Two pro-life pregnancy centers in California – Sacramento Life Center and the Alternatives Pregnancy Center – have been accused of refusing to comply with the state’s law requiring them to give women information on how to get abortions.
As Live Action News has covered, the so-called Reproductive FACT Act, which passed in 2015, requires licensed crisis pregnancy centers to provide information on how to obtain abortions and contraception, including information on public financial assistance if necessary. Several pregnancy centers have challenged the law in court as a violation of their free speech and religious liberty.
The noncompliance accusation comes from the pro-abortion lobbying group NARAL, which claims it has sent investigators to CPCs looking for the mandated abortion advertisements. In response, city attorney Gustavo Martinez said Sacramento officials are in the process of developing implementation procedures, and therefore NARAL’s demands for action against these CPCs were premature.
Also responding to the allegations, Sacramento Life Center executive director Marie Leatherby said no state officials have approached them about enforcing the law yet. “Our mission is about helping women carry their children to term. So, we’re just waiting to see how the lawsuit plays out.” And Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Matt Bowman noted the law was saddling these groups with “an impossible choice – either refer women to have a child killed or face punishment by the state of California.”
The lawsuit is pending, but in the meantime judges have refused to delay the law’s implementation.
