Abortion hot line ordered closed by judge

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Although Causeway Center for Women calls itself an abortion referral service in the Yellow Pages, a federal judge ruled Aug. 4 it was nothing but a guise to stop women from seeking the procedure and ordered the phone line shut down.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval also ordered the phone line’s operator, William Graham, 53, of Metairie, La., to stop misrepresenting the service, and barred him from using the name Causeway Center for Women, which he said is similar to a long-established abortion provider, Causeway Medical Clinic.

Duval acted in response to a lawsuit filed in June on behalf of four women who claim that Graham caused them to delay getting an abortion until it was more risky and costly, or carry their pregnancies to term, by repeatedly telling them their abortion appointments had to be rescheduled. The suit was also filed on behalf of Causeway Medical Clinic.