On air Wednesday night with Tucker Carlson, NIFLA president and founder Tom Glessner told the top-rated Fox News host and his audience what’s at the heart of California lawmakers’ attempt to force pro-life pregnancy centers to promote taxpayer-funded abortions.
At the core, “abortion is a sacrosanct rite” to the Left, said Glessner, whose organization is the named plaintiff in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Becerra, a case the Supreme Court said it would take up earlier this week.
The case is a challenge to a 2015 California law that would force community-supported pregnancy centers and ultrasound-equipped medical clinics to post onerous signage in their own waiting rooms and on disclosure forms notifying women of the state’s Medi-Cal program that offers abortions and chemical birth control, courtesy of the California taxpayer.
All 200 of the centers targeted are privately funded, including approximately 100 state-licensed medical facilities that offer free limited ultrasounds and—in some cases—STI testing and well-woman care.
Although a county superior court judge has already ruled that the law tramples on the state’s 1849 Declaration of Rights guaranteeing California citizens the “freedom of mind,” so-called free speech advocates on the Left have either stayed quiet about the law or, in the case of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), actually backed it, as well as similar state-level attempts to force pro-lifers to refer their own patients for abortion.
Asked by Carlson why the ACLU is failing to stand up for pro-life Americans’ free speech rights, Glessner’s answer was spot-on:
Glessner: “Well that’s interesting. The ACLU supports the freedom of speech for Nazis, the freedom of speech for communists, but they won’t touch the freedom of speech for pro-life pregnancy centers because abortion is a sacrosanct rite to these people.
Carlson: They worship it like a god… If you’re watching and people don’t agree with your politics or your views on abortion, you don’t have to, because it’s not about that, it’s about the freedom to say what you think.
Watch the entire interview, and read a partial transcript below.
Glessner: The issue before the Court is, “Can the government be empowered to force a charitable faith-based non-profit—or for that matter, any group—to speak a message with which they fundamentally disagree, and if they fail to comply, fine them, issue penalties and try to close them down, because that’s what they’re trying to do in California to pro-life pregnancy centers.
Carlson: Why would the state want to do this—hassle them and force to violate their beliefs?
Glessner: Because the far-Left, which is in control in California, is so in love with abortion they cannot tolerate anyone with an opposing view. They want to mandate that [pregnancy centers] support and speak and promote their state-sponsored abortion agenda. That’s the bottom line.
Carlson: Could the California beef producers force Hindu temples to serve hamburgers?
Glessner: If we lose the case, that could very well be. How about the state forcing Alcoholics Anonymous to post signs letting their members know where the local liquor store is?
Carlson: … This is really about an industry trying to shut down its opponents.
Glessner: It’s about a multi-million dollar industry—actually, maybe a billion-dollar industry, Planned Parenthood gets $500 million in federal funds [per year]—imposing their will on small, charitable, life-affirming agencies that have very little money and are staffed primarily by volunteers. Shame on them. This is just bullying tactics.
Carlson: So, the whole ‘Safe, legal and rare’ thing is no longer in operation. At least the ‘rare’ part, they’re not even pretending any more.
Glessner: It’s never safe. There’s always at least one dead victim in every abortion, but as the Gosnell case in Philadelphia showed, women die from abortion too.
Carlson: The people you’d think would be staying up late protecting our freedom of speech—where are they in this? How can the ACLU not weigh in on this?
Glessner: Well that’s interesting. The ACLU supports the freedom of speech for Nazis, the freedom of speech for communists, but they won’t touch the freedom of speech for pro-life pregnancy centers because abortion is a sacrosanct rite to these people.
Carlson: They worship it like a god… If you’re watching and people don’t agree with your politics or your views on abortion, you don’t have to, because it’s not about that, it’s about the freedom to say what you think.
LifeNews Note: Jay Hobbs writes for PregnancyHelpNews, where this originally appeared.
