Prolifers came out in force yesterday to oppose a San Diego Supervisor’s proposal to pursue litigation to shut down the county’s 16 pregnancy care centers she considered “fake and fraudulent.” The opponents overwhelmed the supporters with over 60 people speaking in opposition and 975 sending in written comments. In contrast, no one spoke in support at the hearing, and only 60 people sent in supportive comments. In the end, the four-member board split the vote, stalling the recommendation, but only temporarily. The proposal will be voted on again on December 5, after a new supervisor fills a vacant spot on the board.

Earlier in the week, San Diego County District 3 Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer held a press conference with a Planned Parenthood abortionist to promote her plan. “They are fake centers pretending to offer reproductive health care and advice to women; luring unsuspecting women into their doors with misleading information,” Lawson-Remer said. However, the supervisor didn’t provide any evidence for these claims. She didn’t point to any bad actors in San Diego County, nor did she have any clients of a pregnancy care center to present testimony on how they were deceived.

Coming to the defense of San Diego’s pregnancy care centers was Anne O’Connor of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA). She voiced her condemnation of the proposal in a letter to the board. “Supervisor Lawson-Remer’s outrageously unconstitutional proposal attacking the good work of legitimate non-profits is unwarranted,” O’Connor wrote, referring to the Supreme Court case NIFLA v. Becerra, which defended California pregnancy centers in 2018 by reversing a state law forcing pregnancy care centers to tell clients where to get a free abortion….

Besides directing the County Counsel to bring back recommendations for initiating litigation against the pregnancy care centers in the county, Lawson-Remer’s proposal would create a public awareness campaign with billboards and social media ads to discredit pregnancy care centers and promote abortion services….

California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta recently filed a lawsuit against several centers for promoting the Abortion Reversal Pill as life-saving, calling that claim false and misleading. The Thomas More Society is defending these centers from this attack.

From the California Family Council