The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to a subpoena demanding information about donors to a network of pro-life pregnancy centers, as such organizations have become targets of pro-abortion politicians in recent years.
In an orders list published Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court included First Choice Women’s Resource v. Platkin, Att’y Gen. of N.J. as one of two cases granted a writ of certiorari.
First Choice Women’s Resource Centers is a network of pro-life pregnancy centers subjected to a subpoena from New Jersey’s Democratic Attorney General Matthew Platkin seeking information about its donors.
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The network filed a lawsuit challenging Platkin’s demand for copies of all solicitations and advertisements published by First Choice as well as documents provided to clients and/or donors, documents identifying First Choice personnel, information about donations made to the ministry and information about where the business sends women seeking abortion pill reversals.
Platkin cited concerns that First Choice had violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, stemming from the business’s promotion of abortion pill reversals, as the justification for his demand for the documents.
Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative legal nonprofit organization that represents First Choice, alleges that the demand for information about its donors violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“New Jersey’s attorney general is targeting First Choice — a ministry that provides parenting classes, free ultrasounds, baby clothes, and more to its community — simply because of its pro-life views,” ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley maintained in a statement published Monday.
“The Constitution protects First Choice and its donors from unjustified demands to disclose their identities, and First Choice is entitled to vindicate those rights in federal court.”
In recent years, pro-life pregnancy centers have been in the crosshairs of Democratic politicians at the state and federal levels following the May 2022 publication of the leaked draft of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision determining that the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion.
Platkin was one of 16 Democratic state attorneys general to sign on to a letter accusing pro-life pregnancy centers of engaging in “misinformation and harm” by “misleading consumers and delaying access to critical, time-sensitive reproductive healthcare.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., have called for pro-life pregnancy centers to be shut down nationwide.
Washington State opened an investigation into pro-life pregnancy centers in 2022, citing concerns about consumer fraud. The office of then-Democratic Attorney General Bob Ferguson closed the investigation in early 2024 without pressing charges.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health launched a $1 million campaign against pro-life pregnancy centers, which the state’s Democratic Gov. Maura Healey accused of engaging in “deceptive and dangerous tactics.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
