The Supreme Court did not deliver its decision Monday in the case of California’s so-called Reproductive FACT Act [“FACT” stands for Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency]. A decision could come later this week.
I think it would be fair to say that the savvier pro-abortionists understand that this case has the potential to seriously disrupt a major Abortion Industry objective: compelling pro-life pregnancy centers to compromise their principles, lessen their impact, and to force them to do the bidding of the likes of Planned Parenthood. As we have posted many time, the intent of the legislature is to cripple pregnancy help centers.
The good news, for what it is worth, is that the media consensus was the justices were highly skeptical of California’s defense during oral arguments. In anticipation of the decision coming down very soon, we’re revisiting the topic in light of former New York Times Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse’s diatribe which appeared in the Times’ opinion section. It perfectly crystallizes the kind of “reasoning” you get when pro-abortionists feel threatened.
Are these pregnancy centers lavishly underwritten by the federal government or the states? Of course not. These are alternative to abortion organizations, which rely heavily on volunteers (like my middle daughter), and in most case receive little or no government funding.
California’s law, as Jay Hobbs has explained,
orders the pro-life organizations to prominently post and distribute the following notice. “California has public programs that provide immediate free or low-cost access to comprehensive family planning services (including all FDA-approved methods of contraception), prenatal care, and abortion for eligible women. To determine whether you qualify, contact the county social services office at [insert the telephone number].”
What about pregnancy centers that do not offer free medical services such as ultrasounds?
They must post the following disclaimer “conspicuously at the entrance to the facility” “in no less than 48-point type”: “This facility is not licensed as a medical facility by the State of California and has no licensed medical provider who provides or directly supervises the provision of services.”
From her position as a resident member of the elite of the Media Elite, Greenhouse can’t be bothered with the Big Brother aspect of this case. If she were, she might be troubled by the prospect of the entire force of the California governmental apparatus coming down on organizations that are hopelessly outgunned.
What about other courts which, unlike the oft-overturned U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, struck down very similar laws? That doesn’t deflect Greenhouse’s barrage of criticism.
Greenhouse’s overarching argument is all that California is requiring is the truth. Which(a) misses the entire point of compelling a pro-life organization to advertise to its clients that they can get free or reduced abortions elsewhere; and (b)is grounded in the pro-abortion meme that women-helping centers are by nature liars and ought to be put out of business.
Her snarkiest remark (there are many to choose from) is that a proper “translation” of this requirement is “if you were enticed here under false pretenses, the state is ready to help you get what you want.” That abortion clinics might fudge the details, give the truth a backhand (let alone flat-out lie to vulnerable women) is a thought that could never, ever cross Greenhouse’s mind. Planned Parenthood—the epitome of truth. After all, after she retired as the long-time Supreme Court reporter for the Times, she freely admitted she donated to PPFA while covering abortion stories.
REACH PRO-LIFE PEOPLE WORLDWIDE! Advertise with LifeNews to reach hundreds of thousands of pro-life readers every week. Contact us today.
To come full circle, a primary mission of the abortion industry and its legion of media apologists is to drive its “competition” out of business. What makes them so nervous is not their bogus pretense that women are lied to at these crisis pregnancy centers but that there are so many of them.
And nothing but nothing is more important to the Planned Parenthoods and Linda Greenhouses of this world than that no baby ever escape their clutches.
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared in at National Right to Life News Today —- an online column on pro-life issues.
