Montgomery County’s top attorney is standing behind a local law that requires pregnancy centers to post signs in their waiting rooms informing patients if they don’t employ medically licensed professionals, even though a judge threw out a similar ordinance in Baltimore. “Montgomery County’s regulation applies to all pregnancy centers regardless of viewpoint on birth control or abortions,” County Attorney Marc Hansen told The Washington Examiner on Tuesday. “We believe our ordinance is constitutional and serves an important role in providing women with enough information to make informed decisions.” But anti-abortion advocates — and lawyers representing a Silver Spring pregnancy center suing the county over the directive — were emboldened when U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis struck down a Baltimore law making the same demands of organizations not performing or referring for abortions and other birth control methods.
“The government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, require a ‘pro-life’ pregnancy-related service to post a sign,” Garbis ruled.
A mostly supportive County Council was briefed on Hansen’s stance during a closed-session meeting on Tuesday, according to multiple officials in attendance.
Former Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg, who was voted out of office in last year’s Democratic primary, pushed for the bill because she was concerned the centers were providing false information about the consequences of having an abortion — such as links to breast cancer and mental health issues. However, the legislation was amended to include all pregnancy centers because county lawyers feared it would be ruled unconstitutional.
But now the Alliance Defense Fund, a District-based organization that focuses on anti-abortion and freedom of speech cases — and represents Centro Tepeyac in the ongoing lawsuit — says the ordinance won’t be on the books much longer.
“What it communicates to women is that the government thinks you should go somewhere else,” said attorney Casey Mattox. “The laws are virtually indistinguishable. They intentionally crafted this bill to make sure it would not cover abortions but would single out pregnancy centers.”
Mattox noted that just one of the county’s four pregnancy centers employ licensed medical staff. Every county center that performs abortions uses licensed professionals.
But others say another judicial reversal would be disastrous for women seeking advice.
“The ruling is disturbing,” said Laura Meyers, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington. “Crisis pregnancy centers have an obligation to provide accurate information, and women should not be deceived by organizations with an ideological bias.”
