Local pro-life pregnancy center sues over new law.

Christian pregnancy clinics that oppose abortion, including Confidence Pregnancy Center in Salinas, have sued the state, Monterey County and the city of Salinas, claiming their First Amendment rights have been violated by a new law requiring them to inform women that abortion is an option.

“By requiring us to post a sign or hand out a notice to clients that basically refers them to abortion services before they are even seen by us goes against our First Amendment right to speak only those messages we want to speak and that are consistent with our beliefs,” Francis Manion, an attorney with the evangelical American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) who represents the pregnancy clinics, writes in an email.

The suit stems from the Reproductive FACT Act, signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on Oct. 9. A judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland recently denied the pregnancy clinics’ motion for a preliminary injunction to delay the law’s implementation. The case is still ongoing.

Attorney General Kamala Harris is the lead defendant, but Salinas City Attorney Chris Callihan and Monterey County Counsel Charles McKee are also named as defendants because the law gives them enforcement powers at the Confidence Pregnancy Center.

Callihan says he does not plan to enforce the Reproductive FACT Act in the foreseeable future. Deputy County Counsel Bill Litt says the county for now is just observing the suit.

Confidence Pregnancy Center serves 1,200 women a year, according to Manion. The center offers free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, “accurate information on pregnancy options” and support services until a child is one year old. Confidence also warns women about the “physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological risks” of abortion.

While Confidence counselors don’t have to discuss abortion as an option, the new law requires them to post a sign sized at least 8.5-by-11 inches with a 22-point font that references it, as well as provide clients with notices related to abortion starting Jan. 1.

Observers say the First Amendment arguments are not trivial. The government may be attempting to force the pregnancy centers to advocate a government position. In question is who is actually speaking with the required notices.

“If the court finds it’s not [the pregnancy clinics’] speech, but the speech of California, then there’s no basis for challenging the law,” says Peter Scheer, executive director of the San Rafael-based First Amendment Coalition.