Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is welcoming people to submit anonymous complaints to his office if they believe a pro-life advocate has harassed or deceived them.
Live Action News reported about the new “reproductive rights complaint form” that the attorney general’s office published on its website this month.
The form is problematic for many reasons, primarily because it appears to be a political intimidation tactic to target peaceful pro-life advocates who believe unborn babies deserve a right to life.
The government form specifically mentions “crisis pregnancy centers” and links them to “deception, harassment, or misconduct.” Additionally, it says “being denied an abortion” is enough of a reason to file a complaint. Notably absent are suggested complaints about abortion facilities deceiving patients.
On the form, the attorney general’s office also encourages people to complain if a health care insurer or pharmacy refuses to pay for or provide an abortion – raising questions about religious freedom and conscience protections.
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Additionally, the form asks for the alleged violator’s name, phone number and address, and states that the information will become public record. This is another avenue by which abortion activists potentially could intimidate pro-lifers: making a false report with the pro-lifer’s private information knowing it will be entered into the public record for anyone to find. Complaints may be submitted anonymously.
KXLY News 4 reports Ferguson’s office said it plans to use the complaint form to help law enforcement investigate alleged “reproductive rights” violations.
“We wanted to make sure people understood what their rights were,” said Kristin Beneski, the state First Assistant Attorney General. “Certainly our office is working to understand situations in which people’s rights may be being violated, and if that’s ever the case our intent would be to take actions within our power to protect those rights.”
After the announcement, the abortion chain Planned Parenthood praised the effort.
“Protests have doubled, and so we’re seeing more protests. It does impact staff, it does impact patients,” Paul Dillon of Planned Parenthood in Spokane told KXLY. “We’ve already had some noisy protests this morning with protesters yelling at staff and patients, and we had patients voice concern.”
Washington state law allows unborn babies to be aborted for basically any reason up to birth and forces state taxpayers to pay for elective abortions. In 2020, 16,050 unborn babies were aborted, according to the state health department.
