Late last year, Baltimore City Council passed an ordinance requiring “limited service pregnancy centers” that do not provide abortion or birth control services to post signs saying so. The bill was enacted in response to complaints from pro-choicers that these centers were providing inaccurate and misleading information. Like, claiming that abortions are connected to breast cancer, for instance. They also tend to set up shop right next to actual clinics with actual health professionals who offer real, nonjudgmental options counseling to women. And they typically lure patients in with offers of free pregnancy testing (which just happens to come with also-free hysterical rhetoric about the evils of abortion).
So, the law passed, the signs are posted, and it all seems fairly straightforward and unobjectionable. The Archdiocese of Baltimore does not agree. In fact, it sued the city, claiming that the new law violates the centers’ free speech, religion, and assorted other rights. Also, the signs they have to post are untrue. Um, what? According to the complaint in the lawsuit, “The Ordinance requires the Center to post a sign saying that it does not provide birth control services. In fact, the Center does provide birth-control services in the form of education about abstinence and natural family planning.”
And they wonder why people thought these centers were misleading people?
Jeez, if I were in charge of telling these centers what disclaimer they had to post, it would be more along the lines of “This is a Christian organization with no licensed medical professionals or therapists on staff. We can’t control our families; let us tell you what to do with yours,” or “we don’t trust women, but we’ll gladly tell you what a whore you are for having sex!”
Seems pretty innocuous, on the other hand, to make them say upfront that they don’t provide abortions, since a) they don’t, and b) as far as I can tell, they’ve always been pretty proud of that fact.
Also, isn’t the Catholic Church a little busy with problems involving already-born children to be getting so up in arms over this?
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