A proposal requiring Baltimore pregnancy support centers to post a disclaimer telling clients they do not provide abortion or contraceptive services is harassment of the pro-life centers, say Catholic leaders. Baltimore’s Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien said abortion clinics are not being similarly required to list all the services they do not provide, such as infant clothes, formula and parenting classes. The president of the Baltimore City Council, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and 10 other members are sponsoring the bill, which if passed would levy a fine of $500 per day on centers that do not comply with the requirement. In a letter to Rawlings-Blake on Oct. 16, Archbishop O’Brien said the bill targets nonprofit organizations whose mission is to help women carry pregnancies to term. He said it is “well known” that pregnancy support centers are focused on assisting women in their choice for childbirth and do not provide abortions or contraception. “To fine a center $500 for not posting a sign that states as much is nothing short of harassment,” Archbishop O’Brien said.
Pregnancy Support Centers Harassed
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
In Los Angeles, people stay for the movie credits. After the awful images of these fires are gone, they will stay to rebuild their city, too.
Catholic Charities USA is now accepting donations to its Los Angeles Wildfire Relief initiative, and the L.A. archdiocese has created a dedicated relief fund.
Warning of “the increasingly concrete threat of a world war,” Pope Francis called for “the diplomacy of hope” in his address to the ambassadors of the 184 countries that have diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy as Archbishop of Washington, D.C., and Sister Simona Brambilla, an Italian Consolata missionary, as prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.