Roundup: Crisis Pregnancy Centers Sue for Right to Mislead

Mar 30, 2010, 9:28am

Robin Marty

Crisis Pregnancy Centers sue over signs, because "abstinence IS birth control."

Is it free speech to be allowed to mislead? Is it violating a group’s rights to force them to tell what services they don’t provide? And what is the actual definition of “birth control” anyway? The Archdiocese of Baltimore will be asking a judge to answer all of those questions as they sue the city for discrimination regarding a new law stating that crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) must state up front that they don’t provide abortion or birth control services.

The Archbishop and his supporters call the signs, which are the size of a piece of paper and state “CLINIC NAME Does Not Offer or Refer For Abortion or Birth Control” in English and Spanish, a type of religious “harassment.”

The centers feel they’ve been unfairly targeted. On Monday the Archbishop of Baltimore called the signs a form of harassment. ‘It is a clear violation of these centers constitutional rights to free speech, and their free exercise of religion,’ he said.

The center’s director, Carol Clews, said clients already knew they didn’t perform abortions, even without the sign. ‘We make our position abundantly clear. Pregnancy centers don’t do abortions. They offer women assistance,’ she said…‘We are a pro-life, faith-based organization and I have to believe that we were targeted for that very reason,’ Clews said.

Clews claims most of the women coming in are not looking for abortions, but pregnancy assistance, rendering the signs unnecessary. She does not explain how a sign stating they do not provide abortions then undermines their attempt to help women who she states are not seeking one.

Batlimore’s Mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, states that the purpose of the law is not to infringe on anyone’s freedom of speech, but to make sure that statements being made are factual.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake introduced the legislation when she was City Council president after meeting with abortion rights advocates, who complained that some clinics were providing inaccurate information, such as claiming that abortions are connected to breast cancer and other problems.

“This bill is not an abortion debate. This bill is about truth in advertising,” Rawlings-Blake said at the time. “I think, to an extent, the advocates on both sides have kind of overblown this issue.”

Law Professor Mark Graber agrees.

Mark Graber, professor of law and government at the University of Maryland School of Law, said the law appears to favor the city. He said the Supreme Court has made it clear that advertising does not have the same protections as political speech.

“All government is doing here is asking people to tell the truth,” Graber said. “And we do this all the time on the cigarette labels. This is simply telling a pregnancy center that you must tell the truth about what you do.”

But the archdiocese argues that the sign itself is incorrect, especially when it comes to birth control. Depending, of course, on how you define “birth control.”

The archdiocese said its complaint argues that the ordinance that went into effect in January “targets for speech regulation only one side of a contentious public, political debate,” which the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled violates the First Amendment. The archdiocese said the complaint also argues the ordinance also wrongly requires centers to state that they do not provide birth-control services when they provide “education about abstinence and natural family planning.”

Sort of makes you wonder how people could be accusing them of misleading, doesn’t it?

March 29, 2010

Executive order on abortion funding won’t stand, Washington Post columnist says – Catholic News Agency

Special Report: ‘Telemed Abortions’ Endanger Women and Drive Up Insurance Costs – Christian News Wire

Senate moves forward with 24 hours mandatory delay bill – TheDigitel

Abortion ruling to come today – Chicago Sun-Times

Right-wing media falsely claim health center provision will fund abortion – Media Matters for America

Cook County Judge To Rule On Illinois Parental Notification Law – Huffington Post

Abortion Sign Ordinance Prompts Archdiocese Suit – WJZ

Judge tosses abortion lawsuit – Chicago Sun-Times

Law Will Lower the Costs of Being a Woman – New York Times

Healthcare reform extremists take a page from an ugly anti-choice playbook – The Hill