Measure Would Have Centers Tell Clients Up Front That They Do Not Provide Medical Advice or Establish Doctor-Patient Relationships
ROCKVILLE, Md., November 9, 2009—Montgomery County Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At Large) on Tuesday, Nov. 10, will introduce a resolution for the Council, acting as the County’s Board of Health, that would require Limited Service Pregnancy Centers, which are also known as Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs), to notify clients that the center will not be providing medical advice or establishing a doctor-patient relationship. The resolution also would require the CPCs to recommend to the client that she should seek out a qualified health care professional.
Councilmembers Roger Berliner, Valerie Ervin, Marc Elrich, Nancy Floreen, George Leventhal and Nancy Navarro are cosponsors of the resolution. If the County’s Board of Health approves the measure, Montgomery County would be the first local jurisdiction in the nation to have such an action approved by its board of health.
Currently, there are three family planning clinics in Montgomery County that receive partial public funding. There are four Crisis Pregnancy Centers in the County, none of which receive public funding.
A public hearing on the resolution is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 1.
“The Montgomery County Council, sitting as the Board of Health, has an obligation to protect the public’s health,” said Councilmember Trachtenberg, who is a member of the Council’s Health and Human Services Committee. “Nothing is more important than the protection of the health and well-being of women in Montgomery County. Requiring full disclosure of crisis pregnancy centers is critical, given that there are more CPCs in the County than there are publicly-funded comprehensive family planning clinics.”
Councilmember Trachtenberg said that the legislation is needed because CPCs often provide false and misleading information to women. She said that CPCs often tell clients that abortions make future pregnancy impossible; that abortions and oral contraceptives cause breast cancer; and that condoms are ineffective in preventing pregnancy and STDs. Overall, she said that CPCs often discourage women from seeking contraception or abortion.
“Women seeking medical attention shouldn’t have to guess whether a ‘pregnancy’ clinic provides full-service care, including contraceptive services—this information should be made readily available to them,” said Councilmember Navarro.
The proposed regulation would not force any CPCs to close. CPCs would still be allowed to counsel and provide accurate information to women who choose to carry their pregnancies to term. However, the regulation would make sure women are given accurate information about the CPC from the start of their visits. The regulation also requires that the information be made available in English and Spanish.
Said Councilmember Elrich: "Misleading advertising serves no one well in any circumstances, and most certainly not in a time of vulnerability. We owe it to the women of Montgomery County to make sure they are going into any counseling situation with an accurate understanding of the type of advice and services they may receive.”
Said Councilmember Floreen: “Pregnancy can be a time of great joy and also of tremendous confusion. As women face some of the most complicated and meaningful decisions of their lives, we owe it to them to make sure they receive thorough and medically sound information.”
Said Councilmember Leventhal: “Women in crisis need a full range of options presented to them fairly and objectively. This legislation will ensure that women understand the nature of advice they are receiving.”
A 2006 report by Congressman Henry Waxman of California entitled, “False and Misleading Health Information Provided by Federally Funded Pregnancy Resource Centers,” stated that during an investigation of 23 CPCs that received federal grants, “20 of the 23 centers (87 percent) provided false or misleading information about the health effects of abortion.”
Pregnancy resource centers received approximately $1 million through the Compassion Capital Fund, created in 2002 as a component of the Bush Administration’s faith-based initiative, according to the report. The report also said that CPCs received more than $24 million in Community-Based Abstinence Education funds between 2001 and 2005, and at least $6 million from abstinence funding provided to states.
Among those who have said they support the resolution the Council will be considering are NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, the D.C. Abortion Fund (DCAF), Potomac Family Planning, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Abortion Federation and the National Institute for Reproductive Health. In addition, the measure is supported by Susan Wood, who is an associate professor of Health Policy and of Environmental and Occupational Health for the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services and the executive director of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health, and Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women.
CONTACT: Pat Brennan 240-777-7829
Would this legislation also require that clinics that perform abortions but do not offer adoption services, parenting classes, or material assistance to women who need help to be able to continue their pregnancies advertise information about which services they do not provide?
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