Vermont lawmakers amend law targeting pro-life pregnancy centers

State lawmakers this week approved a measure to roll back portions of a 2023 law criticized by pro-life advocates who said it prohibited crisis pregnancy centers from supporting women and families in the state. The measure barred pro-life organizations from advertising their services in a way that the state’s pro-abortion attorney general viewed as misleading. Providers accused of doing so faced fines of up to $10,000, though the law did not define “misleading.” The law also required licensed medical providers at pregnancy centers to supervise all services, even nonmedical information or counseling. The law explicitly targeted pro-life pregnancy centers by applying only to facilities that do not perform or refer for abortions, according to the legal nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom, or ADF. ADF added that pro-abortion facilities did not face similar restrictions. Lawmakers amended the law this week amid a lawsuit brought by ADF on behalf of several pro-life organizations.

What is the background of the case against the law? Lawyers for ADF in July 2023 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates and the pregnancy care centers Aspire Now and Branches Pregnancy Resource Center. The lawsuit argued Vermont’s law unconstitutionally restricted the centers’ speech and provision of services. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 ruled against a California law that required pro-life clinics to disclose information about abortion services and contraception. That ruling established the precedent that pregnancy centers should be free to serve women without government interference with their speech. A federal district court last summer allowed the lawsuit against Vermont’s law to proceed and ADF this week filed to dismiss the case after the state agreed to amend the legislation.

Dig deeper: Read Daniel R. Suhr’s opinion piece about the laws targeting pro-life pregnancy centers’ speech.