Doctors Say Clearblue Results Trigger False Alarm Crisis

Clearblue false-positive – A pattern of positive Clearblue home pregnancy tests that later turn out negative is pushing doctors and abortion providers to report patients arriving for care after long, costly trips—only to learn they were never pregnant.

The day a test turns “pregnant” can change everything. For one woman in Texas. that label set off a rush she can’t take back: she scraped together $750 for an appointment. rented a car. arranged childcare for her three kids. and drove 10 hours across Texas and Oklahoma to reach a small abortion clinic in Kansas.

When she got there, she wasn’t pregnant.

Dr. Sheila Attaie. a family medicine doctor from California who provides abortion care in Kansas part time. said the moment didn’t land like a routine medical update—it landed like disbelief. “She didn’t believe me,” Attaie recalled. “I had to spend a lot of time with her. showing her the ultrasound images. showing her the urine pregnancy test. and looking at the results together because she was in pure disbelief.”.

Attaie said she felt “so bad” knowing her patient had spent time and stress preparing for something that wasn’t true. “Coming to terms with … something that isn’t even true — her pregnancy,” she said.

In Attaie’s clinic, the situation has become common enough to measure. She said the Kansas clinic sees about 30 patients in a day and that she estimates she sees someone with a false positive pregnancy test every other day. Most often. the patients are people who live in states where abortion is banned and who took a test at home. Attaie said they don’t go to their local doctor to confirm. because they can’t risk having a pregnancy documented in medical records.

During the difficult conversations that follow, Attaie said she asks what test they took. Her patients, she said, most often tell her: Clearblue.

Clearblue is the No. 1-selling home pregnancy test brand in the world. and it’s easy to recognize: white and blue test sticks that show up on pregnancy announcements across Instagram and TikTok. The company markets itself as the “#1 OB-GYN recommended brand” and. according to its website. was voted the “most trusted brand” of 2025. Clearblue also frequently touts that its tests are often “over 99% accurate.”.

But multiple OB-GYNs and family medicine physicians—along with doctors who work in abortion care—described a steady stream of patients arriving with positive Clearblue tests and then learning, after a urine test or an ultrasound, that they are not pregnant.

HuffPost spoke with nine OB-GYNs and family medicine physicians from around the U.S., as well as three others who work in abortion care. The majority of the 12 physicians said they regularly see patients who come in with positive Clearblue pregnancy tests and then find out they aren’t pregnant.

Clearblue’s parent company. Swiss Precision Diagnostics. which manufactures Clearblue tests under a portfolio managed by its team. pushed back on the idea that the brand is producing systemic false positives. Fiona Clancy. the senior director of research and development at Swiss Precision Diagnostics. said in an email to HuffPost that Clearblue “takes any concerns regarding potential false positives seriously. ” and that “any positive result that is not later confirmed can be upsetting. confusing. and consequential for patients.”.

Clancy said Clearblue “has not identified any systemic false positive concerns from healthcare professionals. consumers. or regulatory bodies indicating a product performance issue across our pregnancy test portfolio. ” and that complaints are “carefully reviewed and evaluated in accordance with our quality and regulatory processes.”.

Yet doctors on the ground said the consequences of those “positive” results are immediate and often expensive—especially in a post-Roe environment where many states have near-total or six-week abortion bans. A test promising results before a missed period can be the difference between being able to get care and not being able to. providers said. In that tight window. doctors say a misleading “pregnant” result can funnel patients into travel. appointments. and difficult decisions before they can be certain.

Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic’s Dr. Meera Shah oversees a network of 12 health centers in New York, and she estimates her clinics see up to one to two patients a day who are not actually pregnant but believed they were after taking a Clearblue test.

Shah recently saw a patient who gathered money for an abortion and made the appointment—only to learn the test result was a false positive.

“This feels like getting into a car crash and having no injuries,” Shah recalled the patient saying. “I feel better that I’m not pregnant, but it still sucked.”

Doctors said they can’t agree on why the pattern shows up—only that they see it.

Some physicians and experts believe many cases aren’t false positives at all. They argue instead that these are “chemical pregnancies,” or very early miscarriages that can occur before someone would have noticed before improved testing.

Lauren Ralph. an epidemiologist and associate professor of obstetrics. gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California San Francisco. pointed to a landmark 1988 study that followed a group of women trying to conceive. She said it found that 22% of pregnancies ended before they would have been recognized clinically.

Lauren Wise. a professor of epidemiology at Boston University who has published research on pregnancy test use and timing. said she had a similar theory. “Clearblue tests are the most popular tests on the market,” Wise said. “It is most likely that these individuals had a spontaneous pregnancy loss.”.

Other medical professionals said Clearblue’s early digital test is simply too sensitive. They said it can detect low levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) at a point when that signal doesn’t reflect a pregnancy that will develop in a way people would experience as “pregnant.”

In doctors’ offices. they said. early detection typically looks for an hCG of 25 and pregnancy is confirmed by seeing that number increase over several days. At-home tests used to pick up hCG levels of 50 or above. doctors said. but one of Clearblue’s early detection digital tests identifies hCG levels as low as 10.

Dr. Maya Bass. a family medicine physician based in New Jersey and a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health. said she doesn’t know what those low numbers mean. “You have an hCG of 10?. I don’t know what that means,” she said. “To be honest, I don’t know that I would call that pregnant unless that number continues to increase.”.

Bass also questioned the marketing. “The question is: Should they be allowed to market a test that picks up hCG before it’s even helpful?” she said.

Other physicians said digital displays create a different kind of risk. Dr. Kelly Pfeifer, a family physician living in California who runs abortion clinics in Kansas and Ohio, said a digital test gives what looks like a definitive “pregnant” result based on any low detection of hCG.

“Digital gives the illusion that this is a binary situation as opposed to a slope,” Pfeifer said. She said she sees at least several patients a month with Clearblue false positives in her Kansas and Ohio clinics.

Pfeifer said most of the cases she sees likely reflect a combination of explanations. Still, she said nearly all her patients’ experiences cast doubt on the specific digital test’s accuracy, even as other brands also sell early detection tests.

“If this is an early detection issue or all of these cases are chemical pregnancies, providers say, shouldn’t they be seeing the same issue with those other tests?” Pfeifer said.

She added that when she asks which test patients used, “It’s almost always Clearblue.” Another physician who asked to remain anonymous for personal safety said she has “only seen a false positive thing, repeatedly, with the Clearblue test.”

Shah, however, said she does not believe the issue is simply early detection. If it were, she argued, her patients would also be seeing more false negatives. She noted that false positives are less common than false negatives—even. she said. according to Clearblue’s own data—and that when tests are used before a missed period. the results can still be misleading in ways that don’t fit the early-detection explanation.

“It’s just a bad test,” Shah said.

Clearblue’s own website. as described by doctors in the piece. states its pregnancy tests are over 99% accurate when used from the day you expect your period. But the digital tests’ accuracy can decrease the earlier people use them. according to the small print doctors pointed to at the bottom of the brand’s website—seemingly warning about false negatives rather than false positives.

Clancy said it’s critical to distinguish between what she called a true false positive and a “positive result that is not later confirmed.” She said there are many reasons someone might get a positive test and then a negative result later. including early pregnancy loss or chemical pregnancies. recent pregnancy including miscarriage or abortion. certain fertility treatments. medications or medical conditions that could introduce higher levels of hCG.

Clancy said that when used as directed from the day of the expected period, Clearblue pregnancy tests are “clinically proven to be over 99% accurate,” and that false positive results are rare.

She added that all Clearblue pregnancy tests meet FDA requirements for safety and performance. including early detection tests. saying “The 10mIU/mL sensitivity threshold is an established sensitivity level within the pregnancy test category and is not. in itself. an indicator of a product performance issue.”.

For abortion providers, timing is the whole point. Many states where abortion is banned force people to scramble quickly to confirm a pregnancy, decide on next steps, and arrange travel. Doctors said urgency is pushing more people to use early detection tests.

Providers varied on when they began noticing the problem. One physician said she began seeing false-positive Clearblue tests as early as 2012. But they all said they’ve seen an increase since the Supreme Court repealed federal abortion protections in 2022. which paved the way for 16 states to implement near-total abortion bans.

Dr. Samantha Glass, a primary care doctor in New York City who also provides abortion care in Kansas, told HuffPost she sees patients with false-positive Clearblue tests in her Kansas clinic about once a month.

“People feel like they need to find out right away so that they can handle it right away because they don’t have time,” Glass said. “Because they’re under pressure, because of the cost, because of the travel.”

Pfeifer, who runs clinics in Kansas and Ohio, said Clearblue appears to be marketing toward the people most desperate for certainty.

“Clearblue is marketing to the audience of ‘I’m desperate to know if I’m pregnant,’” she said.

Pfeifer described what that desperation looks like on the road. “I’ve just had so many women who have said. ‘You have no idea how hard it was for me to drive from Houston to Wichita and get childcare and borrow a car and get time off work and hide this from my friends and make up a story for my mother who watched my kids. And now you’re telling me I didn’t need to go at all?’” she said.

Pfeifer said she hears similar stories constantly. “There’s just so many stories like that, and one doesn’t stand out because it’s such a common experience.”

In an email to HuffPost. Clancy said Clearblue recognizes pregnancy testing happens “at an emotional and sometimes time-sensitive moment” for people whether they are hoping for pregnancy or not. Clancy said the company’s “goal is not to exploit vulnerability,” but to help women access accurate information.

The pamphlet that comes with Clearblue tests advises patients to confirm with a doctor if they receive a positive test result. But Clearblue’s website says that “if you get a positive pregnancy test, you are pregnant … As home tests are so accurate, usually your doctor will not need to test again.”

Clancy said “This statement reflects the high accuracy of home pregnancy tests when used as directed,” and that mentions of false positives appear in non-digital tests and are in very fine print.

She said Clearblue aims to provide “clear, responsible, and supportive” information about when to test, how to use the product, and when to contact a healthcare professional. Clancy also listed details in the brand’s materials, including guidance on using each of the five tests in the portfolio.

There are also described inconsistencies between what Clancy wrote in her email and what appears on Clearblue’s website. Clancy wrote that a digital test with Smart Countdown technology should be used from the day of a missed period. but the website states it can be used up to five days before a missed period. After HuffPost pointed out the discrepancy. Clancy clarified that the digital test can indeed be used five days before a missed period.

Clearblue’s reach has only grown alongside the rise of pregnancy announcements on social media, including sponsored posts from influencers. Clearblue’s partnership roster includes actors, reality TV stars and social media influencers who announce they’re pregnant using a Clearblue test.

Actor Candice King received more than 2.5 million likes and 3 million views announcing her third pregnancy to nearly 12 million Instagram followers in a paid partnership post with Clearblue. Heidi Montag name-dropped her Clearblue test alongside a photo of her holding the positive digital pregnancy test in an Us Weekly exclusive revealing her second pregnancy.

Clearblue has also started selling bedazzled “keepsake” pregnancy announcement sticks—a digital test that reads “pregnant” and can be used as a Christmas tree ornament. Clearblue’s Instagram account says “Because your results deserve a little extra sparkle!” and the company notes that “pregnant” is pre-printed on the screen and no one has urinated on the device before it was bedazzled.

Swiss Precision Diagnostics does not publicly share annual profits because it operates as a privately shared partnership between Procter & Gamble and Abbott. But annual revenues for SPD have been estimated at around $28 million.

There have been at least 10 formal complaints to the FDA since 2022 regarding Clearblue false-positive tests, HuffPost said it reviewed. One complaint from December 2024 describes a patient who used a clear blue brand pregnancy test twice. drove hundreds of miles to get an abortion. and then was found in clinic to have two negative tests and an empty uterus on ultrasound. “proving false positive at home clear blue brand pregnancy test.” The complaint added that it had huge emotional and financial consequences.

Another complaint from October 2022 said a patient had two false positive Clearblue pregnancy tests at home, resulting in unnecessary travel to seek care several hundred miles out of state.

Attaie said she filed at least two complaints with the FDA over the course of 2024 and 2025 using the agency’s portal for reporting problems with medical devices. She also said she wrote to Clearblue through the website’s consumer email portal and did not receive responses. She said she has never submitted a grievance with the FDA for any other medical device or drug in her eight years as a physician.

Dr. Glenna Martin said she was put in touch with Clearblue after filing a complaint with the FDA. but nothing came from the interaction. Martin. a family medicine physician in Seattle. said she had heard about the issue from colleagues but hadn’t seen any patients with it. Then in July 2022. when a patient presented with a false-positive pregnancy test. Martin said she knew to ask if it was a Clearblue test.

Martin said the patient used a digital test. She filed a complaint with the FDA. The FDA forwarded the complaint to SPD, which said it would like to investigate. Martin said an SPD product specialist asked her questions in an August 2022 email exchange reviewed by HuffPost. including the date and time the patient took the test. whether the test was still available for investigation and the lot number. Martin said the questions felt duplicative because she had already answered them in her original complaint.

Martin said the specialist responded that conflicting test results can occur with both home and professional use tests and that without further information it is difficult to comment on why a patient got a result. Martin said the product specialist also cited factors such as any history of recent pregnancy in the last 9 weeks. medication. the date the pregnancy test was performed. urine sample concentration or dilution. test sensitivities used and the date of any blood test.

Martin said she told the product specialist the patient had an IUD and had no recent pregnancy and was not on any medications that contained hCG. She said she asked for clinical support for the claim that concentrated urine containing no hCG could cause a false positive. but the specialist responded that concentrated urine would not cause a false positive while dilute urine can potentially cause a false negative.

Martin said she found it odd because the complaint was about a false positive.

“They gave me what felt like boilerplate language: their tests are more than 99% accurate,” Martin said. “I basically dropped it because they obviously were not going to give me the information I was asking for. It just felt like I was not being taken seriously as a clinician.”

SPD’s representatives said Clearblue monitors the FDA database for complaints. but reports “do not establish that a device caused the reported outcome.” Lucy White. a science and medical affairs manager for SPD. said in a later email that Clearblue remains responsible for identifying and investigating potential issues through post-market surveillance. including routine monitoring of the FDA’s medical device database.

An FDA spokesperson told HuffPost the FDA cannot confirm or deny the existence of complaints regarding a specific device. The spokesperson also said the FDA regulates at-home pregnancy tests as Class II medical devices. meaning they carry moderate risk and are subject to general and special controls to ensure safety and effectiveness.

Some abortion providers said they tried to flag the issue directly after seeing what they described as an unusually high rate. In 2022. Shah wrote an email to several other abortion providers saying her clinics were seeing an “abnormally high rate” of patients with false-positive Clearblue pregnancy tests. Shah said the responses included: “Saw someone at Planned Parenthood who had done 8 (8!) tests at home. all positive. but was negative x 2 in clinic” and “I had a girl fly [from] El Salvador who had done at least 3 clear blues that were positive and she was not pregnant.”.

Shah said she reported the issue to the FDA in April 2022 and that she received texts almost every day from staff about Clearblue false-positive tests. She said she did not receive a response from the FDA.

Tammi Kromenaker. the owner and director of Minnesota abortion clinic Red River Women’s Clinic. called it “for sure a pattern.” Kromenaker said that once there’s nothing in the uterus. her clinic defaults to asking whether a patient took a Clearblue test. She said over two dozen patients have presented with false-positive Clearblue tests in the past two years. according to her records. and she estimates around 70% of Red River patients come from North Dakota. where abortion is currently banned.

Doctors said the problem is showing up not only for patients who fear abortion access issues but also for people with wanted pregnancies.

Bass said she often sees patients before they see their OB, typically around eight or 10 weeks’ gestation. She described a heartbreaking 2022 encounter with an older patient who had been trying to conceive for years. The woman was excited that she was pregnant. Bass said. but when she arrived at Bass’ office her pregnancy test was negative and ultrasound showed an empty uterus. Bass said the patient was “really sad,” describing “A seed of hope” crushed quickly.

Dr. April Lockley. a family medicine doctor and abortion provider based in New York City. said she recently had a patient travel from Tennessee for an abortion after getting a positive Clearblue test. Lockley said the woman had an IUD and was worried about an ectopic pregnancy. but an ultrasound showed she was not pregnant.

Lockley also serves as the medical director for the Miscarriage + Abortion Hotline. She said people use pregnancy tests after medication abortion or miscarriage to confirm the termination was successful. She said the timing is important because it can take up to six weeks after an abortion for hCG levels to be non-detectable depending on how far into pregnancy someone was. Lockley said callers generally follow instructions from the physician who provided the abortion pills.

In a 2022 email to colleagues, Lockley wrote that in self-managed abortion work she does, seeing “tons of false positives with clear blue digital” makes an already anxious situation worse.

Lockley told HuffPost that abortion pills are safe to take even if someone isn’t pregnant. but that they can be expensive. difficult to find. and cause unpleasant side effects. With what she described as large numbers of false positives both before and after abortion care. Lockley asked: “All these people doing medication abortion at home now — which is great — but. like. how many of those were never pregnant anyway?”.

Clancy said Clearblue wants to help people access accurate information so they can understand their result and make informed decisions about their health.

Still, in clinic exam rooms across states and across shifting abortion rules, the same pattern persists: a positive home test, then the unraveling.

Attaie said her patient’s disbelief wasn’t a philosophical debate—it was the kind of moment where a person has already planned a life around a result.

And for many doctors, the concern isn’t only whether the test is “accurate” in the abstract. It’s the lived aftermath: the money spent, the miles driven, the childcare arranged, and the pressure that empties out of the body only after an ultrasound finally tells the truth.

Clearblue pregnancy test false positive abortion access FDA hCG digital pregnancy test Supreme Court Roe Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic