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CV NEWS FEED // A pro-life pregnancy center and a national nonprofit network Feb. 12 sued Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings, arguing that a state law that mandates pro-life organizations provide certain disclaimers violates the First Amendment.
On behalf of local pregnancy center A Door of Hope, and the non-profit facility network National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom and Simms Showers are challenging a 2024 state law, Senate Bill 300, which they argue inhibits the centers’ ability to communicate freely, according to an ADF press release.
Local news outlet Delaware Live reported that the plaintiffs are filing for a preliminary and permanent injunction to stop Senate Bill 300 from going into effect in March of this year.
The law requires crisis pregnancy centers in Delaware to post disclaimers in their facilities and advertising materials that state they do not have a licensed medical provider on staff directly supervising their work, according to ADF.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys claim that the disclosure would limit their advertising options.
“Delaware’s law is unconstitutional, pure and simple,” Simms Showers senior associate William Thetford said, according to ADF. “It is a classic example of the government compelling speech to punish those who hold differing viewpoints.”
ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot argued that state legislatures have intensified their efforts to censor pregnancy centers since 2022, when a landmark Supreme Court ruling determined there was not a constitutional right to abortion.
“Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, state attorneys general have ramped up their efforts to silence, censor, and shut down pregnancy care centers across the country,” Theriot said.
Other states have passed similar bills, he noted. “Delaware now follows government officials in New Jersey, New York, Washington, California, and Vermont targeting these centers by forcing them to provide misleading information or by punishing them for their life-affirming viewpoints,” Theriot said.
ADF argues that Senate Bill 300 is unconstitutional, citing the 2018 NIFLA v. Becerra case, in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that compelled statements in advertising are unconstitutional due to the content-based structure of the regulation, according to the Supreme Court’s website.
“By requiring petitioners to inform women how they can obtain state-subsidized abortions—at the same time petitioners try to dissuade women from choosing that option— the licensed notice plainly ‘alters the content’ of petitioners’ speech,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the majority opinion for NIFLA v. Becerra.
In a statement, NIFLA Vice President of Legal Affairs Anne O’Connor said Delaware’s bill is “clearly unconstitutional as it destroys the free speech of pregnancy centers solely because they are pro-life and help women who are facing unplanned pregnancies.”
She said that the state should instead strive to support women and pregnancy centers.
