Lawsuit claims Worcester crisis pregnancy center misdiagnosed woman's ectopic pregnancy

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Clearway Clinic, a crisis pregnancy center in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Its website says it's a medical clinic for pregnant women, but a client who visited the center in the fall says she was misdiagnosed and the clinic failed to adhere to accepted standards of medical care.

"She went to Clearway because she found them on Google," said attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan. "She was looking for a place where she could get an ultrasound to confirm that she had a healthy, viable pregnancy."

The lawsuit alleges that the pregnant woman was told the pregnancy was fine.

But weeks later, her life was in jeopardy.

"She had a sharp, shooting pain, was rushed to the hospital, had to have emergency surgery because it turned out that she had an ectopic pregnancy," said Liss-Riordan. "And Clearway had missed that."

Clearway issued a statement Monday, saying they cannot speak to any individual's medical claims or history due to HIPAA regulations.

"Clearway Clinic has served more than 10,000 women and their families in the Worcester area for the past 22 years at no cost and have never had a complaint like this in the past," Executive Director Jill Jorgensen said. "We hope to continue to provide needed services to women and their families in Massachusetts for many more years."

The Catholic Action League also told NBC10 Boston, "Faith based crisis pregnancy centers have been operating in Massachusetts, without incident, since the early 1970's. They offer women in troubled pregnancies compassionate alternatives to abortion."

Recently, pregnancy centers like Clearway have come under fire.

"While crisis pregnancy centers claim to offer reproductive healthcare services, their goal is to prevent people from accessing abortion and contraception," Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement last year.

The clinic was vandalized last year, allegedly by an extreme abortion rights group.

"These centers should not be deceiving women into thinking that they're regular medical centers where they can receive standard care," said Liss-Riordan. "They're there for a reason, which is to push a certain philosophy."