Supreme Court Will Hear Pro-life Pregnancy Help Centers’ Conscience Case

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 13, 2017
Contact: Nicole Stacy, [email protected], 202-223-8073

Pregnancy Centers Challenging California Law that Forces them to Promote Abortion

Washington, D.C.  – The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to hear pro-life pregnancy help centers’ challenge to California’s so-called “Reproductive FACT Act,” which forces them to advertise and refer for abortion. The Court is expected to hear arguments in NIFLA v. Becerra early next year.

In response to this news, the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) released the following statement:

“The nation’s pro-life pregnancy centers and their advocates welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to accept this case,” said CLI President Chuck Donovan.  “In communities across the country, these agencies offer low- or no-cost services for women who seek to carry their children to term.  California’s abusive law will not save one life; rather it will hasten the destruction of it by targeting the heart of pregnancy centers’ mission of service. The law would also reduce women’s options at one of the most critical times in their lives.  We look forward to a clear message from the High Court that this mandate and its cruel effects violate fundamental First Amendment guarantees.”

The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) represents more than 1,400 pregnancy help centers nationwide, including 135 in California. Earlier this year CLI submitted an amicus curiae brief supporting NIFLA’s legal challenge.

According to a summary of the case by Alliance Defending Freedom, the public interest law firm representing NIFLA and two other pro-life pregnancy centers, the California law “requires licensed medical centers that offer free, pro-life help to pregnant women to post a disclosure saying that California provides free or low-cost abortion and contraception services. The disclosure must also include a phone number for a county office that refers women to Planned Parenthood and other abortionists.”

CLI research has found that an overwhelming majority of Americans, regardless of whether they identify as “pro-life” or “pro-choice,” consider pregnancy help centers a valuable community resource.

Charlotte Lozier Institute was launched in 2011 as the education and research arm of Susan B. Anthony List. CLI is a hub for research and public policy analysis on some of the most pressing issues facing the United States and nations around the world. The Institute is named for a feminist physician known for her commitment to the sanctity of human life and equal career and educational opportunities for women.

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