Center's challenge goes to top court
Pregnancy group wans to stop NJ investigation
By: Megan Burrow
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... The U.S. Supreme court agreed on June 16 [2025] to hear whether a New Jersey faith-based crisis pregnancy center can sue federal courts to challenge state Attorney General Matthew Platkin's investigation into the center's practices and whether it misled women about what health services it provides.
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Platkin demanded in 2023 that First Choice Women's Resource Center, which has locations in Montclair, Morristown, Newark and Jersey City, provide information and internal documents about the group's donors, advertisements and medical personae.
..... The center went to federal court to block the subpoena, but it was told it must first fight the order in state court.
..... Attorneys with Alliance defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy group representing First Choice, have argued that the First Amendment protect donor identities from unjustified disclosure and prohibits state officials from retaliating against speech with which they may disagree.
..... The attorneys have said First Choice has already felt the impact of the state's investigation on its ability to attract donors and advertise its services.
..... "New Jersey's attorney general is targeting First Choice - a ministry that provides parenting classes, free ultrasounds, baby clothes and more to its community - simply because of its pro-life views," ADF senior counsel Erin Hawley said in a statement. "the constitution protects First Choice and its donors from unjustified demands to disclose their identities, and First Choice is entitled to vindicate those rights in federal court.
..... Platkin has said the appeal to a higher court was premature because the state still negotiating with the center on the information it is seeking. After that is complete, the state courts could hear First Choice's arguments that the subpoena violated its First Amendment rights.
..... The crisis pregnancy center has "for years refused to answer questions in New jersey and the potential misrepresentations they have been making, including about reproductive healthcare," Platkin said in a June 16 [2025] statement.
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The subpoena was issued to ensure the center was complying with state law, he said.
..... "Non-profits, including crisis pregnancy centers, may not deceive or defraud residents in our state, and we may exercise our traditional investigate authority to ensure that they arr not doing so - as we do to protect New Jerseyans form a range of harms," Platkin said.
..... The lower federal courts ruled that First Choice must pursue its federal claims in state court first. But ADF appealed to the Supreme Court to review the case.
..... "The First amendment protects First Choice's right to freely speak about its beliefs, exercise its faith, associated with like-minded individuals and organizations, and continue to provide its free services in a caring and compassionate environment to people facing unplanned pregnancies,: Hawley said. "We are looking forward to presenting our case to the Supreme Court and urging it to hold that First Choice has the same rights to federal court as any other civil rights plaintiffs."
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There are more than 50 crisis pregnancy centers in the sate, outnumbering clinics that provide abortions, with at least one in every county.
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Critics say the centers look similar to medical facilities form the outside, and they may not be transparent about their mission to encourage women to continue a pregnancy.
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In December 2022, the state issued a consumer alert about these centers, saying they may appear to be reproductive helaht care clinics, but they do not provide abortion care or provide referrals for abortion care or contraception, and many do not provide helaht care, despite suggestion that they do.
..... Advocates for the centers say they provide support for people as they consider a decisions on whether to continue a pregnancy, and some offer diapers, formula, and baby clothes at no cost.
..... Platkin said he remains committed to enforcing the state's fraud laws "without fear or favor against anyone who would harm or violate the rights of our residents, no matter how powerful the entity on the other side,."
..... "I am optimistic that we will prevail when the Supreme Court considers that question this fall," [2025] he said. "First Choice is looking of a special exception from the usual procedural rules as it tires to avoid complying with an emptily lawful state subpoena, something the U.S. Constitution does not permit it-to do. No industry is entitled to that type of special treatment - period."