LifeSite ALBANY, New York (LifeSiteNews) – The New York legislature passed legislation that will effectively empower the state to investigate pro-life pregnancy centers for not offering abortions, effectively punishing them for their reason for existence.
The bill, S470/A5499, tasks the New York Commissioner of Health to “conduct a study and issue a report examining the unmet health and resource needs facing pregnant women in New York and the impact of limited service pregnancy centers” – meaning centers that do not provide abortions – “on the ability of women to obtain accurate, non-coercive health care information and timely access to a comprehensive range of reproductive and sexual health care services in alignment with their health care needs and that supports personal decision-making.”
The commissioner would be empowered to obtain from pregnancy centers a range of information about their operations, including their tax status and whatever government subsidies they receive. A nine-member temporary task force would then make “recommendations for solutions to address any service gaps or negative impact in the state identified through the study.”…
