A San Francisco ordinance prohibiting false advertising at
anti-abortion pregnancy services clinics withstood most of a legal
challenge in federal court.
Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong found the 2011 ordinance was not was not so vague to be confusing and was not preempted by state law, as alleged, while upholding an equal protection claim for the time being.
First Resort Inc. sued the City and County of San Francisco for civil rights violations in November 2011 for enacting the Pregnancy Information Disclosure and Protection Ordinance, which is "aimed at ensuring that indigent women facing unexpected pregnancies are not harmed by false or misleading advertising by certain providers of pregnancy-related services," according to the ordinance.
The ordinance made it illegal for crisis pregnancy centers to make "any statement, concerning [its] services, professional or otherwise ... which is untrue or misleading, whether by statement or omission, that the limited services pregnancy center knows or which by the exercise of reasonable care should know to be untrue or misleading."
The provision applies only to limited services pregnancy centers, which is a pregnancy services center "that does not directly provide or provide referrals to clients for the following services: (1) abortions; or (2) emergency contraception."
Before filing suit to enforce the ordinance, the city attorney must provide notice of the violation and provide the center ten days to cure, after which penalties from $50 to $500 per violation can be assessed.
Read more: http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/10/03/50928.htm
Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong found the 2011 ordinance was not was not so vague to be confusing and was not preempted by state law, as alleged, while upholding an equal protection claim for the time being.
First Resort Inc. sued the City and County of San Francisco for civil rights violations in November 2011 for enacting the Pregnancy Information Disclosure and Protection Ordinance, which is "aimed at ensuring that indigent women facing unexpected pregnancies are not harmed by false or misleading advertising by certain providers of pregnancy-related services," according to the ordinance.
The ordinance made it illegal for crisis pregnancy centers to make "any statement, concerning [its] services, professional or otherwise ... which is untrue or misleading, whether by statement or omission, that the limited services pregnancy center knows or which by the exercise of reasonable care should know to be untrue or misleading."
The provision applies only to limited services pregnancy centers, which is a pregnancy services center "that does not directly provide or provide referrals to clients for the following services: (1) abortions; or (2) emergency contraception."
Before filing suit to enforce the ordinance, the city attorney must provide notice of the violation and provide the center ten days to cure, after which penalties from $50 to $500 per violation can be assessed.
Read more: http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/10/03/50928.htm
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