A federal appeals court unanimously found Baltimore’s ordinance to make pregnancy centers post signs about abortion is unconstitutional.
The 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the ordinance, which requires pregnancy care centers run by anti-abortion groups to post notices that they don't provide abortions in their waiting rooms, violates the First Amendment.
The three-judge panel ruled that the ordinance compelled a “politically and religiously motivated group to convey a message fundamentally at odds with its core belief and mission,” according to the opinion written by Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, a President Ronald Reagan appointee.
He was joined by Judges Allyson Duncan and G. Steven Agee, both appointed by former President George W. Bush.
The case centered on the Greater Baltimore Center for Pregnancy Concerns, a nonprofit Christian organization that aims to deter women from getting abortions.
The center offers counseling, pregnancy tests and sonograms as well as other services. It doesn’t expressly say that it is religiously opposed to abortion in its advertising.
Baltimore’s ordinance addresses a concern that women seeking abortions could be misled in visiting such a pregnancy center and not get an abortion or have it delayed.
Abortion rights advocates have made similar claims about other religiously affiliated pregnancy centers across the country.
An ordinance passed in 2009 required pregnancy centers that oppose abortion to post a disclaimer in their waiting rooms that they don't provide or refer people to abortion or birth control services.
The city argued that the ordinance regulates commercial speech because the center advertises its services, but the appeals court didn’t buy that argument since the center is a nonprofit.
The appeals court also agreed with the lower court’s ruling that there was insufficient evidence to show that deception is taking place and that women are being harmed.
“After seven years of litigation and a 1,295-page record before us, the city does not identify a single example of a woman who entered the Greater Baltimore Center’s waiting room under the misimpression that she could obtain and abortion there,” the opinion said.
Anti-abortion advocates cheered the ruling, saying it will have national implications.
“Clearly, the abortion industry feels threatened by the ability of these dedicated pregnancy care centers to provide women with alternatives to abortion, and is trying to protect their profits by forcing pro-life pregnancy centers to promote abortion,” according to a statement from the anti-abortion group Americans United for Life.
