As South Dakota Goes, So (Does Not) Go NYC

The same week that the South Dakota legislature passes a bill forcing women seeking abortions to receive counseling from state-approved Pregnancy Crisis Centers, New York City puts the heat on these same clinics.  Clinics most often run by anti-abortion, Christian groups.

The City Council passed a bill on Wednesday seeking more transparency from crisis pregnancy centers that present themselves as medical clinics but that critics say offer little more than pregnancy tests and counseling intended to steer women away from abortions.

“The goal of this bill is to ensure that women are fully informed and not deceived,” the Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, said. “Women need to know, they have a right to know, whether they are consulting with a licensed medical provider.”

A spokeswoman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Evelyn Erskine, said the mayor would sign the bill in the coming weeks.

Under the legislation, centers would be required to disclose whether they provide abortions or emergency contraception and if they have a licensed medical provider on site.

Standing on the steps of City Hall before the vote, supporters of the measure, including representatives from Planned Parenthood and the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the bill was an issue of consumer protection and truth in advertising.

Really starting to think that there are indeed, two Americas.