- Via Liber-Tees.
Speaking of NARAL, at the top of the reproductive rights agenda in Olympia this session is a bill (house version here, senate version here) that would require "limited service pregnancy centers" to provide accurate information about their services, offer immediate results from pregnancy tests, and protect the privacy of the women who come to them for help.
The problem with these centers is not limited to Washington State (where 46 of them operate in 21 different counties). As the New York Times recently reported:
The centers—crisis pregnancy centers—provide support for women who would like to continue their pregnancies but are in dire financial straits. They provide useful social service referrals and offer a sympathetic ear for women continuing their pregnancies.They do not, however, provide a full range of alternatives (like the morning-after pill) or condone all choices. To the contrary, they oppose abortion, and their staff members try their hardest to talk women out of having one, even if that means, according to Planned Parenthood of New York City, showing them graphic images and telling them that “God will never forgive you.”
A yearlong investigation by Naral Pro-Choice New York found that crisis pregnancy centers — in addition to the E.M.C. centers, there are at least four others in the city — feed women information that has been medically refuted (including an old standby, rejected by the National Cancer Institute, that abortions cause higher rates of breast cancer).
More here. In a recent statement on his proposed legislation, State Sen. Kevin Ranker (D-40) said: "Due to our state’s dire financial straits, more and more Washingtonians are finding themselves without insurance, desperate for affordable, quality healthcare. This bill makes sure that all women, regardless of their economic situation, have equal access to information about the kind of pregnancy care they'll receive."
In other words, it makes it harder for anti-choice activists to masquerade as evenhanded health care providers.
Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-41) is the prime sponsor of the companion bill in the state house.
