A1679: Deceptive Practices in Pregnancy-Related Services Advertising

A1679 supplements the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (P.L.1960, c.39) and takes effect immediately upon enactment. The American Council opposes this bill and urges every Assembly member to vote against it. The bill has already cleared the Assembly Community Development and Women's Affairs Committee -- reported out with amendments on March 9, 2026, and placed on second reading in the full Assembly. The next action is a floor vote, and constituent contact with Assembly members is consequential now.

The bill's amended definitions are the foundation of its reach, and that reach is wide. The term "pregnancy-related services" is defined to mean any medical services or health care counseling services related to pregnancy or pregnancy prevention, including -- but not limited to -- ultrasound or sonogram evaluations, pregnancy testing, prenatal care, and education and counseling on contraception and unplanned pregnancy options, including abortion services. The amendment adds a separate definition of "health care services" covering all supplies, care, and services of a medical, dental, behavioral health, mental health, substance use disorder treatment, surgical, psychiatric, therapeutic, diagnostic, preventative, rehabilitative, or supportive nature, including medication. That definition encompasses virtually the whole of routine health care. The bill defines "health care facility" as a facility licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136.

Critically, the amendment strikes the original bill's definition of "crisis pregnancy center" as the regulated entity and replaces it throughout with the term "person," defined by cross-reference to the general statutory definition in R.S.1:1-2. It also strikes the original specific definition of "physician" and strikes the original enumerated definition of "false or misleading," which had tied disclosure obligations to crisis pregnancy centers. The result is that the bill's prohibitions are no longer limited to any particular type of facility or operator. Any person -- in whatever form that general statutory definition encompasses -- who advertises or provides pregnancy-related services or health care services is potentially subject to this law.

Section 2(a) makes it an unlawful practice for any person to: (1) make, publish, disseminate, circulate, or place before the public -- or cause, directly or indirectly, to be made, published, disseminated, circulated, or placed before the public -- in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication, or in the form of a notice, circular, pamphlet, letter, or poster, or over any radio station, or via the Internet, or in any other way, an advertisement, announcement, or statement containing any assertion, representation, or statement with respect to pregnancy-related services or health care services, or the provision of pregnancy-related services or health care services, which is false or misleading; (2) make false or misleading statements about, or misrepresent the person's intent to provide, pregnancy-related services or health care services; or (3) falsely represent that the person is a health care facility if the person is not, in fact, a health care facility. Because the bill strikes the original enumerated definition of "false or misleading" and does not replace it with a new statutory definition, the standard for what is "false or misleading" is not defined within this bill. As drafted, that determination is left to Consumer Fraud Act interpretation and enforcement, which introduces meaningful ambiguity about what speech or conduct triggers liability.

Any person found to have violated Section 2(a) is subject to all remedies and penalties for consumer fraud available under P.L.1960, c.39. In addition to those Consumer Fraud Act penalties, a person found to have violated the section must: (1) immediately cease and desist the false or misleading representation, advertisement, announcement, or statement; and (2) issue an advertisement, announcement, or statement correcting the false or misleading representation that was the subject of the violation. The bill further requires that any complaint alleging a violation be investigated within 30 days of receipt.

Section 3 grants the Attorney General authority, in addition to existing powers under section 8 of P.L.1960, c.39, to act whenever a person appears to be about to engage in, is continuing to engage in, or has engaged in conduct violating the bill, or when the Attorney General deems it in the public interest. Those authorities are: issuing a cease and desist order; seeking and obtaining in a summary action in the Superior Court an injunction prohibiting the person from advertising or providing pregnancy-related services or health care services; and seeking and obtaining a court order requiring the person to take whatever remedial steps the court deems necessary to correct the adverse effects of the person's untrue, deceptive, false, or misleading advertising or statements on any client seeking pregnancy-related services or health care services. Note that the injunction authority as drafted extends to prohibiting a person from advertising or providing those services -- not merely from making false statements -- and that the Attorney General may act when it "shall appear" that a violation is occurring, about to occur, or has occurred, or when it is in the public interest, a standard whose outer boundary is not further defined in the bill.

The American Council opposes A1679 because the bill, as amended, removes the targeted scope of the original draft and instead subjects any person operating in the immense field of "health care services" -- a category defined to include medical, dental, behavioral, mental health, substance use disorder, surgical, psychiatric, therapeutic, diagnostic, preventative, rehabilitative, and supportive care, including medication -- to speech-related liability and to injunctions that can reach not only advertising but the provision of services itself. The undefined "false or misleading" standard, combined with enforcement authority triggered whenever the Attorney General deems action in the public interest, creates conditions under which faith-based counseling ministries, pregnancy resource centers, and other conscience-driven service providers could face investigation, cease and desist orders, and mandatory corrective speech obligations without clear notice of what the law requires of them. We believe that broad, vaguely bounded authority over health care speech should not be enacted, and we ask every Assembly member to vote against this bill.