The struggle to enforce California's CPC law

Think Progress (March 28, 2016): Inside The Christian Right's Strategy to Keep Fake Abortion Clinics Open in California, by Alex Zielinski:

Called “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs), these clinics advertise free pregnancy tests to get patients in the door, but ultimately lean heavily on junk science and spiritual guilt to talk women out of having an abortion. In January, California became the first state in the country to enact a law successfully cracking down on the state’s nearly 350 misleading clinics.

California's Reproductive FACT Act requires that CPCs hand out a pamphlet providing information on how to obtain birth control, abortion and prenatal care.  It also requires that CPCs that do not have a medical license let patients know. 

However, efforts to enforce the law have stalled because of lawsuits filed by anti-choice organizations, who claim that the law violates freedom of speech and religious freedom rights.  Although four courts have denied motions for preliminary injunctions, it has not stopped the organizations from suing city and county attorneys in small communities.  Their strategy appears to be to encourage the communities to agree not to enforce the law in exchange for an offer to drop the case.

So far, only one city -- Grass Valley, a town of 12,000 located an hour north of Sacramento -- has openly accepted this settlement.

"This is not a policy statement. It simply comes down to the cost -- Grass Valley is a small city," said Michael Colantuono, the city attorney for Grass Valley charged in the lawsuit.

Colantuono says that it will be up to the State Attorney General to defend the case because the city doesn't have the money to litigate.  Other counties and municipalities may make the same calculation.