City Council is scheduled today (Thursday) to consider revising or repealing an ordinance requiring crisis pregnancy centers to post information about their operations. A 2010 Bill Spelman-sponsored ordinance required the pregnancy centers – mainly faith-based groups that do not provide medical care – to post signage stating that they do not provide abortion-related services or birth control. In response, several local CPC operators sued – as did similar clinics elsewhere – claiming the ordinance violates First Amendment protections. The city’s legal department is advising a repeal of the ordinance pending resolution of national litigation. Two items on this week’s agenda address the issue: The first (Item 17) would repeal the current ordinance, while the second (Item 45) proposes a new ordinance that would require a CPC to post signage stating simply whether it employs a licensed health care provider and whether the center is regulated by state or federal authority to provide medical services. As with the current ordinance, a failure to comply would be a class C misdemeanor, punishable by fine only.
This article appears in January 27 • 2012.