Here’s a good question: “Where is Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in defending vulnerable, pregnant women and girls who are being lured by deceptive advertising by abortion providers pretending to be pro-life alternative centers?”

This remark was made by Chris Slattery, the director of a genuine abortion alternative clinic, Expectant Mother Care. Mr. Slattery filed a lawsuit this week in state Supreme Court that accuses “Dr. Emily” abortion clinics of multiple violations of New York State’s General Business Law Article 22-A, Section 349.

Does this sound somewhat familiar? It should, because one of the first things Attorney General Spitzer did during his re-election year of 2002 was to launch a witch hunt against crisis pregnancy clinics, accusing them of false advertising and deceptive business practices. Why did he go after charitable organizations whose only purpose is to help women during an extremely difficult time in their lives? The answer is quite simple: These clinics take away business from his biggest supporters.

The attorney general and abortion rights advocates have a very close relationship. So much so, in fact, that he’s lauded in their brochures. A New York NARAL Political Action Committee brochure reads: “NARAL/NY was central to the narrow yet critical triumph by Eliot Spitzer in the race for Attorney General” in 1998. The brochure also quotes Mr. Spitzer, a Democrat, as saying that “NARAL/NY was instrumental in my victory.”

At a 1999 NARAL luncheon, Mr. Spitzer said: “The immediate focus of the initiative is reproductive rights, and how to protect those rights. I know how important this is to each of you. Every goal you have for equal opportunity in society depends on this fundamental concept: You must control your body. You must control your destiny. No one must interfere with the personal decisions you make regarding your health and well being. This is NARAL’s commitment, and this is my commitment.”

Well, he certainly keeps his promises to big donors. In January 2002, Mr. Spitzer subpoenaed reams of documents from 10 crisis pregnancy clinics, including Expectant Mother Care, relating to their operating procedures. The aim was to determine whether the centers engaged in “false advertising and deceptive business practices” and the unlicensed practice of medicine. The subpoenas, which demanded the names of staff members and their credentials, training materials, promotional information, and data on all policies relating to client referrals, created an onerous burden on these centers, which are nonprofit and funded by private donations.

Mr. Spitzer subsequently withdrew the subpoenas because the crisis clinics fought back and petitioned for their withdrawal. Because the main purpose of the subpoenas was to harass and intimidate the centers and publicly smear their reputation, and because he technically didn’t have a legal leg to stand on, withdrawal was a no-brainer.

Thus, when Mr. Spitzer was running for re-election in 2002, “false advertising and deceptive business practices” was a cause for concern only when it appeared to affect the business of his supporters. He never challenged any of the abortion providers as to their qualifications.

Further proof that the attorney general was not serious about the violation of state law forbidding false advertising and deception is being made clear in the suit against “Dr. Emily.” In a recent appeal, Mr. Slattery wrote that Dr. Emily’s Women’s Health Center “is an aggressive abortion clinic that exists solely for the purpose of killing unborn children by a wide variety of means — including first and second trimester abortions through a full 24 weeks in pregnancy. In fact — this abortion mill kills viable children — children that could live outside of the womb.”

So why is this clinic being sued by EMC? Mr. Slattery claims it has been illegally and deceptively advertising in a section of The Yellow Pages that is solely reserved for organizations that do not provide abortions or references for abortions.

Hmmm. Why hasn’t our attorney general been as vigilant about this blatant deception as he was about hunting down centers that offer pro-bono services to women? Perhaps that’s the key: It’s really all about money. Every time these crisis centers help a woman keep her baby, abortion providers like NARAL and Planned Parenthood lose support and revenue.

Meanwhile, in accepting the NARAL endorsement for his gubernatorial race, Mr. Spitzer said he was honored to receive the endorsement of NARAL Pro-Choice New York and cited the group’s 30-year struggle to ensure that women have full access to comprehensive reproductive health care. He ended his speech by declaring that his goal is to make abortion safe, legal, and rare. I’ve always wondered why advocates use that word “rare.”

Maybe even Mr. Spitzer realizes that abortion is really not a good thing.