Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
California — what can we say about this left coast state that hasn’t already been said? The legislature is pushing through a bill that would require medically licensed pregnancy centers to inform/remind expectant mothers that they can kill their unborn children at taxpayer-supported facilities.
WORLD reported that over 80 people testified against the Reproductive FACT Act, but it passed this month by a committee vote of 11 to 5. An excerpt:
The [abortion clinic availability] notices would include a phone number clients could call to access those services. The law also would require unlicensed pregnancy centers to provide notices stating they don’t have state approval. Failure to comply carries a $500 fine for the first offense and a $1,000 fine for subsequent offenses.
Though bill sponsor David Chiu, a Democrat, said it doesn’t impinge on pregnancy centers’ rights, pro-life advocates disagree. Heather Gebelin Hacker, a lawyer affiliated with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), said in testimony the bill violates the First Amendment by forcing pregnancy centers to provide a government-mandated, pro-abortion message. Expert witnesses from California Coalition of Pregnancy Clinics and Centers and Real Options Pregnancy Medical Clinics also testified against the bill.
“If a center speaks truthfully, it can choose what it says without any disclaimer,” Hacker told the committee. “[AB 775, instead] does exactly what the First Amendment prohibits.” Hacker also told me laws already exist to hold pregnancy centers accountable, should they falsely advertise.
What a legacy for liberals. Fighting to promote more dead babies.
For religious pro-lifers, especially those who see abortion as murder, it would be a clear violation of their faith and their conscience to point women to a killing center. Why would any lawmaker, no matter how leftist, support such a law? Women are well aware that they can legally kill their unborn children. The bill would impose on religious pregnancy centers.
And that’s the point.
Photo credit: Free Verse Photography (Creative Commons) – “Rally for Planned Parenthood Funding NYC 2/26/11” by Dave Bledsoe – Some Rights Reserved
