Unanimous SCOTUS Ruling Smacks Down Blue-State Lawfare Targeting Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers


Democrat abortion extremism lost this week with a Supreme Court decision that reins in blue state lawfare against charitable pregnancy centers. In a 9-0 ruling, First Choice Women’s Center prevailed over former New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin. Platkin had attempted to force the pregnancy center to hand over private donor information and had even gone so far as to coordinate with Planned Parenthood on a “consumer alert” targeting pregnancy centers across the state with false and unsubstantiated accusations.

The Court’s decision allows First Choice and pregnancy centers across the country to defend their rights and continue serving women and children without fear of government threats or interference. The ruling on First Amendment grounds supported by even Ketanji Brown Jackson is a decisive victory for life.

As many as six out of 10 women with a history of abortion say they would have chosen life if they had more support. Today, organizations like First Choice are providing more of this kind of support since Roe v. Wade fell.

For example, the Charlotte Lozier Institute found in 2024 alone, the national network of pregnancy centers provided babies and moms over $452 million in material, medical, educational and other services and goods. Unlike the abortion industry’s “services,” the overwhelming majority of these gifts were provided completely free of charge. The testimony of the women they support — some who were rescued from domestic violence, sex trafficking, homelessness, and so much more — should warm even the coldest heart.

Interestingly, even Platkin’s typical allies opposed his lawfare. The American Civil Liberties Union, for example, filed an amicus brief in defense of First Choice. Platkin pushed his unconstitutional crusade anyway, showing his determination to bulldoze whatever rights necessary to put local pregnancy centers out of business.

From the beginning, it was obvious that Platkin’s attack on First Choice was politically motivated. His counsel admitted during Supreme Court oral arguments that they had not received any complaints that First Choice was misleading customers. Even so, he chose to initiate an intrusive investigation against the center and to issue a subpoena for donor records and other financial information. According to First Choice’s legal documents, this had the effect that Platkin hoped it would — First Choice donors admitted they would have been “less likely to donate to First Choice if we had known information about the donation might be disclosed.”

Concerningly, pro-abortion radicals have shown they will stop at nothing to push their extremism through. Far gone are the days of the Democrats being the party of “safe, legal, and rare.” Blue state attacks on pregnancy centers reveal the truth: Democrats are not pro-choice, they’re pro-abortion.

Attorney General Platkin’s attacks on First Choice are just the latest example. States like Colorado and California have cracked down on pregnancy centers providing Abortion Pill Reversal, a safe, effective option that has saved 7,000+ babies. Scores of pregnancy centers around the country were targeted and vandalized in the wake of Dobbs. With the Biden administration more focused on jailing peaceful pro-lifers, most of the perpetrators remain at large. Kamala Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and other Democrats have called for pregnancy centers to be shut down.

It is shocking the lengths Democrats have gone to in abandoning women to promote abortion at all costs. To them, more abortions equal more success, and they know they have to engage in these tactics to prop up Planned Parenthood and Big Abortion. Nationwide, Planned Parenthood locations are closing their doors due to filthy facilities, plummeting income, and too few staff. Meanwhile, pregnancy centers are booming because they are offering women real choices, free of charge. As long as they exist to offer babies and moms support, organizations like First Choice will continue undercutting businesses that the abortion industry needs to thrive. That is an unpardonable offense for abortion extremists.

Across the country, other pro-abortion activists were watching to see if this venture succeeded. They saw Platkin successfully bully pro-life volunteers into courts all the way up to the Supreme Court. Thankfully, every single Supreme Court justice agreed that Platkin was dangerously wielding the government to chill Americans’ rights. While it’s refreshing that the Court smacked Platkin’s attack down, we can’t let our celebration drift into complacency.

If anything, this victory should serve as a sober warning of the lengths that our pro-abortion opponents will go to promote their vision for abortion on demand nationwide. As long as they are in positions of power, blue state politicians will continue wielding their offices against innocent citizens serving their neighbors in need.

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Marjorie Dannenfelser serves as president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. She has been called “the woman who brought down Roe.”