Primary sponsor
• Tanya Miller (D, HD-062)
• Mary Oliver (D, HD-084)
• Marvin Lim (D, HD-098)
• Samuel Park (D, HD-107)
• Shea Roberts (D, HD-052)

• pregnancy centers
• reproductive healthcare
• consumer protection
• false advertising
• abortion policy