Legislation targets

pregnancy centers

across Washington

By JOHN FORTMEYER
CNNW publisher
   OLYMPIA, Wash. — If passed and then signed by the governor, new state legislation would effectively force the roughly 50 pregnancy resource center ministries across Washington to close, according to center operators.
    Should that occur, it could also happen in many other states, they add.
   “This is definitely the most dangerous bill that has come across regarding pregnancy centers, in any state,” said Renee Wooten, founder and director of Options 360 centers in Clark County. “If it passes in Washington and becomes law, it becomes a template to go across the country.”
    Ministry leaders contend that both House Bill 1366 and Senate Bill 5274 are a renewed attempt to shut down the centers by abortion advocates and providers. Those in favor of the legislation charge that the centers offer false or misleading information about what services are offered and that clients are “denied needed referrals for reproductive health care.”

As this newspaper went to press in late January, a House committee was holding a hearing on the bill at the state Capitol in Olympia, and a big turnout by both sides of the abortion debate was anticipated.
     Wooten said the Democrat-controlled House is considered likely to pass the bill. Although Democrats also control the Senate, chances are currently better that the bill might fail there, she said. But if it did pass the full Legislature, Gov. Christine Gregoire is expected to sign it into law.
     The legislation would require the centers to disclose in several languages on first contact to anyone seeking services that the center does not provide — or refer for —abortion or comprehensive birth control services or provide medical care for pregnant women.
    It also would allow any person aggrieved by a violation to bring a civil legal action against the center.
    Wooten was one of five people scheduled to testify to the House panel on behalf of centers statewide. She said the proposed rules are not only onerous, but also unfairly and inaccurately reflect upon the centers.
    “They want right there, the first thing that the client sees, a statement of what we don’t do, not what we do,” she said.
     She noted that no other type of business in the state faces such a requirement.
    Furthermore, she said, it is false to say the centers provide no medical services. For example, Options 360 offers ultrasound exams, pregnancy testing and testing for sexually transmitted diseases, she said.
Perhaps the biggest threat to the centers is the immediate likelihood that civil lawsuits could be brought by anyone “aggrieved,” Wooten said. She interprets that to mean anyone who is even simply annoyed by a center’s policies or practices.
   “As soon as the bill becomes law, it’d happen the next day” she said.
    The Virginia-based National Institute of Family and Life Advocates is working closely with the centers to vigorously fight the legislation. Wooten noted that 62,000 women were provided free services by the centers statewide in 2010 and that in today’s economy, such services are critical.
    “Where would those 62,000 women go?” she asked.