Worcester May Regulate Anti-Abortion Centers: 2 Ordinances Proposed

WORCESTER, MA — After more than a year — and a confrontation between a councilor and top city officials — the Worcester City Council will review two proposals regulating so-called "crisis pregnancy centers" at Tuesday's meeting.

City Solicitor Michael Traynor on Friday sent councilors two drafts of possible laws, according to the agenda. Both proposed laws regulate how businesses advertise services, striking at how crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) attract patients.

The centers have proliferated across the country in recent years, backed by anti-abortion activists who want to divert pregnant people away from reproductive health centers that offer abortions, like Planned Parenthood. The centers offer services like pregnancy tests, STD tests and non-diagnostic ultrasounds, and often rank high in internet searches for local abortion services — although they do not offer abortion referrals.

At-Large Councilor Thu Nguyen in July 2022 asked City Manager Eric Batista to draft proposed ordinances regulating CPCs in line with laws in place in Somerville and Cambridge. Batista and Traynor stalled drafting the proposed ordinances following a council vote requesting them. Text messages between Traynor and a lawyer in the state Attorney General's office given to Worcester Patch under a public records request show the city never intended to produce any proposed laws.

The two proposals in front of council this week follow a July confrontation between Nguyen, Batista and Traynor during a council meeting. Following that meeting, Batista agreed to send proposals to the council.

In a memo to councilors this week, Batista made it clear he does not want a law regulating CPCs in Worcester. He told councilors any law would open the city up to possible lawsuits from anti-abortion groups, as happened after Connecticut passed a state law regulating CPCs.

"The City of Worcester fully supports the reproductive rights of pregnant people, and as a municipality, we have a responsibility to protect reproductive health," Batista's memo said. "Unfortunately, we do not believe that the requested ordinances will effectively enhance protections for pregnant people or those seeking medical resources, which should be their ultimate goal."

It's unclear if any version of a CPC ordinance would pass council because a majority of councilors have signaled they would vote no.

There are two crisis pregnancy centers in Worcester: Clearway Clinic, which has been sued by a woman who claims a nurse at the clinic misled her about the viability of an ectopic pregnancy that later required surgery; and Problem Pregnancy, which is located across the street from the Planned Parenthood clinic along Pleasant Street.

Here are the two ordinances Traynor sent to councilors:

Crisis Pregnancy Centers Worcester by neal mcnamara on Scribd