S3319: Deceptive Advertising of Pregnancy-Related Services

The American Council opposes S3319 and urges every New Jersey legislator to vote against it. The bill was introduced on February 5, 2026, by Senator Shirley K. Turner of District 15. We ask constituents to contact their senators now and demand that this bill be defeated before it advances further.

The bill's reach begins with its definitions, and those definitions are where the most serious problems arise. Section 1 defines "crisis pregnancy center" as a facility administered by a nonprofit organization that provides a client with peer-related counseling services related to pregnancy and childbirth, including, but not limited to, referrals to non-medical services, child-rearing resources, and adoption services, but does not provide referrals to abortion or other pregnancy-related services. The definition then states that a crisis pregnancy center "shall include" a facility that presents the appearance of a licensed health care facility by: (first) requiring staff or volunteers to wear medical attire or uniforms and to collect from a client identifiable health information as defined in 45 C.F.R. section 160.103; (second) having one or more examination rooms or semi-private rooms or areas containing medical supplies or medical instruments; or (third) sharing physical space with a physician's office or a licensed health care facility. The three appearance-based clauses are joined by "or," meaning any one of them is sufficient to trigger that branch of the definition. The bill uses "shall include" to attach these appearance-based clauses to the core definition, but the text does not resolve how they interact with the core definition's other characteristics -- the nonprofit administration, the peer counseling services, and the no-abortion-referral requirement. The most natural reading is that the appearance-based clauses extend the defined term to additional facilities; the text could also be read as requiring a facility to satisfy both the core definition and one of the appearance-based clauses. Because that relationship is not made explicit, the bill as drafted is ambiguous on a point that determines exactly which organizations fall within its reach. The bill does carve out ambulatory care facilities, licensed health care facilities, and birthing facilities that provide family planning services and prenatal care -- but that carve-out protects only those named categories.

"Pregnancy-related services" is defined in Section 1 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. The phrase "including, but not limited to" means this list is illustrative, not exhaustive; the operative scope is the full breadth of "any medical services or health care counseling services related to pregnancy or pregnancy prevention," which is a wide category whose edges the bill does not define with precision.

Section 2(a) makes it an unlawful practice for a crisis pregnancy center to do either of two things -- the two prohibitions are joined by "or," so either one independently constitutes a violation. The first prohibition, in Section 2(a)(1), covers making, publishing, disseminating, circulating, or placing before the public -- or causing, 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 the provision of pregnancy-related services which is untrue, deceptive, or misleading. The second prohibition, in Section 2(a)(2), covers making false or misleading statements about, or misrepresenting the center's intent to provide, pregnancy-related services.

We recognize that no one should publish false advertising. Our concern is not with that principle; it is with how this bill applies it. A faith-based pregnancy ministry that honestly describes its peer counseling, its material assistance programs, and its referrals to adoption services is engaged in constitutionally protected speech and is serving its community with integrity. The bill's definitions are broad enough, and the terms "deceptive" and "misleading" are open-ended enough, that enforcement could be directed at communications that are entirely accurate about what the center does and does not offer -- simply because a regulator or a court finds the overall impression misleading. The Council believes that targeted this broadly, the bill threatens the expressive freedom of nonprofit ministries whose work we value, and that is a sufficient reason by itself to defeat it.

Section 2(b) provides that a crisis pregnancy center that violates the prohibitions in subsection (a) is subject to all remedies and penalties available pursuant to the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, P.L.1960, c.39. The bill does not itself specify penalty amounts; by incorporation, the full penalty structure of that Act applies. Constituents should understand that this is not a warning-letter regime -- it carries the enforcement teeth of an established consumer fraud statute.

Section 3 grants the Attorney General authority to seek and obtain, in a summary action in Superior Court, an injunction prohibiting a crisis pregnancy center from advertising or providing peer-related counseling services. The injunction power is triggered when it appears to the Attorney General that a center is about to engage in, is continuing to engage in, or has engaged in conduct in violation of Section 2 -- or when it is in the public interest, without any violation being required at all. The bill also authorizes the court to order a crisis pregnancy center to take whatever remedial steps the court deems necessary to correct the adverse effects of the center's untrue, deceptive, false, or misleading advertising or statements on any client seeking pregnancy-related services. Read together, Section 3 allows a court to enjoin not only a center's advertising but also its peer-related counseling services themselves, and to impose open-ended remedial obligations, on the basis of a summary proceeding. The public-interest trigger, divorced from any violation requirement, raises serious concerns about how far prosecutorial discretion could reach under this bill.

The bill supplements, rather than amends or replaces, the Consumer Fraud Act, meaning all existing enforcement mechanisms of that Act remain in place alongside this new authority. Section 4 provides for immediate effect upon enactment, so there is no transition period for affected organizations to adjust.

The American Council calls on every member of the New Jersey Senate to vote no on S3319. The bill's ambiguous and potentially broad definitions, its open-ended "public interest" enforcement trigger, its incorporation of full Consumer Fraud Act penalties, and its authorization of court orders halting counseling services -- not only advertising -- combine to create a legal framework that could suppress the legitimate, compassionate work of faith-based pregnancy ministries across New Jersey. We urge constituents to make their opposition known immediately, before this bill moves out of committee.