The California State Assembly Health Committee approved a bill 11–4 on April 25 that would create a public awareness campaign about the services provided by pregnancy centers.
According to the bill’s author Pilar Schiavo (D-Santa Clarita), it intends to expose “fake” crisis pregnancy centers by informing the public about the services they provide.
Schiavo claims such pregnancy clinics spread disinformation to pregnant women wanting an abortion who are instead met with attempts to shame them and are intentionally misled about their reproductive rights and options.
“Those seeking an abortion in California are often derailed in their search for access as crisis pregnancy centers outnumber abortion clinics by 20 percent,” Schiavo wrote in an explanation of the bill.
Heidi Matzke, the director of Alternatives Pregnancy Center in Sacramento, defended pregnancy centers in California, saying they accurately communicate they do not provide abortions, only medical information.
“The bill defames and falsely accuses licensed medical clinics as ‘fake’ seeking to derail women’s access to comprehensive healthcare,” Matzke said during the hearing.
Matzke told the committee her center offers tests, ultrasounds, prenatal and gynecological care, post-abortive care and abortion pill reversals—a dose of progesterone which overpowers an abortion pill’s effects if taken within three days—at no cost to the patient. Last year, she said, its services totaled nearly $1.5 million, none which came from federal funding.
“Our website signage and phone personnel clearly state that we do not perform or refer for abortion,” Matzke told the committee. “Instead, we provide unbiased peer-reviewed education on abortion procedures so women can make informed choices regarding their pregnancies and their reproductive health.”
According to Matzke, 177 women in the last two years came to the center after they were denied care at Planned Parenthood because they didn’t want an abortion.
Twenty-eight members of the public spoke in opposition to the bill including medical professionals, mothers, and representatives of the California Southern Baptist Convention and California Capital Connection for Independent Baptist Churches.
Six voiced their support for the bill, representing groups such as the California Nurses Association, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, and Black Women for Wellness.
The committee’s vote on the issue was along party lines, with all Democrats voting in favor.
The Republicans who voted against include the following: Assemblymembers Marie Waldron, (R-Valley Center), Joe Patterson (R-Rocklin), Heath Flora (R-Ripon), and Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield).
The bill will next be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. A date has not been scheduled.
