How the CARE Act Would Protect Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers to Continue Their Crucial Work
Denise Burke-Alliance Defending Freedom : Sep 12, 2024
LifeSiteNews.com
...Violent attacks have been fueled, in part, by lies spread about pro-life pregnancy centers. But it's not just physical attacks that are threatening them. Lawmakers across the country have passed measures to censor, unlawfully investigate, and otherwise punish pregnancy centers simply because they do not promote abortion...
[LifeSiteNews.com] As the executive director of a pro-life pregnancy center in Sacramento, California, Heidi Matzke should be able to focus on providing much-needed care for pregnant women, new mothers, and their families. But after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022, she was forced to dedicate much of her attention to protecting her pregnancy center and employees from targeted attacks. (Image: Pixabay)
"We have been forced to hire 24-hour on-site security," Matzke testified at a US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in July 2022. "We've had to reinforce doors and bulletproof our walls. We've had to paint our building with anti-graffiti coating. We've added cameras, armed our staff with pepper spray, and stopped running our mobile clinic because of threats of violence."
Matzke even recounted the story of a man armed with a machete approaching the pregnancy center 45 minutes before it was supposed to open on July 8, 2022. She said it was only by "God's grace" that the man ran off after he was confronted by the pregnancy center's security guard.
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Unfortunately, Heidi Matzke's story is not an isolated one. Over 100 pregnancy centers, churches, and other pro-life organizations were attacked in the six months following the leaked Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, and those attacks have only continued.
These violent attacks have been fueled, in part, by lies spread about pro-life pregnancy centers. But it's not just physical attacks that are threatening them.
Lawmakers across the country have passed measures to censor, unlawfully investigate, and otherwise punish pregnancy centers simply because they do not promote abortion. Since the Dobbs decision, 18 states have introduced measures targeting these organizations.
California, Colorado, Illinois, and Vermont have passed anti-pregnancy center legislation, and another bill passed the Delaware legislature earlier this summer. This is why the [Pregnancy] Center Autonomy and Rights of Expression (CARE) Act is so important.
What is the CARE Act?
The CARE Act is a bill designed to protect the life-affirming mission and work of pregnancy centers. It ensures that government officials cannot discriminate against pregnancy centers because they disagree with the organizations' pro-life views. And it prohibits government officials from censoring the free speech of pregnancy centers or forcing them to express messages they disagree with.
The CARE Act has not yet been introduced in state legislatures, but when it is, it has the potential to protect pro-life pregnancy centers from many of the threats they face today. Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here
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