Most people would agree that a law forcing Planned Parenthood to staff its front desk with anti-abortion activists would be absurd. Likewise, a bill to force a crisis pregnancy center to staff its office with pro-choice activists would be equally unreasonable. Yet a new bill being championed by the D.C. Council will do just that — putting the fate of pro-life medicine, crisis pregnancy centers, and their association rights in question.
Bill 22-571 would amend the D.C. Human Rights Act to add “abortion providers” as a protected class to existing non-discrimination law. It was introduced last fall by Council Members David Grosso, Charles Allen, Robert White, Brianne Nadeau, Jack Evans, and Anita Bonds. They claim the bill is intended to protect supporters of abortion and sterilization from unfair discrimination, but don’t account for the First Amendment rights the bill endangers.
