Press Release
Over 30 Members of Congress submit amicus brief to Supreme CourtNJ Governor Murphy and Attorney General Platkin’s discrimination against pregnancy centers is an “unconscionable abuse of power”Last week, Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and 30 other members of the House and Senate joined together to file an amicus brief in support of pro-life pregnancy centers that have been unjustly targeted by the state of New Jersey. Earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to address this issue in the case of First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin, with oral arguments expected in December. Rep. Smith, Dean of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, said, “Pregnancy care centers are on the front lines of providing compassionate care to mothers and their precious children—offering free support and resources, which can range from pregnancy tests and ultrasounds to parental education programs and lactation consultation and much more.” “My state’s discrimination against pregnancy centers because they refrain from promoting or participating in the killing of unborn children by abortion is an unconscionable abuse of power. It is utterly shameful that Governor Murphy would go to these lengths to strip women of life-affirming options and support,” Smith said. “We are asking that the Supreme Court send a clear message to New Jersey and other states that this kind of bullying and infringement of constitutionally protected freedoms will be given no sanction.” Sen. Cruz, a staunch pro-life leader in the Senate, said, “Fringe progressives are targeting faith-based pregnancy centers with lawsuits and subpoenas, which are meant to harass and intimidate both those who rely on and those who support those centers. These actions are contrary to the Constitution's protections for religious liberty and due process, and this amicus brief asks the Supreme Court to protect those bedrock principles. Mothers should have every right and protection to choose Life, and I am proud to stand with them." First Choice, a faith-based pregnancy center network located in New Jersey, is challenging an unwarranted subpoena issued by the New Jersey Attorney General on the grounds that the subpoena violates the organization’s first amendment rights and that they have been viciously targeted because of their life-affirming mission and religious speech. The Smith-Cruz brief, authored by Chris Murray of the law firm First & Fourteenth, argues that Congress has given First Choice the right to seek immediate redress in federal court instead of being forced to defend its constitutional rights before a hostile state court. It says that “states may not deprive citizens of their right to freely associate and then force those citizens to try to vindicate their rights in hostile state forums before they can darken the door of a federal courthouse.” Smith is the author of the Let Pregnancy Centers Serve Act of 2025 (HR 2226), federal legislation to prohibit federal, state and local governments from discriminating against the nearly 2,700 pregnancy care centers across the United States. Smith’s bill, which was introduced at a widely attended Capitol Hill press conference in March, will protect the centers by strengthening federal conscience laws, prohibiting states from requiring pregnancy care centers to be complicit in abortion promotion, and identifying mechanisms for relief, including compensatory damages. Despite the important work of pregnancy care centers, there are many examples of other states, in addition to New Jersey, working to censor, intimidate or punish them. For instance, pregnancy centers in Washington State were vindicated after challenging the Washington attorney general’s multi-year investigation of their organization. In New York, the Attorney General has filed a lawsuit attempting to prevent clinics from speaking about abortion pill reversal. A Colorado state law prohibiting doctors and nurses from providing abortion pill reversal was recently struck down by a federal district court. In 2019, New York passed a law, currently being challenged in court, that could be used to force pregnancy centers to hire individuals who disagree with their pro-life mission. In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down a California law compelling pregnancy centers to provide free advertising for abortion clinics. ### Contact: |