March 7, 2002
Attorney General Spitzer Still Putting the Screws to CPC’s
WASHINGTON, D.C.—
Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women for America (CWA), the largest public policy women’s organization in America, today urged crisis pregnancy centers across New York state not to give in to state Attorney General Elliot Spitzer’s unjustified demands."Is the crime rate so low in New York that the Attorney General has nothing better to do than persecute Crisis Pregnancy Center volunteers? The mob, with its drug peddlers and smut purveyors, must be dancing in the streets. Anyone familiar with crisis pregnancy centers knows they are sanctuaries of love, hope and support for women in the midst of traumatic situations. These centers must not give in to Spitzer’s shameless intimidation."
Spitzer withdrew subpoenas he
had issued as part of what he called an investigation into whether or not the centers were giving "deceptive" medical information to women. But he continues to apply pressure to force centers to comply with his pro-abortion agenda. He is trying to use political pressure to force centers to agree to list the services they don’t provide in their advertising."This is obviously unjust," said Rios. "Can you imagine an abortion mill agreeing to advertise that it does not offer free pregnancy tests, post-abortion counseling, or free assistance for mothers of young children?"
Spitzer struck a deal with one of the centers, which agreed to major restrictions in exchange for the attorney general’s withdrawal of the subpoena. Rios said these conditions amount not only to blackmail, but to forfeiting constitutionally protected free-speech rights as they pertain to advertising. Spitzer withdrew the other subpoenas but continues to threaten centers that don’t comply with his demands.
"This persecution of pro-family, Christian women must stop.
Crisis Pregnancy Centers offer incredible services to mother, child and father, unheard of at abortion mills. They should not be hounded by an attorney general trying to give political payback to the pro-abortion lobby that helped get him elected—a lobby that has in fact been the champion of the abortion mills, the chief perpetrators of deceptive medical information to women."
