Regulation of pregnancy clinics sought

A Place for Women in Waipio describes itself as a free pregnancy center providing confidential support services for women facing unplanned pregnancies.

“You have options,” the center says on its website. “We can offer you the most accurate information you need to make the best decision you can.”

Across the island at the Aloha Pregnancy Care and Counseling Center in Kaneohe, a big, pink sign outside the clinic in a shopping center reads “Free Pregnancy Test” and encourages walk-ins.

Women entering these “crisis pregnancy centers” will receive pregnancy tests, sometimes ultrasounds and counseling.

What they won’t receive is information about where they can obtain an abortion, and what they might not know is that the counseling is often being done by members of religious organizations opposed to abortion who are not health care providers.

The clinics are among at least five pregnancy centers throughout the state that lawmakers are looking to regulate following years of complaints from groups like Planned Parenthood that say the religious-based clinics are deceptive and provide women with false information about the physical and emotional risks of abortion to discourage them from the procedure.

Senate Bill 501 would require the clinics to notify women of where they can obtain health insurance, if needed, that will cover free or low-cost abortions, prenatal care and contraception.

Clinics that don’t provide women with the information can be fined $500 for the first offense and $1,000 for subsequent offenses.

The bill, similar to a law recently adopted in California, is a priority of the Women’s Legislative Caucus this year and has passed three Senate committees. The measure still needs to cross over to the House for further approvals.

The proposed legislation has sparked opposition from the pregnancy centers and religious organizations that argue it treads on their constitutional right to free speech and freedom of religion. But supporters of the measure counter that the notices will aid transparency and help better protect women’s health.

“This bill is about mitigating the public health harm caused by these businesses,” said Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi, an obstetrician- gynecologist who spoke on behalf of the Hawaii chapter of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, during a Senate committee hearing on the measure last month. “These centers prey on vulnerable women, especially those with language barriers, limited financial resources and limited health literacy.”

Moayedi said that one of her patients who had been raped had gone to one of the clinics.

“Instead of offering her appropriate, post-assault treatment and referrals, she was subjected to a counseling session on why she should not have an abortion,” she said. “This purported health center retraumatized my patient.”

Moayedi said another one of her patients seeking an abortion had missed the window of time for the procedure after a series of appointments at one of the pregnancy centers. She said the center deceived her into thinking that her pregnancy was at an earlier gestation.

This clinic “pretended to provide health care, performed an ultrasound and lied to the patient about her diagnosis in order to prevent her from accessing her constitutionally protected right to an abortion,” Moayedi said.

Morgen Trube, a local college student who three years ago suspected she was pregnant, said she had a hard time finding a doctor who would see her or who would accept her out-of-state health insurance. Planned Parenthood was too busy to accept walk-ins and she couldn’t get an appointment for a couple of weeks.

She said she Googled “free pregnancy test in Oahu” and A Place for Women in Waipio popped up. They could see her that day.

When she arrived, she told lawmakers, counselors showed her videos about how life begins at conception and how abortion is murder. She was also counseled by women who said they had received abortions and regretted it.

“It was a really painful time for me and this situation was incredibly horrible,” she wrote in testimony on the bill. Trube, who now interns for Planned Parenthood, told lawmakers that if she had seen a sign like the one being proposed in Senate Bill 501, she would have left.

Stacey Jimenez, director of operations for A Place for Women, noted in an interview that her organization already states at the bottom of its website that it doesn’t perform or refer for abortions. She said the clinic is located inside Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor and that she thinks women understand its purpose.

“We call ourselves pro-information,” she said. “We give them the whole picture.”

Jimenez said it didn’t make sense for her clinic to post information about abortion access, particularly given that one of the clinic’s offered services is post-abortion healing and spiritual recovery.

“There is no reason for us as an organization that is completely against abortion because of our religious and personal beliefs to have anything to do with referring for abortion,” she said. “It is not my job to advertise for the state of Hawaii and that is what they want me to do.”

She said the clinic helps a lot of teens and college students who aren’t ready to see a doctor yet.

“These girls just need someone to talk to,” Jimenez said. “Sometimes their fears become so big that they need someone to talk it out with, to take big breaths and try to see the possibilities and not make a decision out of fear, because it can be very scary.”

Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor has warned lawmakers that its national affiliate, the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, would likely sue the state if the bill is enacted into law. The church notes that similar laws in New York City; Austin, Texas; and Montgomery County, Md., have failed to be upheld by the courts.

However, California’s law, which is similar to what Hawaii lawmakers are proposing, has fared better, with three federal judges and a state court refusing to block its implementation as it heads to trial, according to news reports.