After the Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, issued the following statement on behalf of pro-life pregnancy centers that have been unjustly targeted by the state of New Jersey:

                Rep. Smith, Dean of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, said, “Pregnancy care centers are an oasis of love and support for mothers and their precious children—according to a recent report, in 2024 alone, 2,775 pregnancy centers nationwide provided over $452 million in medical care, support and education services, and material goods.

                “Yet, in an unconscionable abuse of power, NJ Governor Murphy and Attorney General Matt Platkin have gone to great lengths to strip women of life-affirming support, simply because pregnancy centers refrain from promoting or participating in the killing of unborn children by abortion.

                “I urge the Supreme Court to uphold the pregnancy centers’ constitutionally protected freedoms against the bullying and discrimination of the state of New Jersey.”

                 Background: 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.

                Smith, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and 30 other members of the House and Senate filed an amicus brief supporting the pregnancy center. Authored by Chris Murray of the law firm First & Fourteenth, the brief 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 over 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.

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