Suit Challenges New York City's Disclosure Requirements For Crisis Pregnancy Centers

A federal lawsuit was filed yesterday on behalf of a number of crisis pregnancy centers challenging on 1st Amendment grounds New York City's recently-enacted ordinance that requires pregnancy services centers to make various disclosures about the services they do and do not offer. The law requires centers to disclose (in Spanish and English) on a sign in their waiting room, on their website, in any ads and orally to clients whether they provide referrals for abortion or contraceptive services or prenatal care . They must also disclose whether they have a medical provider on staff. (See prior posting.) The complaint (full text) in Evergreen Association, Inc. v. City of New York, (SD NY, filed 3/24/2011), alleges that the ordinance violates state and federally protected freedoms of speech, association, assembly and the press and that it is unconstitutionally vague in defining the centers and the kinds of ads that are covered. American Center for Law and Justice which filed the lawsuit issued a press release emphasizing their claim that the law "unconstitutionally compels Plaintiffs to speak messages that they have not chosen for themselves, with which they do not agree, and that distract from and detract from the messages they have chosen to speak."