Amid legal pressure, Vermont has amended a law that pro-life pregnancy centers claimed censored their ability to advertise.
Vermont lawmakers approved a measure late last week to change language to Senate Bill 37, a law passed in May 2023 that was to curb “misleading” advertisements by pro-life pregnancy care centers.
The conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom filed a stipulated dismissal of the case of National Institute of Family and Life Advocates et al v. Clark et al last Thursday, following the amending.
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“Women who become unexpectedly pregnant should know they have life-affirming options available to them, from emotional support to practical resources, which is exactly what our clients offer,” ADF Legal Counsel Julia Payne Koon said in a statement.
“We’re pleased that Vermont recognized it needed to amend its discriminatory law that unlawfully targeted faith-based pregnancy centers and restricted their ability to speak and act according to their conscience.”
“Pregnancy centers must be free to serve and empower women and their families by offering the support they need without fear of unjust government punishment,” she added.
Anne O’Connor, NIFLA’s vice president of legal affairs, said the state “has backed away from attacking the work of pro-life pregnancy centers.”
“Pregnancy centers are no longer under direct threat from the law and pro-abortion lobby in Vermont,” O’Connor said. “For this, NIFLA celebrates; however, if in the future the state again decides to unconstitutionally pursue the work of pro-life pregnancy centers, NIFLA stands ready to take Vermont back to court and seek appropriate relief.”
Signed by Vermont’s Republican Gov. Phil Scott in May 2023, the provisions within S.37 defined pregnancy centers that do not provide abortions or emergency contraception as “limited-services” centers and prohibited them from advertising what “is untrue or clearly designed to mislead the public about the nature of services provided.”
Critics contended that the law targets pro-life pregnancy centers as “limited services” providers because these organizations don’t perform abortions, instead offering free pregnancy resources and counseling to women.
Under the law, pregnancy centers in the state could face a fine of up to $10,000 if the Vermont attorney general determines that their advertising was misleading.
The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, Aspire Now and the Branches Pregnancy Resource Center sued state officials in July 2023.
The complaint argued that the law “censors the centers’ ability to advertise their free services” and “precludes centers from offering non-medical services, information, and counseling unless provided by a licensed health care provider.”
The lawsuit says the law offers a “vague and viewpoint-discriminatory” standard on what constitutes misinformation, adding that it “provides no guidance as to how it should be applied to advertisements including medical information on which there is no medical consensus.”
Pregnancy centers are frequently targeted by supporters of abortion, who often seek to enact legislation that would limit their outreach capacities or the services they offer.
Detractors of these centers claim that they manipulate women into choosing life for their children and rely on “deceptive” strategies to lure women away from abortion facilities. Critics also allege that pregnancy centers lie about the services they provide women by posing as medical clinics.
As the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute highlighted in a 2024 report titled “Pregnancy Centers Offer Hope for a New Generation,” more than 2,750 pregnancy centers serve women and families nationwide. The report noted that throughout 2022, the total value of material goods and services provided by pregnancy centers was over $367 million.
The percentage of clients who reported that they had a positive experience and were satisfied with the care they received was 97.4%.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
