Hawaii to Force Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers to Advertise Free Abortions
By Jay Hobbs Published on July 14, 2017
https://stream.org/hawaii-force-pro-...ree-abortions/
All five of Hawaii's pro-life pregnancy centers will be forced to choose between advertising free abortions and defying the state's demands starting Wednesday, after Gov. David Ige allowed a mandatory disclaimer bill to become law Tuesday night.
Mirroring a 2015 California law, Hawaii's edict forces locally funded pregnancy centers to post and distribute to each client a notification that the state offers free abortions, as well as a website link on where and how to schedule a taxpayer-funded abortion.
The
mandated signage and disclaimer form
must include the following verbiage:
This clinic does not provide abortion services or abortion referrals. Only ultrasounds performed by qualified healthcare professionals and read by licensed clinicians should be considered medically accurate.
Hawaii has public programs that provide immediate free or low-cost access to comprehensive family planning services including all FDA-approved methods of contraception, prenatal care, and abortion for eligible women.
To apply for medical insurance coverage that will cover the full range of family planning and prenatal care services, apply on-line at mybenefits.hawaii.gov.
Unlike abortion businesses, the state provides no funding for the pregnancy centers it targets with the law.
Pregnancy centers found out of compliance could be slapped with a
$500 citation for a first-time offense and a
$1,000 per-offense fine for subsequent refusal to advertise abortions. The law also opens up noncompliant centers to individual
civil suits.
"Hawaii's pregnancy help organizations are delivering caring, compassionate help for women and families
at absolutely zero cost to the state's taxpayers," Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International — an affiliation network that includes three Hawaiian centers — said.
"No woman should ever feel so alone or trapped that she feels
abortion is her only option,
but this is exactly the situation laws like these create."....