HARTFORD — City Mayor Luke Bronin and City Council Minority Leader Wildaliz Bermudez announced the final rules regulating crisis pregnancy centers in Hartford.
“Our ordinance is based on the simple principle that women should be told the truth when they’re making decisions about their bodies, their health, and their lives,” said Mayor Bronin.
In 2017, Mayor Bronin put forth a plan for a city ordinance that would require anti-abortion centers to disclose if staff members have medical licenses and ban them from engaging in false or deceptive advertising.
The rules announced Wednesday, state that “crisis pregnancy centers without a licensed medical provider must display signs informing clients of that fact in English and Spanish, must put the same notice on their website, and must tell clients who inquire about prenatal care, emergency contraception, or abortion by phone or in person that the facility does not have a licensed medical provider on site to provide or supervise all services.”
These rules are effective on October 1st, 2018, according to Bronin’s office.
“We have seen young women, often young women with few resources who don’t have access to regular medical care, deceived and ‘lured’ away from women’s health centers that offer the full range of reproductive healthcare. We should all agree that’s wrong, no matter how you feel about abortion. These common-sense rules say that if you don’t have a licensed medical provider on site, you should disclose that fact. I’m proud that as a city we’re taking this step, within the bounds of the law, to protect young women from deceptive practices. I want to thank the City Council and Minority Leader Bermudez for their support and work on this issue, and I hope that the state will pursue similar legislation because we know that these deceptive practices aren’t just limited to our city.”
You can read more here.
