Greater Baltimore Center v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore

A Baltimore City ordinance that requires pregnancy clinics that do not offer or refer for abortions to disclose that fact through signs posted in their waiting rooms, as applied to the Greater Baltimore Center for Pregnancy Concerns, violates the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause. The Fourth Circuit held that, although the City's interests in addressing allegedly deceptive advertising and to prevent health risks that can accompany delays in seeking to end a pregnancy were plainly important, the City could pursue its goals through less restrictive means and there was only a loose fit between the compelling disclosure at issue and the purported ills identified by the government. Therefore, the ordinance failed to satisfy heightened First Amendment scrutiny. View "Greater Baltimore Center v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore" on Justia Law