A Florida network of anti-abortion centers is using delay tactics to run out the clock on care

In Florida and other states with gestational limits on abortion, as soon as a pregnancy test returns a positive result the clock starts ticking downward. In Florida, a pregnant person has just two short weeks following a missed period to have an abortion. Before the two-week clock runs out, a person who is pregnant but wishes not to be has to find a provider, secure funds, and navigate medically unnecessary hurdles put in place by opponents of reproductive freedom. Only after doing so can a person end their pregnancy.

Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), also called anti-abortion centers (AACs) and pregnancy resource centers (PRCs), exist to stop people from getting abortions (and contraceptives). One way CPCs attempt to stop people from getting abortions is to run out the clock in states with gestational bans by “intercepting[] women with unintended pregnancies who might be considering abortion” in order to forestall sought-after abortions until the gestational limit has passed.¹

In Florida, a network of crisis pregnancy centers called Oasis Pregnancy Care Centers appears to be doing just that.

Consider the following, which appears on two different pages on Oasis's website and which demonstrates several common anti-abortion center tactics for running out the clock: (1) exaggerating chances of miscarriage, (2) claiming ultrasounds can predict miscarriages, and (3) telling abortion seekers they need pre-abortion clinic ultrasounds.

Considering Abortion?

You might not need one.

If you’re considering abortion, you should know that as many as 25% to 31% of all pregnancies naturally miscarry. Before visiting an abortion clinic, be sure to receive an ultrasound. An ultrasound will determine if your pregnancy is viable (able to survive) or if you might miscarry naturally, avoiding the need for an abortion.²³

Exaggerated chances of miscarriage

The words, “Considering abortion? You might not need one,” followed by the suggestion that an abortion seeker might just miscarry naturally is a sly way of casually downplaying the urgency and realities of the situation. It also misleads abortion seekers about their chances of miscarriage.

As studies have shown, “exaggerating the likelihood of miscarriage in early pregnancy to downplay the urgency in seeking abortion care” is a frequent tactic that CPCs employ in states with gestational limits on abortion.⁴ For example, one study “found that CPCs were claiming there was a 25%–30% chance of having a spontaneous miscarriage in a pregnancy, implying that there was a high likelihood there would be no need to get an abortion.”⁵

The source of the 25-31% miscarriage statistic listed on the Oasis website is not cited, but this same un-cited statistic appears on the websites of multiple other CPCs across the country such as the Hagerstown Area Pregnancy Clinic in Maryland and the Compassion Pregnancy Center in Oklahoma.

Estimates of the percentage of pregnancies that end in miscarriages varies. What we do know is that the percentage of known pregnancies that end in miscarriage is significantly lower than the percentage of pregnancies that end in miscarriage before people even know that they are pregnant.⁶ Oasis's website does not apprise its readers of this information. —This is important to note, because people seeking abortions already know they are pregnant. Hence, the chances they will experience miscarriages drops precipitously.

While estimates vary, credible and up-to-date estimates of the percentage of known pregnancies that end in miscarriages typically fall into the 10-20% range.

• According to StatPearls, “up to 10% of clinically recognized pregnancies” end in miscarriage.⁷

• According to March of Dimes, “between 10 to 20 in 100 known pregnancies (10 to 20 percent) end in miscarriage.”⁸

• According to research published in the Lancet, 15% percent of known pregnancies end in miscarriage.⁹

• According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), miscarriage occurs “in about 10 of 100 (10%) known pregnancies.”¹⁰

As the above estimates show, the percentage of known pregnancies that end in miscarriage (~10-20%) is significantly lower than the percentage stated on Oasis's website (25-31%).

An abortion seeker who visits Oasis‘s website will be mislead by the much higher, un-cited percentage that does not differentiate between the rates of miscarriage in known versus unknown pregnancies.

CPCs, like Oasis, mislead vulnerable people seeking care by using exaggerated “rates of miscarriage as a reason [for an abortion seeker] to wait and see before seeking an abortion, which can delay and perhaps altogether prevent a person from accessing care in many states because of gestational age bans,”¹¹ like Florida. The use of exaggerated statistics on miscarriage “casually downplays an otherwise urgent situation, and even suggests that a woman would do well to ignore the need for pregnancy-related care by leaving it up to nature.”¹²

Claims about the predictive power of ultrasound technology

After telling exaggerating the chances of miscarriage, Oasis adds, “An ultrasound will determine if your pregnancy is viable (able to survive) or if you might miscarry naturally, avoiding the need for an abortion.” This, too, in inaccurate.

Florida bans abortion at six weeks LMP (last menstrual period). This means that the abortion must be performed before the sixth week of pregnancy. An ultrasound at such an extremely early stage of pregnancy isn't going to show much of anything. That's why performing ultrasounds so early is not a part of standard medical practice.

For example, a five-week ultrasound will show the fluid-filled gestational sac, but that's it. As Dr. Jennifer Boyle (Massachusetts General Hospital) explained, “An ultrasound at 5 weeks really can’t tell you anything about how the pregnancy is developing.”¹³ An ultrasound that early also “does not tell you exactly how far along you are, and it does not mean the pregnancy is viable.”¹⁴ “It’s too early for an ultrasound to be helpful for routine prenatal care or pregnancy screening,” Dr. Boyle added.

Furthermore, “the results of your scan may also be unclear. ‘Sometimes what looks like a gestational sac can just be a collection of blood in the uterus. Because of this, doctors will often say that they see a “possible gestational sac.” We can only know for sure that it is a true gestational sac when we also see a yolk sac within it.’”¹⁵ That yolk sac isn't visible on ultrasound until around five weeks and five days (5.5) into pregnancy.¹⁶

An ultrasound “won’t show any signs of the embryo itself until you’re 6 weeks pregnant at the earliest, when it may detect the fetal pole — one of the first stages of embryo growth.”¹⁷

Oasis urges abortion seekers to make an appointment at Oasis for a free ultrasound with the promise that the ultrasound will "determine if your pregnancy is viable (able to survive) or if you might miscarry naturally, avoiding the need for an abortion.” However, many abortion seekers in Florida will be too early in their pregnancies for an ultrasound to even be able to provide such information.

It is also unclear if Oasis's staff are liscensed and qualified to perform diagnostic ultrasounds. The website contains no information about the centers’ staff. At the bottom of the homepage, there is a link to a donor page called Hearts for Oasis. Under ‘The Ministry - Mission and History of Oasis,’ the first names and last initials of several people appear, along with the title sonographer.¹⁸ No further information is listed for these individuals, so we have no way of knowing if Jeanice H., Susan F., and Abigail W. are liscensed and qualified to perform and interpret ultrasounds.

Some crisis pregnancy centers have even been found to “intentionally lie to their clients by reporting incorrect gestational ages of their pregnancies. At best, this tactic forces an increase in second-trimester abortions, which are harder to obtain, more expensive, and less safe than abortions in the first trimester. At worst, it prevents patients from accessing abortion altogether.”¹⁹

[Note: Pregnancy is calculated based on the first day of the last normal period a person had before becoming pregnant. This means that the number of weeks of pregnancy actually include weeks when a person was not even pregnant yet. A six-week ban prohibits abortion ~3 weeks after a person actually becomes pregnant at implantation, and only ~2 weeks after a person misses their next expected period to start.]

Claims about pre-clinic ultrasounds

Sandwiched between an exaggerated miscarriage figure and misleading promises about the predictive power of ultrasounds, Oasis says, “Before visiting an abortion clinic, be sure to receive an ultrasound.” This is a deceptive command. Abortion seekers do not need to have an ultrasound before going to an abortion clinic.

Florida's abortion ban does include a forced-ultrasound requirement; however, the law states that the ultrasound must be performed by either the physician who will be performing the abortion or by someone who is working with that physician. Fla. Stat. § 390.0111.1 states:

“The ultrasound must be performed by the physician who is to perform the abortion or by a person having documented evidence that he or she has completed a course in the operation of ultrasound equipment as prescribed by rule and who is working in conjunction with the physician” (emphasis added).

There is no reason to receive an ultrasound from a crisis pregnancy center prior to going to an abortion clinic. Abortion clinics do not work with CPCs, and only the physician at the abortion clinic or a qualified clinic staff member can fulfill the forced-ultrasound requirement under Florida law. Not a volunteer at a CPC who may not even be liscensed or qualified to perform and interpret sonography.²⁰

Telling pregnant people to “be sure to receive an ultrasound” before going to an abortion clinic is a delay tactic. It adds an entirely pointless (and extremely invasive) task into the short, two-week window of time abortion seekers have to receive care.

“Many CPCs offer free ultrasounds as a way to lure women in their doors. The proliferation of forced-ultrasound laws,” like Florida's, “is one point of leverage CPCs use to persuade women that they will benefit by coming in.”²¹ As an Ohio CPC staff member explained, “Leveraging ultrasound is huge… Ultrasound is a way for us to get them in our doors.”²² Once there, pregnant people seeking abortions are subjected to “manipulative and deceptive practices that spread misinformation on sexual health and abortion.”²³ Within the walls of a CPC, “the ultrasound becomes a socio-religious practice” and “a unique form of ‘religious biopower’” used to govern and control reproductive bodies.²⁴

Oasis describes the ultrasound procedure as “a simple and painless procedure that uses sound waves transmitted into your belly to get a picture of your pregnancy.”²⁵ What the website fails to mention is that ultrasounds performed in early pregnancy aren't the “jelly on the belly” kind depicted in movies and on television. Rather, ultrasounds in early pregnancy are transvaginal ultrasounds. “This procedure uses a transducer wand” that is up to ten inches long.²⁶ “The wand is inserted into the vagina to create sonar images of the cervix, ovary, and uterus.”²⁷ These procedures “can be traumatizing and anxiety-inducing, especially for young women and abuse victims,”²⁸ and can even cause dissociation in patients with PTSD.²⁹

Considering the invasiveness of the procedure and the psychological risks that transvaginal ultrasounds pose to certain patients, it is already bad enough that the State of Florida punishes abortion patients through forced-ultrasounds, which are not medically necessary in early pregnancy termination. It is doubly unethical for CPCs to attempt to put abortion seekers through an additional transvaginal ultrasound, one that does not fulfill the pre-abortion ultrasound requirement under Florida law.

[Note: The wand that is inserted deep into people’s vaginas must be properly sterilized. Because not all sterilization products effectively kill sexually transmitted infections, only certain sterilization agents should be used and should never be used passed the product expiration date. However, some CPCs, which are not liscensed medical facilities, have been caught using ineffective and expired sterilization products, exposing pregnant people to infection.³⁰]

As the section of text from Oasis's website that was examined herein shows, “CPC tactics often intentionally create delays that can leave people unable to access abortion care in their communities, forcing them to continue their pregnancies. This is particularly pronounced in states with gestational age bans.”³¹ By using deception and delay tactics, crisis pregnancy centers “undermine the tenets of informed consent and patient autonomy and impede access to comprehensive, ethical care.”³² The leaders and staff at CPCs, such as Oasis Pregnancy Care Centers, may believe that they're doing what is best for people with undesired pregnancies, but the truth is that “the religious ideology of these centers’ owners and employees takes priority over the health and well-being of the women seeking care at these centers.”³³

1. Bryant, A. G., & Swartz, J. J. (2018, March 1). Why crisis pregnancy centers are legal but unethical. Journal of Ethics | American Medical Association. https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/why-crisis-pregnancy-centers-are-legal-unethical/2018-03

2. Abortion Info. Oasis Pregnancy Care Centers. (2022, March 28). https://oasispregnancycenter.org/pregnancy-options/abortion/

3. Ultrasound Info. Oasis Pregnancy Care Centers. (2022, March 28). https://oasispregnancycenter.org/pregnancy-options/abortion/

4. Montoya MN, Judge-Golden C, Swartz JJ. The Problems with Crisis Pregnancy Centers: Reviewing the Literature and Identifying New Directions for Future Research. Int J Womens Health. 2022 Jun 8;14:757-763. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S288861. PMID: 35706995; PMCID: PMC9189146.

5. Polcyn C, Swiezy S, Genn L, Wickramage P, Sidiqqui N, Johnson C, Nair P, Bernard C, Miller V. Truth and Transparency in Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Womens Health Rep (New Rochelle). 2020 Jul 27;1(1):224-226. doi: 10.1089/whr.2020.0057. PMID: 33786483; PMCID: PMC7784822.

6. UC Davis Health. (2025, May 20). What you should know about miscarriage signs, early miscarriage and more: Cultivating health. UC Davis Health. https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/cultivating-health/what-you-should-know-about-miscarriage-signs-causes-and-more/2024/07#:~:text=How%20common%20are%20miscarriages?,end%20of%20the%2014th%20week.

7. Dugas C, Slane VH. Miscarriage (Archived). 2022 Jun 27. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan–. PMID: 30422585.

8. Miscarriage. March of Dimes. (2024, October). https://www.marchofdimes.org/find-support/topics/miscarriage-loss-grief/miscarriage#:~:text=It%27s%20estimated%20that%20between%2010,20%20percent

9. Miscarriage matters: the epidemiological, physical, psychological, and economic costs of early pregnancy loss. Quenby, Siobhan et al. The Lancet, Volume 397, Issue 10285, 1658 - 1667

10. ACOG. (2025). Early pregnancy loss. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists . https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/early-pregnancy-loss

11. ACOG. (2025b). Issue brief: Crisis pregnancy centers. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists . https://www.acog.org/advocacy/abortion-is-essential/trending-issues/issue-brief-crisis-pregnancy-centers

12. The truth about crisis pregnancy centers. Reproductive Freedom for All. (n.d.). https://reproductivefreedomforall.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/6.-The-Truth-About-Crisis-Pregnancy-Centers.pdf

13. Hollowood, K. (2025, February 28). 5 weeks pregnant ultrasound: Is it too early?. Flo.health - #1 mobile product for women’s health. https://flo.health/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/5-weeks-pregnant-ultrasound#:~:text=%2C%20Massachusetts%2C%20US.-,Key%20takeaways%3A%205%20weeks%20pregnant%20ultrasound,too%20early%20for%20an%20ultrasound%3F

14. Quote: Dr. Jennifer Boyle

Hollowood, K. (2025, February 28). 5 weeks pregnant ultrasound: Is it too early?. Flo.health - #1 mobile product for women’s health. https://flo.health/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/5-weeks-pregnant-ultrasound#:~:text=%2C%20Massachusetts%2C%20US.-,Key%20takeaways%3A%205%20weeks%20pregnant%20ultrasound,too%20early%20for%20an%20ultrasound%3F

15. Hollowood, K. (2025, February 28). 5 weeks pregnant ultrasound: Is it too early?. Flo.health - #1 mobile product for women’s health. https://flo.health/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/5-weeks-pregnant-ultrasound#:~:text=%2C%20Massachusetts%2C%20US.-,Key%20takeaways%3A%205%20weeks%20pregnant%20ultrasound,too%20early%20for%20an%20ultrasound%3F

16. Hollowood, K. (2025, February 28). 5 weeks pregnant ultrasound: Is it too early?. Flo.health - #1 mobile product for women’s health. https://flo.health/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/5-weeks-pregnant-ultrasound#:~:text=%2C%20Massachusetts%2C%20US.-,Key%20takeaways%3A%205%20weeks%20pregnant%20ultrasound,too%20early%20for%20an%20ultrasound%3F

17. Hollowood, K. (2025, February 28). 5 weeks pregnant ultrasound: Is it too early?. Flo.health - #1 mobile product for women’s health. https://flo.health/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/5-weeks-pregnant-ultrasound#:~:text=%2C%20Massachusetts%2C%20US.-,Key%20takeaways%3A%205%20weeks%20pregnant%20ultrasound,too%20early%20for%20an%20ultrasound%3F

18. The Ministry - Mission and History of Oasis. Hearts For Oasis. (2025, July 15). https://www.heartsforoasis.org/the-ministry/

19. Montoya, M. N., Judge-Golden, C., & Swartz, J. J. (2022). The Problems with Crisis Pregnancy Centers: Reviewing the Literature and Identifying New Directions for Future Research. International Journal of Women’s Health, 14, 757–763. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S288861

20. Polcyn C, Swiezy S, Genn L, Wickramage P, Sidiqqui N, Johnson C, Nair P, Bernard C, Miller V. Truth and Transparency in Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Womens Health Rep (New Rochelle). 2020 Jul 27;1(1):224-226. doi: 10.1089/whr.2020.0057. PMID: 33786483; PMCID: PMC7784822.

21. The truth about crisis pregnancy centers. Reproductive Freedom for All. (n.d.). https://reproductivefreedomforall.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/6.-The-Truth-About-Crisis-Pregnancy-Centers.pdf

22. Kissling, A., Gursahaney, P., Norris, A. H., Bessett, D., & Gallo, M. F. (2022). Free, but at what cost? How US crisis pregnancy centres provide services. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 25(8), 1024–1038. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2022.2116489

23. Montoya MN, Judge-Golden C, Swartz JJ. The Problems with Crisis Pregnancy Centers: Reviewing the Literature and Identifying New Directions for Future Research. Int J Womens Health. 2022 Jun 8;14:757-763. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S288861. PMID: 35706995; PMCID: PMC9189146.

24. Hutchins, K. (2021, April 17). “Gummy bears” and “Teddy grahams”: Ultrasounds as religious biopower in crisis pregnancy centers. Social Science & Medicine. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953621002574

25. Ultrasound Info. Oasis Pregnancy Care Centers. (2022, March 28). https://oasispregnancycenter.org/pregnancy-options/abortion/

26. Kelsey Anne Green, Humiliation, Degradation, Penetration: What Legislatively Required Pre-Abortion Transvaginal Ultrasounds and Rape Have in Common, 103 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 1171 (2013). https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/vol103/iss4/5

27. Kelsey Anne Green, Humiliation, Degradation, Penetration: What Legislatively Required Pre-Abortion Transvaginal Ultrasounds and Rape Have in Common, 103 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 1171 (2013). https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/vol103/iss4/5

28. Beck, M. (2024b, March 11). Transvaginal ultrasounds likely required by Wyoming’s new abortion regulations. WyoFile. https://wyofile.com/transvaginal-ultrasounds-would-likely-be-required-under-wyomings-new-abortion-regulations/

29. Carroll, M. M., & Banks, A. (2022, November 4). Health care for female trauma survivors (with posttraumatic stress disorder or similarly severe symptoms). Archived at: https://web.archive.org/web/20240909212954/https://medilib.ir/uptodate/show/110594

30. Morel, L. C. (2023, February 2). “it’s a public health risk”: Nurse decries infection control at US anti-abortion crisis center. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/02/kentucky-crisis-pregnancy-center-anti-abortion-malpractices

31. ACOG. (2025b). Issue brief: Crisis pregnancy centers. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists . https://www.acog.org/advocacy/abortion-is-essential/trending-issues/issue-brief-crisis-pregnancy-centers

32. ACOG. (2025b). Issue brief: Crisis pregnancy centers. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists . https://www.acog.org/advocacy/abortion-is-essential/trending-issues/issue-brief-crisis-pregnancy-centers

33. Bryant, A. G., & Swartz, J. J. (2018, March 1). Why crisis pregnancy centers are legal but unethical. Journal of Ethics | American Medical Association. https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/why-crisis-pregnancy-centers-are-legal-unethical/2018-03