Pro-Choice Austinites Praise City Council Members for Introducing Commonsense Ordinance Aimed at Crisis Pregnancy Centers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 2, 2010 Pro-Choice Austinites Praise City Council Members for Introducing Commonsense Ordinance Aimed at Crisis Pregnancy Centers Austin, TX – Sara Cleveland, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, today praised Austin City Council Members Bill Spelman, Laura Morrison, and Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez for introducing an ordinance which would ensure full disclosure about the services offered – and not offered – by Austin limited service pregnancy centers, also known as crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs). Many of these centers are unregulated and some falsely advertise that they offer abortion options or counseling when in fact they are centers created solely to dissuade women from exercising their right to choose. “Enactment of this ordinance will empower women by giving them full information up front about what to expect from a limited service pregnancy center. This provision does not ask a facility to provide any services they find objectionable, it only asks them to tell the truth about the nature of their services. We look forward to Mayor Leffingwell signing this important ordinance and applaud our Council Members’ leadership in support of unbiased, medically accurate information,” states Sara Cleveland, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. Dr. Stephanie Reich, an Ob/Gyn explains, "As a doctor who has delivered hundreds of babies to Austin families during my 18 years of practice, I know pregnancy is a serious health matter. The women of Austin deserve to know whether the information they are receiving about their pregnancy is complete, medically accurate, and delivered by a licensed professional." NARAL Pro-Choice Texas has long worked to expose the deceptive practices of certain CPCs, publishing multiple research reports about them since 2005. Many CPCs list themselves in phone and online directories under the headings "abortion," "abortion alternatives," "family planning information centers" or "women’s health organization" even though the abortion service they provide is to dissuade women from exercising their right to choose by using anti-choice propaganda. "Many CPCs use deceptive and manipulative tactics that prevent women from making fully informed choices about their reproductive health and that’s simply unacceptable," Cleveland said. The Reverend Janet Maykus, Director of Lifelong Learning at Austin Seminary agrees, "Access to all pertinent information is essential to any person making any decision. It is neither ethical nor kind to deceive women with misleading information or half-truths while making family planning decisions. The truth, the whole truth, should be transparent and women should make important decisions like this in consultation with their families, their physicians, and should they choose, their spiritual advisors." "We should all be able to agree with the ordinance's goals of truth in advertising. Lines are crossed when a CPC is not up front about its services, or when a center uses misinformation," continued Cleveland. NARAL Pro-Choice Texas investigated three centers in Austin, all of which gave misinformation about abortion or birth control and none of which would provide a referral, even for birth control. The ordinance requires CPCs to prominently display, at the entrance of the Center, two black and white signs, one in English and one in Spanish, that state as follows: "This center does not provide abortions or refer to abortion providers. This center does not provide or refer to providers of U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved birth control drugs and medical devices." Each sign must be at least eight and one-half inches by eleven inches and the text must be in a font size of at least 48 point. Cleveland continues, "As an Austinite, I am proud to live in a forward-thinking, progressive community which cares deeply about protecting its citizens from deceptive practices. I am grateful for council members who are in tune with the needs of our community and who demonstrate their foresight, wisdom, responsibility and excellent judgment by advancing important consumer protection ordinances like this one." Contact: Sara Cleveland, 512-462-1661 ###
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