Lawsuit looms over pregnancy center law

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The Austin City Council could be on a collision course with anti-abortion groups. Their decision on Thursday over a controversial measure threatens to force local pregnancy centers to push forward with a federal lawsuit.

It dates back to a law that went into effect back in 2010 – though it has not been strictly enforced –  that required places offering parenting and pregnancy services to post a disclaimer at their door.

The Gabriel Project Life Center in East Austin was one of the places it was meant to affect, but you will not find any notices at the center's entrance. This branch of the Catholic Charities of Central Texas is what is known as a pregnancy center.

It looks a lot like a medical clinic, but it is not. The center's associate director, Allison Skinner, said women get all the information they need inside from counseling to baby clothes to adoption referrals.

You just will not see anything about abortions or birth control - services they do not offer. Skinner said posting that out front might drive women away.

"[It] has a potential to scare her off and wonder about the nature of the services that we provide, and we've always been so upfront,” Skinner said.

Critics say, such centers - often faith-based - unfairly push an anti-abortion agenda.

"We see clients who are confused and don't know the difference between different centers and assume that they've seen a medical professional when maybe they haven't,” said Sarah Wheat, co-CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region – a group with clinics that do perform abortions and provide birth control.

That is what some members of the Austin City Council wanted to make clear. Instead of a sign saying a place offers abortions and birth control, Thursday's approved resolution revision will instead require signs saying a place has medical professionals and is state-licensed.

"Somebody who's walking through that door looking for help on their pregnancy problem will know what's likely to happen to them, what kind of help they're going to get,” said Councilman Bill Spelman, who proposed the change to pass legal muster.

Liberty Institute, which represents the Roman Catholic Diocese of Austin, Catholic Charities of Central Texas, the Austin Pregnancy Resource Center, and the South Austin Pregnancy Resource Center in the lawsuit said that change is still going too far, and the city needs to just get rid of the ordinance altogether.

"The City Council has gone rogue at this point,” sad Jonathan Saenz of the Liberty Institute. “They have ignored the advice of their own lawyers that have simply said repeal the current ordinance and nothing more."

“If somebody wants to sue us, you go ahead and sue us,” said Spelman. “We've got the right ordinance now."

The Liberty Institute lawsuit will now move forward with a status conference in an Austin district court next Friday. Since the original law went into effect two years ago, courts in other parts of the country have ruled that some language like this is unconstitutional.

"We are disappointed that the Austin City Council passed the amended ordinance and disregarded the Constitution, the holdings of three Federal District Courts, and discriminated against charitable pregnancy centers that serve the women of Austin," said Erin Leu, attorney with the Liberty Institute. "The amended ordinance is a blatant violation of the First Amendment. We are confident that the Federal Court will strike it down as unlawful."