Supreme Court to decide on California abortion question

WASHINGTON — About 200 California crisis pregnancy centers run by abortion opponents now offer free goods and services to pregnant women — and state law says they also have to tell them information about abortions.

We shouldn’t have to do that, say center officials.

It’ll be up to the U.S. Supreme Court to decide, and Tuesday, the court will hear oral arguments from both sides.

The centers are often affiliated with religiousaffiliated groups. California in 2015 enacted a law requiring the centers to post signs in waiting rooms that inform clients of other centers that offer “immediate free or low-cost access to comprehensive family planning services, prenatal care, and abortion, for eligible women.”

The state also requires such centers that aren’t medically licensed to inform clients of that fact.

Thomas Glessner, president of National Institutes of Family and Life Advocates, which filed the lawsuit against California, said the law forces its centers to become “abortion referral agencies.” NIFLA has ties to 1,500 such centers nationwide.

“We’re talking about nonprofit, private speakers who want to give a message that is deeply moral,” said Denise Harle, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, which defends medical staff working in such centers and supports NIFLA in the case. “For them to point the way to free and low-cost abortions deeply burdens their conscience.”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra countered that it’s critical that pregnant women, faced with time-sensitive decisions about their health, receive accurate information.

“Information is power and all women must have access to factual information regarding their health care,” said Becerra.

Legal experts say the issue before the court is that of free speech, specifically what a nonprofit can be compelled to inform clients through signage and notices.