Posted on 10/21/2009 6:10:50 PM PDT by GeneralJustice
Baltimore City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and 10 members of the council are sponsoring a bill that Catholic leaders believe harasses pro-life pregnancy support centers.
City Council Bill 09-0406, “Limited-Service Pregnancy Centers –Disclaimers,” would require pregnancy support centers to post a disclaimer noting that they do not provide abortion or contraceptive services. Centers that do not comply would be fined $500 per day.
In an Oct. 16 letter to Rawlings-Blake, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien said the bill targets non-profit organizations whose mission is to help women carry pregnancies to term. He said it is “well-known” that pregnancy support centers are exclusively focused on assisting women in their choice for childbirth, and do not provide abortions or contraception.
“To fine a center $500 for not posting a sign that states as much is nothing short of harassment,” Archbishop O’Brien said, “especially when nothing in a pregnancy support center’s yellow page advertisements or Web pages would lead a woman to believe these centers provide abortions or abortion-related services.”
Ryan O’Doherty, Rawlings-Blake’s director of policy and communications, said the city council president was unavailable for an interview with The Catholic Review. He provided a copy of Rawlings-Blake’s Oct. 16 letter responding to the archbishop.
“I believe this measure is needed to secure women’s access to accurate and safe medical information,” Rawlings-Blake wrote, adding that “simple compliance” with the ordinance ensures no penalties or fines.
“Of course, I support efforts by nonprofit organizations to assist future mothers,” she said. “This ordinance does nothing to hamper those efforts.”
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicreview.org ...
Baltimore... Nancy Pelosi’s hometown.
I propose a measure that would require Rawlings-Blake to kiss my backside each morning or face a fine of $500 per day.
This is not unreasonable. Simple compliance with the ordinance would ensure that no penalties or fines ever have to take place.
I'm sure we can expect that they will also propose a bill requiring that abortionists post disclaimers that they DO provide abortions or face a $500 fine. /s
Pure evil.
Can’t she think of anything better to do than produce a piece of nonsense legislation like this? Baltimore must be hard up for cash if she has to go to these lengths.
Hey, Stephie, how about a law mandating that people put their left shoe or their left foot?
What an @$$.
I volunteered at a Crisis Pregnancy Center in Florida and they had to advertise in a section in the Yellow Pages that said “The following providers have stated that they DO NOT provide abortions or refer for abortions.” or words to that effect. Curiously, the abortion “clinics” not only advertised IN THAT SECTION but also in the one right after that that said “The following providers ...state that they DO provide abortions...”
Hard to believe anyone checked.
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