Tuesday’s live online training session focused on the top 5 legal threats to pregnancy centers and ways to protect against these threats in 2019.
If you missed this special pregnancy center training from the legal team behind NIFLA v. Becerra, you can register to hear the recording here.
The outline below contains highlights from this important presentation.
Legal Threat Number One: Deceptive Advertising
This threat originally stems from a 1982 campaign led by Planned Parenthood which attempted to discredit America’s pregnancy centers. Although investigations into these allegations later proved them to be unfounded, abortion industry advocates still attempt to malign pregnancy centers as “fake” in the present day.
Two closely related areas of concern include:
NIFLA recommends that all center advertising and website copy be straight-forward and honest. Member centers can refer to NIFLA’s February 2018 Legal Tips for more information about what is appropriate in website copy and advertising.
Legal Threat Number Two: Improper Operation of a Medical Clinic
The definition of a medical clinic is: a facility that provides medical services under the direction and
supervision of a licensed physician.
Your pregnancy center should be aware of the following:
For more detail on these and other best practices, register to have your center’s medical staff attend NIFLA‘s Institute in Limited Obstetric Ultrasound. This valuable training can help member centers avoid these and other costly legal mistakes.
Legal Threat Number Three: Ignoring Fundamental Corporate Requirements
In addition to avoiding the legal threats related to advertising and medical practice mentioned above, each center should ensure that their corporate paperwork, structure and procedures follow recommended guidelines.
Pregnancy centers can be exposed to risk in this area in many ways, including the following:
NIFLA membership includes support for corporate requirements and many other common pregnancy center legal needs. If you have questions about how your center can become a NIFLA member, please be sure to visit NIFLA‘s new members page.
Legal Threat Number Four: Poor Employment Practices
Careless employment practices could pose just as much of a legal threat to your organization from the inside as other problems could from the outside.
Centers should:
Legal Threat Number Five: Failure to Build Relationships with Elected Representatives
Hostile legislation that negatively impacts your center’s ability to serve women is more likely to be passed when pregnancy centers do not have enough active supporters in local and state government.
However, it is important to note:
Leveraging NIFLA‘s unmatched legal expertise is a sure way to get ahead of these and other legal threats before they start. To learn more about why your pregnancy center needs NIFLA in its corner, please visit NIFLA‘s new membership page.
NIFLA‘s next online training will be held on December 4 and is titled “Overcoming the Fake Clinic Myth.” Stay tuned for more details, and we hope to see you there!