The Battle over Calif. Crisis Pregnancy Centers

The U.S. Supreme Court has long been signaling an almost infinite tolerance for claims that religious freedom and the freedom of speech -- especially when combined -- can be a sprawling and effective means of achieving whatever ends you may desire. Now California’s new efforts to regulate its 300-plus crisis pregnancy centers are being challenged in the courts on precisely those grounds. Only days after California’s governor signed into law a measure that would require crisis pregnancy centers to notify their patients about how to obtain birth control and abortion services, two such clinics, both ministries of churches, sued California Attorney General Kamala Harris, claiming the new law unconstitutionally violated their speech rights and religious freedom. The 18-page complaint asks the court to declare the Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care and Transparency (FACT) Act unconstitutional and bar its enforcement.