Pregnancy Center Bill Makes it Out of Committee, and Threatens Abortion Blowup On House Floor

House Bill 1366 (Washington state) would for the first time impose regulations on the storefront operations that abortion opponents have established to counsel pregnant women about their options. Another big blowup over abortion appears destined for the House floor after a committee Thursday passed a bill that would impose stiff rules on crisis pregnancy centers. The next stop for the House bill this year is the Rules Committee, where House Democratic leaders get to decide whether the issue advances to the House floor – and whether they want to reopen that can of worms. The House panel adopted a few modest amendments that clarified and toned down some of the rules.

If women’s groups or other critics believe that a pregnancy center is violating the rules, they would be allowed to sue. The ironic thing about it is that 16 years ago the two sides argued precisely the opposite positions – women’s groups were battling parental notification and “informed consent” laws, and they told lawmakers to butt out.

There’s no question that the crisis pregnancy centers are proving a major influence in the never-ending political debate. They have sprung up in every medium-to-large city of the state, and in 2009 they served 62,000 young women. The House bill is one of two measures in the state Legislature this year that would regulate their conduct. The other, Senate Bill 5274, got a hearing last week that drew hundreds of onlookers and proved the best-attended meeting so far of this year’s legislative session. The Senate bill awaits action in the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee. WA State Wire