Hartford leaders will press ahead with enforcement of a controversial ordinance banning deceptive practices at so-called crisis pregnancy centers, which critics say sometimes pose as medical clinics to lure women and hand out misleading information about abortions.
The city council adopted the ordinance in December, with the aim of enforcement beginning July 1. The mandate requires faith-based pregnancy centers to disclose whether their staff carry medical licenses, and it prohibits the establishments from engaging in false or deceptive advertising practices.
The city suspended its plans for enforcement in late June after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a California law that required the centers to tell clients they can access free and low-cost abortion plans. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the court’s majority opinion that California had unlawfully compelled the faith-based centers to give women information inimical to their beliefs.
But Mayor Luke Bronin said Wednesday that, after consulting with lawyers, Hartford plans to move forward with enforcement. Starting Oct. 1, pregnancy centers in the city that do not have a licensed medical provider on staff or on site must post a sign in the window and in the reception area saying so. Signs must be in English and Spanish. The centers are also required to disclose it on telephone calls and on their websites.
“The California law required a lot more affirmative statements by the centers,” Bronin said. “This is a very simple, narrowly tailored disclosure. … We have consulted widely, we have talked to a legal expert in this area and we are confident that our ordinance as enacted will withstand challenge.”
The city’s health and human services department will be in charge of enforcement. Fines of $100 a day may be levied against centers that violate the ordinance.
In Hartford, officials have targeted a facility on Jefferson Street called the Hartford Women’s Center, located just steps from an independent abortion clinic. They say the Women’s Center was set up there to intercept patients heading for the clinic.
Sarah Croucher, head of NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut, an abortion rights group based in Hartford, said the women’s center patterned its signage after the clinic’s to confuse people.
“The problem with these centers is not that they are religiously based counseling centers that are opposed to abortion. It’s the deception that they practice,” she said. “They set themselves up to look to people who are seeking medical services as though they are actually medical centers offering genuine, unbiased medical advice.”
Staff at the Hartford Women’s Center could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Molly Hurtado, executive director of the ABC Women’s Center in Middletown, a faith-based pregnancy facility, called Hartford’s new rules “obnoxious” and “unfair.” She said her center and others in the coalition it belongs to do not mislead women seeking help. The Hartford Women’s Center is not part of that coalition.
“It’s so disheartening,” Hurtado said. “On average, we all service thousands of women every year who freely choose to come to our centers, so to paint this image that we are intentionally deceiving women is not only offensive to me … but to all of the women who have freely chosen to come year after year.”
Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, said he has arranged for a lawyer to assist the Hartford Women’s Center, which is weighing whether to bring a lawsuit against the city.
He accused city leaders of colluding with Hartford’s abortion clinic to draw clients away from the women’s center.
“I hope it does end up in court and I hope the city ends up paying,” Wolfgang said. “I think they’re standing on very shaky ground.”
