New York State to Attack Pro-Life Crisis Pregnancy Centers in Ad Campaign
New York State has launched a pro-choice ad campaign meant to direct pregnant women to abortion clinics, which will include promotion online and on subway ads.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's press office announced the "public awareness" campaign on Tuesday, which describes its mission to be to provide important information on reproductive health services for women.
"These actions are in direct response to widespread reports of organizations known as Crisis Pregnancy Centers or CPCs misrepresenting themselves as health centers to dissuade those seeking abortion from going through with that choice," claimed the office.
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"These centers' actions may interfere with New Yorkers' constitutionally protected rights to seek reproductive health care and may endanger them by preventing them from receiving medically accurate information."
In a statement, Gov. Cuomo also referenced actions by the Trump administration to enact pro-life initiatives, which he labeled a "war on women's reproductive rights."
"In New York, we refuse to let President Trump and Washington take us backwards and jeopardize the rights of New Yorkers," stated Cuomo.
"We are launching this public awareness campaign to combat the insidious spread of misleading, medically inaccurate information about reproductive health and to ensure all New York women know the options they are legally entitled to."
The campaign will direct New Yorkers to what the state government describes as medically accurate information on abortion, contraception, and pregnancy.
The Christian Post attempted to reach several to New York-based crisis pregnancy centers, however only one of those contacted returned comment by press time, and only to say they are declining comment for the time being.
In April 2015, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted 9-2 to ban political advertising from their subways and buses as a way of avoiding litigation over rejected ads.
Taking effect immediately, the MTA's policy exempted from their political ban paid government messages and certain public service announcements.
In recent years, some states with pro-choice leadership have sought to curb the influence of crisis pregnancy centers, claiming that they are providing false information on abortion and forcing women to forgo abortion.
Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood staffer who now is a pro-life activist, has taken issue with this portrayal of crisis pregnancy centers.
"I can say unequivocally that the most manipulation I have ever witnessed was inside the abortion center walls," stated Johnson in April.
"It is Planned Parenthood that has opposed every single anti-trafficking bill proposed by pro-life legislators. If you want to see who Planned Parenthood is really out to protect, you don't have to look far. They want to protect abusers, not victims."
In late June, the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that a California law forcing pro-life pregnancy centers to promote abortion was unconstitutional.
The high court ruled in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra that the Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency (FACT) Act "unduly burdens protected speech."
"The unlicensed notice imposes a government-scripted, speaker-based disclosure requirement that is wholly disconnected from California's informational interest," wrote Justice Clarence Thomas for the majority.
"California has offered no justification that the notice plausibly furthers. It targets speakers, not speech, and imposes an unduly burdensome disclosure requirement that will chill their protected speech."
