Bill would make 'crisis pregnancy centers' disclose anti-abortion agendas

For years, women's rights groups have complained about "limited service pregnancy centers," which often look like medical clinics - with helpful counselors, pregnancy tests and ultrasounds - but really exist to push an anti-abortion agenda.

A bill introduced Wednesday in the Legislature seeks to make the motives of such centers more transparent. It would require them to disclose upfront that they do not perform abortions or refer clients to abortion providers; give out comprehensive birth control; or provide medical care for pregnant women.

Introduced by Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, the bill (HB 1366) would also require centers to give pregnancy tests results to clients as soon as possible, instead of withholding or delaying them, a common complaint. The bill would also mandate that centers follow privacy standards used by health-care professionals.

Sara Ainsworth, senior legal and legislative counsel for Legal Voice, a women's rights group, said some centers are "forthright" in disclosing their program of dissuading women from getting an abortion, or using birth control other than abstinence.

"But the majority are not, in our experience," she said. She said the centers, of which there are 46 in Washington, usually offer free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds that attract young, low-income women.

She also said the withholding of a pregnancy-test document delays a woman's access to care, whether it's an abortion or prenatal services.

Legal Voice and Planned Parenthood have also long complained that such centers give women misleading medical advice, such as inflating the failure rate of birth control devices, or saying "abortions cause breast cancer," Ainsworth said. The bill would not regulate such statements.

A similar bill introduced last year died in the Legislature.

On Friday, Virginia-based Care Net, one of the country's biggest networks of Christian pregnancy centers, came out swinging against the bill.

Care Net president Melinda Delahoyde quoted a previous statement by Gov. Chris Gregoire on grim budget cuts to social and health services, in which the governor reportedly said:

State government can't do it anymore…It's up to the nonprofits, it's up to the faith community, it's up to us. It's up to our families and our friends and our neighbors to help out those we know, and those we don't know or never met.

The state is facing a $4.6 billion deficit in the next two-year state budget.

If the governor is calling on non-profits and faith groups to fill the gap, Delahoyde said, "it's common sense that this bill needs to be defeated."

In an emailed statement, she said pregnancy centers in Washington provide an estimated $18.6 million of free maternal and infant services a year. Care Net has 38 affiliated centers in the state.

"This bill is not only unwarranted, it's unconstitutional and an attack on the rights of pregnant women to have a choice in where they go in the community for assistance," she said.