Pro-life advocates gather near the U.S. Supreme Court during the annual March for Life in Washington Jan. 19. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 June 26 that a California law which placed requirements on crisis pregnancy centers that oppose abortion violates the First Amendment. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
The U.S. Supreme Court 5-4 ruling June 26 that a California law that placed requirements on crisis pregnancy centers that oppose abortion violated the First Amendment has pleased a Hawaii lawyer fighting a similar Hawaii law.
“Everybody in the country ought to be celebrating” the court’s decision, attorney James Hochberg told the Hawaii Catholic Herald July 2.
The court, in its decision in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Becerra, found that the law changes the content of the clinic’s speech “by compelling petitioners to speak a particular message.” It said that the law went further than being a mere “regulation of professional conduct that incidentally burdens speech.”
The California law in question is the Reproductive FACT Act, which says pregnancy centers must post notices in their facilities about where low-cost abortion services are available.
Last year, the Hawaii State Legislature on May 4 passed Senate Bill 501 which compels Hawaii’s six pregnancy care centers to post or distribute information referring clients to state-provided prenatal services that would include contraception and abortion. Failure to provide this information would incur a fine of $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense.
Gov. David Ige signed SB 501 into law a year ago July 11. The next day, an Oahu pro-life pregnancy resource center and a national network of pregnancy resource centers filed a federal lawsuit to halt the enforcement of the law.
Attorneys for Alliance Defending Freedom, a non-profit legal group supporting faith-based freedom of speech causes, filed the suit on behalf of Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor’s A Place for Women and the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, which represents most of Hawaii’s five other pregnancy counseling centers.
U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson put his decision on hold pending the Supreme Court ruling. The day after the high court ruled he ordered the parties in the lawsuit to submit a “joint status conference statement” by July 9 in order to proceed with the case.
SB 501 requires “limited service pregnancy centers” to display “in a clear and conspicuous place” the following message on letter-size paper in no less than 22-point type:
“Hawaii has public programs that provide immediate free or low-cost access to comprehensive family planning services, including, but not limited to, all FDA-approved methods of contraception and pregnancy-related services for eligible women. To apply online for medical insurance coverage, that will cover the full range of family planning and prenatal care services, go to mybenefits.hawaii.gov. Only ultrasounds performed by qualified healthcare professionals and read by advanced clinicians should be considered medically accurate.”
The lawsuit, Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor v. Chin, asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii to declare SB 501 unconstitutional. It lists state attorney general Douglas S. Chin and Gov. Ige as defendants.
“Nobody should be compelled by the government to say anything against their conscience,” said Hochberg.
According to Alliance Defending Freedom, courts on the Mainland have “invalidated or mostly invalidated” similar laws in Texas, Maryland and New York City.
Hawaii has six pro-life pregnancy counseling centers. They are Malama Pregnancy Center, Wailuku, Maui; The Pregnancy Center, Kona, Big Island; A Place for Women, Waipio, Oahu; two Pregnancy Problem Centers of Hawaii, one in the Waiakamilo Shopping Center, Oahu, the other in Pearl City; and Aloha Pregnancy Care and Counseling Center, Kaneohe, Oahu.
All have some kind of religious affiliation. The Pregnancy Problem Center of Hawaii was founded by Robert Pearson, a Catholic.
According to their websites, all offer pregnancy tests and counseling. Most advertise adoption information, childbirth classes, abstinence education, and post-abortion recovery counseling. Some offer ultrasound exams.
Some centers explicitly say they do not offer abortions or abortion referrals, while offering information about “abortion methods and risks.”
Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, on June 26 praised the Supreme Court ruling as “an important victory for the free speech rights of pro-life organizations.”
“The Supreme Court today has affirmed that the First Amendment protects the right of all organizations to choose for themselves not only what to say, but what not to say,” he said in a statement.
“This includes allowing pro-life pregnancy care centers to continue providing life-affirming support to both mother and child without being forced by governments to provide free advertising for the violent act of abortion in direct violation of the center’s pro-life convictions,” he said.
According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of Susan B. Anthony List, 2,750 pregnancy crisis centers around the country served nearly 2 million people in 2017.
Catholic News Service contributed to this story.
