SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court has refused to block a new law requiring religiously sponsored antiabortion clinics known as "crisis pregnancy centers'' to notify patients that the state makes reproductive health services, including abortion, available at little or no cost.
The clinics argued that the law violates their freedom of speech. The state-mandated notices are "the equivalent of a referral for abortion,'' attorney Francis Manion of the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative legal organization, said in a court filing this week.
But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied a request by three Northern California clinics Wednesday for an injunction that would have blocked the law while they challenged its constitutionality. The panel of Judges Edward Leavy, Milan Smith and Sandra Ikuta, all Republican appointees, said the clinics were unlikely to prevail in their appeal of a federal judge's ruling allowing the law to take effect Friday.
Crisis pregnancy centers offer free counseling and services to pregnant women, including pregnancy tests and ultrasound examinations, but steer them away from abortions. There are about 2,500 centers nationwide and at least 228 in California, according to a legislative staff analysis of the new law.
The measure, introduced by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, requires state-licensed reproductive health centers, including crisis pregnancy centers that have a doctor on their staff, to notify clients of the full range of low-cost or free reproductive health services available under state law. Those services include contraception, prenatal care and abortion. The notices must list the phone number of the county social service center.
Clinics without a doctor are not licensed by the state and will have to tell clients they are unlicensed.
In a ruling Dec. 18 denying an injunction against the law, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of Oakland said the notices that the clinics will have to give their patients contain "only factual and incontrovertibly true information about the range of pregnancy-related public health services available.'' He said the state is not endorsing those services or preventing the clinics from speaking out against them.
Manion said Thursday that his clients will continue to challenge the law in the appeals court.
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The clinics argued that the law violates their freedom of speech. The state-mandated notices are "the equivalent of a referral for abortion,'' attorney Francis Manion of the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative legal organization, said in a court filing this week.
But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied a request by three Northern California clinics Wednesday for an injunction that would have blocked the law while they challenged its constitutionality. The panel of Judges Edward Leavy, Milan Smith and Sandra Ikuta, all Republican appointees, said the clinics were unlikely to prevail in their appeal of a federal judge's ruling allowing the law to take effect Friday.
Crisis pregnancy centers offer free counseling and services to pregnant women, including pregnancy tests and ultrasound examinations, but steer them away from abortions. There are about 2,500 centers nationwide and at least 228 in California, according to a legislative staff analysis of the new law.
The measure, introduced by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, requires state-licensed reproductive health centers, including crisis pregnancy centers that have a doctor on their staff, to notify clients of the full range of low-cost or free reproductive health services available under state law. Those services include contraception, prenatal care and abortion. The notices must list the phone number of the county social service center.
Clinics without a doctor are not licensed by the state and will have to tell clients they are unlicensed.
In a ruling Dec. 18 denying an injunction against the law, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of Oakland said the notices that the clinics will have to give their patients contain "only factual and incontrovertibly true information about the range of pregnancy-related public health services available.'' He said the state is not endorsing those services or preventing the clinics from speaking out against them.
Manion said Thursday that his clients will continue to challenge the law in the appeals court.
Collect by: http://tinyurl.com/j8r7smm
