Timeline: How Worcester Killed A Proposed Crisis Pregnancy Center Ordinance

WORCESTER, MA — After more than a year of deliberations — including dueling legal opinions — the Worcester City Council on Tuesday ended debate over regulating crisis pregnancy centers without directly voting on the issue.

The councilors voted 7-4 on a series of motions to "file" the proposed crisis pregnancy center regulations, including one that would've required businesses to adhere to truth-in-advertising standards.

At-Large Councilor Thu Nguyen, who started the debate around regulating pregnancy centers in July 2022, wanted the issue to go to a city council subcommittee for wider public discussion. District 3 Councilor George Russell asked for a vote to suspend the council rules to pursue Nguyen's request, but that was shot down in a 6-5 vote.

Mayor Joseph Petty moved to "file" all items related to crisis pregnancy centers, saying the efforts to figure out a legal route for the law was "just not working." City Solicitor Michael Traynor had said the city would get sued if it tried to regulate crisis pregnancy centers. An independent opinion said the city had some legal ground to regulate the centers if the law focused on deceptive advertising. Crisis pregnancy centers attempt to lure people seeking abortions by mimicking the aesthetics and services of abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

"It's just flat-out unconstitutional," Petty said during remarks Tuesday.

Nguyen said more work could be done to strengthen a proposed regulation to avoid a legal challenge — but the majority of councilors were not willing to go down that path.

"We don't have to follow exactly what the draft ordinance says, we can make it so it's constitutionally upheld," Nguyen said.

In Worcester, a council vote to file a piece of legislation is a way of disposing of items without directly voting on the subject. The main 7-4 vote to file the regulation passed with Petty, At-large Councilors Moe Bergman, Donna Colorio, Kate Toomey, District 1 Councilor Sean Rose, District 4 Councilor Sarai Rivera and District 2 Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson voting in favor.

Here's a timeline of how the crisis pregnancy center issue evolved in city hall over the past year:

July 19, 2022: Nguyen asks City Manager Eric Batista for a proposed ordinance regulating crisis pregnancy centers. The request passed in a 6-5 vote with District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj, At-Large Councilor Khrystian King, Nguyen, Rose, Russell and Petty voting in favor.

May 2023: A woman files a lawsuit against Worcester the crisis pregnancy center Clearway Clinic, alleging the facility put her life in danger by misdiagnosing an ectopic pregnancy. The lawsuit claims the clinic deceived the woman by not being upfront about its intent to steer her away from abortion care.

June 2023: After nearly a year with no proposed regulations presented to the council, Nguyen posts a statement on social media saying the state Attorney General's office had advised Worcester not to propose any ordinance regulating crisis pregnancy centers.

July 6, 2023: Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle vetoes an ordinance passed by the city council regulating crisis pregnancy centers citing similar legal issues raised by Traynor, Batista and several Worcester councilors.

July 17, 2023: Text messages released to Worcester Patch by Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office showed that Traynor sought advice from Assistant Attorney General Margaret Hurley on how to avoid proposing a law to councilors.

July 18, 2023: The texts spark a confrontation at a city council meeting between Nguyen, Traynor and Batista where the city manager says he decided not to move forward with proposing crisis pregnancy center regulations.

Aug. 3, 2023: The Easthampton City Council fails to override a mayoral veto falling one vote short.
Aug. 18, 2023: Batista decides to send two proposed regulations to councilors. One proposal would regulate deceptive advertising, the other would require transparency in advertising.

Aug. 22, 2023: At-Large Councilor Donna Colorio "holds" the two regulations, pushing back the discussion until the Sept. 12 meeting. At the Sept. 12 meeting, councilors voted 7-4 (Haxhiaj, King, Nguyen, Rivera, Rose, Russell, Petty in favor) to ask Batista to seek a legal opinion from an independent source.

Sept. 19, 2023: Nguyen agrees to "table" the proposed regulations in anticipation of an independent legal opinion. At this meeting, Petty says the regulations would not be eligible to go to a council subcommittee for a wider discussion, and could only be considered in an "up or down" vote.

Sept. 29, 2023: Stephanie Toti, an attorney with the nonprofit The Lawyering Project, provides a legal opinion that Worcester would likely be able to regulate crisis pregnancy centers if the law was focused on prohibiting deceptive advertising practices.

Oct. 17, 2023: Council votes 7-4 to file the regulations, terminating the issue. The council said it would invite members of the city's state legislative delegation for a meeting about how crisis pregnancy centers might be regulated at the state level.