Proposal to regulate pro-life pregnancy centers fails in Massachusetts city

After more than a year of debate, the Worcester, Massachusetts, city council voted 7-4 last week to permanently drop a proposed ordinance that would regulate pro-life pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) in the city. 

In July 2022, the city authorized the city manager and city solicitor to draft an ordinance that would have required PRCs to “directly provide or provide referrals for abortions or emergency contraception.” Most PRCs provide assistance and counseling to pregnant mothers and young families, but they do not give abortion referrals. 

In July of this year, city council members appeared to back off of this restrictive ordinance after realizing that it was likely unconstitutional. At that time, City Manager Eric Batista ordered City Solicitor Michael Traynor to draft two ordinances for the Council’s consideration, though Batista also admitted that any drafts up to that time had been delayed because the Attorney General’s office had warned the proposal could expose the city to potential fees and litigation.

Traynor then developed two ordinances; one which would have required pro-life PRCs to provide abortion referrals, and another that would have outlawed “deceptive advertising,” though he warned that both would be in violation of the First Amendment. Ultimately, at their October 17 meeting, Council members admitted that the restrictions would be in violation of constitutional rights, and decided to drop the measures altogether.

“I’m too concerned about the unintended consequences of going too far and trying to push them on the municipal level,” Mayor Joseph Petty said at the October 17 meeting. “At a time when the city residents are seeing increases with inflation, gas prices, electricity and taxes, I cannot subject [the city] to any more litigation that causes any more financial anguish.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C.J. Doyle praised the development in a statement. “While the vote was a victory for human life, religious freedom and constitutional government, its proximate cause was a cold and calculated appreciation of the legal liabilities, and consequent fiscal burdens, that the City of Worcester and its taxpayers would have to bear defending this untenable and extremist legislation in court,” he said. 

Worcester is the second Massachusetts city to drop a proposed ordinance regulating PRCs. In August, the city of Easthamption dropped a similar ordinance after realizing it would have likely subjected the city to costly litigation.