Court affirms pro-life pregnancy centers have constitutional speech rights

Pro-life pregnancy centers do, in fact, have constitutional speech rights.

That’s from a ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where judges unanimously affirmed the rights of those New York centers to tell pregnant women about the abortion pill reversal protocol.

The decision keeps in place a lower court’s block of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ agenda to manipulate business fraud laws to censor that speech.

The process has been proven medically effective if used properly. It provides that the chemical abortion process can be reversed successfully if pursued soon after an abortion pill first is taken.

The decision by a panel of three judges said the centers are “likely to succeed on their First Amendment claim.”

“Here, the preliminary injunction serves to secure the First Amendment rights of the NIFLA plaintiffs by allowing them to make religiously and morally motivated statements that provide information about APR to women who may wish to attempt to counteract the effects of an abortion initiated by oral medication,” wrote Circuit Judge Bianco.

The case is National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. James, and in it, the plaintiffs, with a network of 51 centers, sued James for illegally targeting pregnancy centers to censor pro-life viewpoints she disfavors.

James previously had sued 11 other pregnancy centers to try to force them to be silence.

Liberty Counsel filed an amicus brief in the case arguing that the “weaponization” of fraud statutes to censor pregnancy centers is viewpoint-based discrimination and an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. Liberty Counsel, which has represented other pro-life pregnancy centers in different cases, said it submitted the brief to help these organizations retain the freedom and autonomy to offer life-saving medical aid for children in the womb, including the right to speak and promote APR.

James had claimed that it was commercial speech, despite the fact that the centers offer the protocol for nothing.

James’ response? “Someone” has to pay.

The decision said James failed to present any constitutional plan for “regulating” such statements, so an injunction preventing her attacks was appropriate.

The protocol uses progesterone, a naturally occurring hormone that has been used safely and effectively for decades to prevent miscarriage and preterm labor. Progesterone can potentially reverse the effects of the abortion pill Mifepristone if a woman changes her mind within 72 hours after taking the drug.

Mifepristone is used in the nation’s abortion industry to kill the unborn child.

Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver said, “The ruling by the U.S. Second Circuit Court is a victory for women and unborn children. New York’s attempt to censor life-saving treatment by weaponizing business fraud laws is blatantly unconstitutional.”