Planned Parenthood of Maryland is trying to push through a new bill in Baltimore that would require pregnancy centers to post signs saying the do not provide or make referrals for abortion or birth control.
Baltimore Law Would Be A National Model
According to the Baltimore Sun, Keiren Havens, Vice President of Planned Parenthood of Maryland, “says the local effort could serve as a national model.” She continues, “We’ve been very concerned about crisis pregnancy centers for quite a while,” she said. “There’s a growing national network of crisis pregnancy centers that are specifically designed to target what they call abortion-vulnerable women and deny them full medical information about abortion and contraception, including referrals for those services. And that’s of great concern to us just as a public health issue.”
Right. Or maybe it’s of great concern to them as a monetary issue. Pregnancy centers cost them money through lost abortions, and they don’t like that.
The article continues, “It’s not asking these centers to provide any sort of service that they find objectionable,” added Jennifer Blasdell, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland. “It’s just asking them to disclose what is true.”
Name one other business that has to advertise services it doesn’t provide. Maybe I’m not thinking hard enough, but I don’t know of any. I picture grocery stores with signs listing the produce they don’t provide—no organic bananas sold here—or restaurants with signs that say they don’t serve seafood or steak or anything vegan.
Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien of the Archdiocese of Maryland, which supports the pregnancy centers in Baltimore said, “When Planned Parenthood puts out in their literature … that they do not provide baby formula and care for pregnant women to find homes for the babies, when they’re asked to do that, we can come to some kind of compromise on what this city is expecting of us,” he said.
Chicago Police Flummoxed By Bubble Law
Speaking of bad laws that Planned Parenthood hopes to spread around the nation, the Chicago Bubble Zone has been in effect since Tuesday, November 17. The police have had difficulty understanding the meaning of the law, which of course makes it extremely difficult to enforce.
At Family Planning Associates, Albany Medical-Surgical Center, the site of our fall 40 Days for Life Vigil, the police—after consulting with the clinic staff—determined that the law forbid pro-lifers from standing within 50 feet of the clinic. They decided that the 8-foot bubble applies outside of that 50 feet—stretching, presumably, into infinity…
Meanwhile, at Planned Parenthood at 1200 N. LaSalle, police interpreted it to mean that if any person comes within 8 feet of a pro-lifer, the pro-lifer needed to beat a hasty retreat to get out of that other person’s bubble. Two of the counselors who go there every Saturday persuaded the officer to let us remain on the sidewalk along the street for the rest of the morning, but the issue remains to be resolved.
I took a video of the officer explaining his understanding of the law to us. It’s available on YouTube. (It’s worth subscribing to our channel, so you can see all the new videos we post. Just follow that link and click the big gold “Subscribe” button.)
Apparently the officer called on to enforce the law in front of Planned Parenthood was bothered by the fact that he had received no training in how to enforce this law, so he planned to call the attorneys for the city of Chicago to figure out how to handle this situation in the future. I overheard him tell Planned Parenthood’s attorney that the law is “vague.” I hope the courts will agree on this point when the Thomas More Society tries to get this lousy thing thrown out.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving! Know that one of the things we, at the League, are thankful for is you—our loyal supporters.
