NYC PREGNANCY CENTERS WIN FREE SPEECH APPEAL

Linda Marzulla, far left, a pregnancy counselor, consoles a client at the EMC Pregnancy Center, in Brooklyn, N.Y.

By Emil Belz

NEW YORK—On January 17, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out key parts of New York City’s law requiring pregnancy centers to post signs saying they do not offer abortion referrals. That provision is a violation of the centers’ free speech, the court ruled.

The three-judge panel’s unanimous ruling was a substantial, but mixed, victory for the pregnancy centers. A lower federal judge had tossed out the city law in its entirety. The 2nd Circuit reinstated a portion of the law that requires centers to disclose whether they have medical personnel on staff. The ruling paralleled a 4th Circuit ruling on a similar law in Maryland.

In striking down the city law’s sign requirement, the 2nd Circuit ruled the law “requires centers to mention controversial services that some pregnancy services centers, such as plaintiffs in this case, oppose.”The ruling continued: “A requirement that pregnancy services centers address abortion, emergency contraception, or prenatal care at the beginning of their contact with potential clients alters the centers’ political speech by mandating the manner in which the discussion of these issues begins. … The centers must be free to formulate their own address.”

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