Abortion issue part of lengthy, 19-page City Council agenda

WORCESTER — The City Council is scheduled to wade into the abortion debate Tuesday, with a request that the city develop an ordinance regulating so-called crisis pregnancy centers and a proposed resolution to affirm full abortion rights.

The agenda items come in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade in June and vandalism at two clinics in the city that counsel against abortions earlier this month.

At-large Councilor Thu Nguyen sponsored both items, according to the agenda.

The first agenda item requests that the city manager and city solicitor develop an ordinance, “concerning deceptive advertising practices of limited pregnancy centers and prohibiting such activities from being permitted in the city.”

“Worcester should join Somerville and Cambridge in ensuring that any such establishment operating within city limits with a primary purpose of providing services to people who are or have reason to believe they may be pregnant, including mobile facilities, must either directly provide or provide referrals for abortions or emergency contraception,” the request reads.

Limited pregnancy centers or crisis pregnancy centers advise against abortion. On July 6, Attorney General Maura Healey issued a consumer advisory that warned patients seeking reproductive health services, “about the limited and potentially misleading nature of the services provided by crisis pregnancy centers.

Nguyen could not be reached for comment.

“Crisis Pregnancy Centers do not provide comprehensive reproductive health care, rather they are organizations that seek to prevent people from accessing abortion care,” Healey’s advisory read. “In Massachusetts, abortion remains legal, and people have a right to access comprehensive reproductive health care.”

A resolution also appears on the agenda asking the council to declare, “that the City Council of the City of Worcester does hereby affirm its stance for full abortion rights and reproductive equity for all, in opposition to the United States Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and does hereby urge state and federal elected officials to codify abortion rights and other reproductive rights.”

Both items appear as part of a lengthy 19-page agenda for the council’s only full meeting in July.

Before the meeting, another interesting discussion is scheduled to occur at the Standing Committee on Economic Development gathering.

There, the subcommittee is poised to recommend adoption of ordinances establishing a rental registry program and an inspection initiative program.

The subcommittee is also scheduled to discuss inclusionary zoning.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Abortion issue part of lengthy, 19-page Worcester City Council agenda