A global network of ‘crisis pregnancy centres’, backed by US anti-abortion groups linked to the Trump White House, has been condemned by lawmakers, doctors and rights advocates for targeting vulnerable women with “disinformation, emotional manipulation and outright deceit”.

There are thousands of such centres in the US. Many have been criticised for posing as neutral health facilities for women with crisis pregnancies while hiding their anti-abortion and religious agendas. But the global scale of these controversial activities has not been mapped until now.

In the first investigation of its kind, openDemocracy sent undercover reporters posing as vulnerable women with unwanted pregnancies to centres affiliated with the Ohio-based Heartbeat International in eighteen countries. Our investigation uncovered:

women being falsely told abortion increases risks of cancer and mental illness; that a woman needs consent from a partner to access abortion; and that hospitals will refuse to treat medical complications from abortion

staff encouraging women to delay abortion and emergency contraception

training materials claiming that “condoms do not do a good job at preventing pregnancy”

claims that abortion increases women’s risks of abusing their children

suggestions that abortion can ‘turn’ a woman’s partner gay

misleading advertising, including some centres that present themselves online as pro-choice support groups – or abortion providers

staff at some centres offering ultrasounds without medical qualifications

In Italy, an undercover reporter was told not only that having an abortion can cause cancer, but that having a baby can cure serious illnesses including leukaemia. In Spain, another reporter was given an article that claimed that after an abortion a woman is “144% more likely” to physically abuse their children.