Each year, First Choice Women’s Resource Centers makes a life-changing difference for thousands of New Jersey women. Wednesday, April 29’s unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in our case against the state is good news for all of them — and for a lot of other people across America, too.
The decision affirms our right to pursue justice in federal court against state officials who have violated our First Amendment rights by persecuting us for helping women who seek our free support as they navigate unplanned pregnancies. The state targeted us for our pro-life views, issuing an invasive subpoena and opening an unfounded investigation, based on … nothing. The state has failed to identify a single complaint against our organization.
Not for want of trying. Former Attorney General Matthew Platkin used every resource at his disposal to silence us. He assembled a “Reproductive Rights Task Force” that worked with Planned Parenthood to issue a consumer alert warning New Jersey women about pregnancy centers because they — heaven forbid — do not provide abortions.
This harassment culminated in Platkin issuing an invasive demand for vast amounts of private information, including constitutionally protected information like the names, phone numbers, addresses and places of employment of First Choice’s donors. Since those are clear violations of our constitutional rights, we filed a federal court action with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom to block his efforts. When lower federal courts dismissed our claims, we petitioned the Supreme Court to hear our case.
SUPREME COURT UNANIMOUSLY SLAPS DOWN BLUE STATE TARGETING PRO-LIFE GROUP
Now the court has secured our right to be heard in federal court to fight for our organization’s right to freely associate with donors without fear of government retaliation for exercising our First Amendment freedoms.
That benefits not only us, but dozens of other pregnancy care centers around the country — Washington, Vermont, Illinois, California — that have been unjustly targeted by hostile government officials. In fact, it benefits all organizations, ensuring they may file federal lawsuits against hostile government officials for violating their First Amendment rights.
Groups as diverse as tech giants, oil and gas companies, gun manufacturers, media groups and immigrant advocacy organizations must be happy to hear that. They’ve all faced invasive demands from state officials.
THE SUPREME COURT DID THE RIGHT THING. I KNOW BECAUSE I WAS PART OF A HORRIFYING GENDER TRANSITION
New Jersey’s actions have threatened more than the privacy and personal freedom of our donors; they’ve also seriously inhibited our ability to do what we do. Providing the kind and amount of information the state is seeking requires a great deal of time, which, of course, is the idea — hampering us on the one hand, while simultaneously moving to intimidate anyone willing to help or support what we’re doing.
That’s a lot of government power marshaled to punish a small nonprofit for nothing more than exercising our religious beliefs and serving our community, and the justices were right to say that state officials should be held accountable in federal court.
The Supreme Court’s ruling agrees that demands for private donor information burden First Amendment rights. That gets us one huge step forward toward getting back to doing what we do best — serve women. Over the last 40 years, we have offered crucial resources to more than 36,000 women across our state. We haven’t charged for those services, or forced them on anyone, and we are still in touch with many of these women and their families.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION
Pregnancy centers serve vital roles in their communities. In 2024 alone, those centers provided 600,000 free ultrasounds, 200,000 STD tests, 6.3 million packs of diapers, and 39,000 car seats — more than $452 million worth of support to women who said they would prefer to continue their pregnancies if they could find this kind of support.
Platkin described people who make that kind of investment in the lives of others as “extremists.” Our clients would describe them as people who were there to help when no one else was. And I’d describe them as being the hands and feet of God.
By coming after our center, New Jersey officials have used taxpayer money and the government’s enormous resources to derail us from helping women facing unplanned pregnancies. But thankfully, the Supreme Court has now determined that, when those officials target and harass their ideological opponents, they will be held accountable in federal court for violating constitutional rights.
The women of New Jersey — and countless other Americans — will be better for that decision.
