Pro-life advocates in Louisiana are warning that two bills before the state legislature could sharply curtail the work of pregnancy resource centres, in what they see as a wider national effort to weaken one of the abortion movement’s chief alternatives on the ground. The measures would affect both the medical services such centres may offer and the religious character many of them regard as integral to their mission.
The first proposal, HB 611, would require any pregnancy centre offering what the bill classifies as “healthcare services” to be licensed as a healthcare facility by the state. That category includes pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, medical screening, diagnostic services, and pregnancy counselling or consultation presented as medical advice. Critics say the practical effect could be to prevent centres from providing ultrasounds unless a doctor or nurse is present on site, even where scans are already being conducted by properly licensed technicians.
