Crisis pregnancy centers that don't offer or refer clients to abortion services or birth control services will now have to say that on signs posted at their facilities, the Austin City Council decided in a unanimous vote Thursday .

Council Member Bill Spelman proposed the ordinance, along with Council Members Laura Morrison and Mike Martinez , because they said the services that some centers offer can be unclear.

They are not medical clinics and typically offer adoption counseling, pregnancy tests and financial assistance but not other services to women with unplanned pregnancies, Spelman said.

Baltimore is the only other city in the nation that has passed a similar law. Austin's law will apply to only four or five facilities, aides to Spelman said. It won't affect Planned Parenthood facilities or city or state health clinics that provide or refer clients to abortion and birth control services.

Supporters of the centers affected by the law told the council that signs aren't necessary because the centers already clearly inform visitors about what services they offer.

They also questioned why abortion providers would not be required to post signs that they offer abortions. And a few said the law would be unconstitutional and infringe on religious freedoms. Some of the centers are faith-based.

"We are completely honest with the women and men who enter our facility about what services we provide and don't provide," said Marie Seale , the director of the Office of Pro-Life Activities and Chaste Living for the Diocese of Austin, which runs the crisis pregnancy center the Gabriel Project Life Center .

Every Gabriel visitor has to sign an intake form that says the center is not a medical facility and does not perform or refer women to abortion services, she said.

Backers of the sign idea said that women sometimes mistakenly assume the centers are clinics and that center volunteers provide misleading health information about abortions or actively try to dissuade clients from seeking abortions. They also said the law won't force centers to offer services they don't believe in.

"If a pregnant woman has decided that she's not going to have an abortion, then this sort of signage isn't going to dissuade her," Blake Rocap of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas told the council. "This (ordinance) just asks the centers to be honest about the services they do and don't provide."

Spelman said center operators won't be arrested if they violate the law. It will be complaint driven, and violators could face Class C misdemeanors that would be handled by Municipal Court and fines up to $450 per offense, he said.