Post by MooseNugget on Jul 24, 2017 21:02:32 GMT
Last week Hawaii Gov. David Ige signed a law into effect requiring pregnancy-care centers inform clients about all available reproductive health services, including access to contraception and abortion.
Conservative Christian groups are not happy.
A day after the law took effect, the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on behalf of A Place for Women in Waipoi, a church-operated crisis pregnancy center, and five other Hawaiian centers affiliated with the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates.
They argue that the new law infringes on the centers’ rights to free speech and exercise of religion.
Those who don’t comply can be fined $500 for a first-time offense and $1,000 for any subsequent act of noncompliance. The law also allows pregnant women to sue noncomplying clinics they received services from for damages.
“State sponsored anti-life activists are so in love with abortion that they want to suppress the free speech rights of pro-life pregnancy centers in Hawaii and force them to become abortion referral agencies,” said NIFLA president Thomas Glessner in an April statement. “They cannot tolerate the existence of life-affirming pregnancy centers that give mothers contemplating abortion hope and support as they are empowered to choose life.”
The law was submitted by Hawaii’s Women’s Legislative Caucus and requires that all centers providing pregnancy- or family-planning related services inform their clients of access to state reproductive health programs. According to the text, the legislation is designed to ensure women can “make and implement informed, timely, and personally appropriate reproductive health decisions.
Conservative Christian groups are not happy.
A day after the law took effect, the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on behalf of A Place for Women in Waipoi, a church-operated crisis pregnancy center, and five other Hawaiian centers affiliated with the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates.
They argue that the new law infringes on the centers’ rights to free speech and exercise of religion.
Those who don’t comply can be fined $500 for a first-time offense and $1,000 for any subsequent act of noncompliance. The law also allows pregnant women to sue noncomplying clinics they received services from for damages.
“State sponsored anti-life activists are so in love with abortion that they want to suppress the free speech rights of pro-life pregnancy centers in Hawaii and force them to become abortion referral agencies,” said NIFLA president Thomas Glessner in an April statement. “They cannot tolerate the existence of life-affirming pregnancy centers that give mothers contemplating abortion hope and support as they are empowered to choose life.”
The law was submitted by Hawaii’s Women’s Legislative Caucus and requires that all centers providing pregnancy- or family-planning related services inform their clients of access to state reproductive health programs. According to the text, the legislation is designed to ensure women can “make and implement informed, timely, and personally appropriate reproductive health decisions.
