Updated: Bill to require crisis pregnancy centers to focus on scientific fact gets a hearing

This morning, the Senate Health Care committee considered a bill that would require “crisis pregnancy centers” to stick to dispensing scientific facts.

Crisis pregnancy centers, according to the bill report, are often run by religious organizations. They provide pregnancy tests, but do not provide medical care or referrals to medical care. “There is concern these facilities may not be fully disclosing their anti-abortion focus,” says the bill report. And: There is concern that the centers are providing false or misleading information to pregnant women, the report continues.

Here is the bill digest. Here’s the companion bill in the House, which hasn’t been scheduled for a hearing. I’ll update this post as soon as I listen to some of the testimony.

Update: Below you can find the video. Here’s a bit of what people had to say:

Sen. Rodney Tom: “It really is a pretty simple bill … One, if there are test results that those results be communicated immediately,” he said. He said there have been cases where pregnancy test results haven’t been shared with the woman for a week or more. He said the second goal is that any health information dispensed be “medically accurate” which is the same standard for schools. “What this bill doesn’t do is, we’re not trying to close these places. We’re not trying to restrict their First Amendment rights,” he said. “What they can’t do is try to use scare tactics … like saying if you have an abortion you’re going to have increased ovarian cancer chance.”

Sen. Joe Zarelli: “We need to first recognize that what we’re talking about are organizations that are religious in nature,” he said — and they’re expressing their religious views on abortion. He said restricting what the centers are able to say to patients would be like restricting what a pastor can tell his congregation. He also said the centers do not rely on a “single dollar” of public money. “If we talk about the issue of choice … then it would be pure hypocrisy in my mind to eliminate one of those options that women have… and leave them with only one source,” which would be nonreligious clinics that provide abortions, he said. The crowd clapped when he was finished speaking.

And the video:

Tags: abortion, crisis pregnancy, pregnancy