L.A. City Council approves law targeting pregnancy centers that mislead on abortion
(Los Angeles Times)
Updated 9:45 am, Tuesday, June 12, 2014
Women seeking abortion after a miscarriage must undergo a medical examination showing they aren’t pregnant, a law approved Wednesday by the Los Angeles City Council.
The law is the latest in a slew of restrictions on abortion that have provoked backlash from abortion rights supporters who assert that abortion providers are intentionally misleading women.
The measure is designed to clarify the city’s legal requirements for medical and dental exams following a miscarriage, and to clarify the role and responsibilities of abortion providers.
“For the first time in 30 years, Los Angeles is putting women first by giving them the power to make informed decisions about their own bodies,” said Councilwoman Jan Perry, vice president and general counsel of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles and vice president of the Los Angeles chapter of NARAL Pro-Choice America, which supported the ordinance.
Opponents of the ordinance characterized it as the most restrictive abortion law in the nation.
“This is an abortion law like no other where you are going to have to wait three weeks to get an abortion,” said Jennifer Sisk, executive director of Prenatal Care Centers of Los Angeles, adding that the law would not apply to “late-term abortion” or to situations where a provider is unable to obtain a second physician’s opinion.
“This is not a bill about healthcare access or women’s rights,” Sisk said. “This is about controlling women’s access to abortion, which is the most dangerous thing you can control in a woman’s life.”
The ordinance passed by a 6-0 vote, with Councilman Eric Garcetti absent. Perry was joined by Council members Paul Koretz, Paul Krekorian and Gloria Molina.
It begins as follows:
“A woman must first have a medically acceptable reason to make her abortion decision known to the abortion provider to whom she is about to authorize her medical abortion.”
“A medical abortion is not one in which a medically acceptable reason for ending a pregnancy exists. An abortion procedure is medical when