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LEGAL BATTLE
The Quest to Stifle Abortion Alternatives
By Andrea Garrett
CBN News Sr. Reporter
March 19, 2002
Attorneys for the New York City CPC's will meet with Attorney General Spitzer's office on April first for what Spitzer calls "settlement discussions."
CBN.com - NEW YORK — Crisis pregnancy centers are non-profit ministries that help women in unplanned pregnancies. They rely on an army of caring volunteers, and usually get by on a shoestring budget.
But now, pro-abortion groups want to shut them down.
The move to stifle CPC's is underway in New York City, where a legal battle now rages over the very life and future of crisis pregnancy centers.
Behind the legal battle, the lives of mothers and their unborn babies are at stake. Eighteen-year-old Karla is pregnant and unmarried. With nowhere to turn, she saw a huge
sign that said "Unplanned Pregnancy?" So she went inside to ask about an abortion.
"When I came in, the first question I asked was, ‘Is this an abortion clinic?’ And she said, ‘No, this is abortion alternative,’" Karla
recalled. She had entered a crisis pregnancy center in her south Bronx neighborhood.
The center does not provide abortions. Instead, the volunteers who work here help hundreds of women in unplanned pregnancies every year. They providing free pregnancy tests,
sonograms and pre-natal care. They even arrange for volunteer doctors to deliver babies free of charge at a nearby hospital.
But if New York's attorney general has his way, women like Karla may not have centers like this one to turn to. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has launched an
investigation into CPC’s, charging them with everything from deceptive advertising to practicing medicine without a license.
Spitzer says the goal is to protect the consumer. But Expectant Mother Care director Chris Slattery says the investigation is about something else. "This was purely an ideological effort of the attorney general to pay back his ideological friends in the abortion camp," Slattery said.
Attorney General Spitzer has strong ties to pro-abortion activists in New York. His investigation comes right out of a pro-abortion handbook called "A Step By Step Guide
to Unmasking Fake Clinics."
The booklet is published by NARAL, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. NARAL did not respond to requests for an interview about the book, but in it,
activists are encouraged to enlist the help of their state attorney general to investigate and severely regulate what CPC volunteers can say and do. And that is exactly what is happening in New York.
In January, Spitzer's office issued subpoenas to 10 New York City pregnancy centers demanding records about employees, donors, volunteers, fundraising letters, and CPC
procedures.
American Center for Law and Justice Attorney Vincent McCarthy, who represents five New York CPC’s, says the centers have not violated any New York laws and he calls the
whole thing a fishing expedition.
"He's trying to come up with evidence of wrongdoing before he has the evidence of wrongdoing, and you can't do that with a subpoena. A subpoena is only to obtain
evidence of wrongdoing that the attorney general has already identified," McCarthy said.
Because this is an ongoing investigation, no one from the attorney general's office would speak to CBN News on camera. But the office did send a fax outlining potential
problems with CPC’s.
One area of concern to the attorney general is alleged false advertising. He says ads mislead women to think they can get an abortion at the CPC. Slattery says some women,
like Karla, at first think the center provides abortion, but are quickly told it is an abortion alternative center.
Karla says she never felt deceived. And after talking with a CPC counselor, she changed her mind about abortion. "At that point I thought, ‘I can't do this, I
can't kill a child,’" she said. Karla is now six months pregnant and planning to keep her baby.
And what about print ads? The New York Yellow Pages requires CPC’s to advertise under the "abortion alternatives" section, with a disclaimer saying these
organizations do not provide abortion services.
Again, McCarthy says the centers have done nothing wrong. "In none of the advertising of any of the CPC’s in New York do they offer abortion services, nor do they
claim to offer abortion services. I've reviewed all the advertising. There's nothing that makes a claim that they don't actually perform," she said.
Karen, who came to the CPC when she was pregnant with her son Ray, says the advertisement she saw was very clear. "In the advertising they tell you you're gonna get a
free pregnancy test. You get that. They say they're gonna help you and guide you through the whole thing, which they do," she said.
The attorney general also wants to know if CPC's are practicing medicine without a license. Most CPC’s are counseling centers only. But some, like Expectant Mother
Care in the Bronx, have licensed sonogram technicians and medical doctors who care for clients. They also use volunteer counselors, who have no medical training. But then again, neither do most counselors who
volunteer at abortion clinics.
"The reality is the counselors at abortion clinics, in almost all cases, are not licensed. Just like the counselors in the pregnancy centers," Slattery said.
"We're particularly stretched and would find it impossible to hire fully licensed counselors, and in most cases counselors in centers are volunteers."
In a recent surprise move, the attorney general withdrew the subpoenas issued to the ten New York area pregnancy centers. He says he has done so to create a climate for
"negotiations" with the centers. What he wants is for the New York City area centers to sign an agreement like one the attorney general got just two weeks ago from a tiny CPC called "Birthright of
Victor, New York." Spitzer wants to use it as a model for all CPC’s in the state.
Among other things, the birthright center agreed to give the attorney general the right to review and approve all of its brochures, written material and advertisements for a
period of five years.
McCarthy says the CPC’s he represents will not agree to such terms. "Those are not the terms we will agree to because it gives the attorney general control over the
CPC’s," he said.
And who controls the CPC’s is at the heart of this case. So is the issue of free speech. Chris Slattery says the attorney general wants them to stop talking to women
about abortion, and that is something he says he will never agree to do.
"They want to basically gag us, put gags over our mouths, stop us from speaking against abortion," he said. "And we won't sign any agreement that in any way
inhibits our speech about abortion."
Attorneys for the New York City CPC's will meet with Attorney General Spitzer's office on April first for what Spitzer calls "settlement discussions."
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