New Jersey pregnancy centers ask Supreme Court to permit federal lawsuit

Lawyers representing First Choice Women’s Resource Centers on Tuesday filed a petition with the nation’s highest court in a bid to federally sue New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. The attorney general in 2023 filed a subpoena seeking confidential internal records from the Christian, pro-life center, including names of its doctors and staff. Platkin’s office said it was investigating the center for possible violations of the state’s consumer fraud act related to the way it handled patient data and statements about abortion pill reversal, according to the lawsuit. The attorney general’s office in 2022 issued a consumer alert alleging that pregnancy centers mislead patients about how they operate.

Lawyers from Alliance Defending Freedom argued the subpoena was too broad and violated both the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. First Choice produced about 2,300 pages of documents in response to the subpoena and the center’s legal team in December 2023 filed a complaint in federal court against Platkin. The complaint claims he was unfairly targeting First Choice because of its religious and pro-life views. First Choice operates five pregnancy resources centers in New Jersey that provide pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, screenings and treatment for venereal diseases, and counseling.

What is the history of the case? The center asked the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to allow its federal case to continue after a lower court dismissed the case, but the appeals court said First Choice must first fight the subpoena in state court before bringing a federal lawsuit. The group in February asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in the case but the court last spring denied the appeal, sending the case back to lower courts. State lawmakers in September introduced a bill aimed at supporting pregnancy resource centers and condemning what it characterized as the attorney general’s harassment of those centers.

Dig deeper: Read Erin Hawley’s opinion piece about how state attorneys general are threatening pro-life pregnancy centers.