Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Sue VT Officials for Censoring Counseling, Violating Free Speech
The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) and two faith-based pregnancy care centers in Vermont have filed a federal lawsuit challenging state officials over a law the plaintiffs say restricts their free speech and their services to women for their pregnancies.
Last May, Vermont's Democratic legislature passed SB 37 and Gov. Phil Scott (R) signed the measure into law. According to the 57-page lawsuit, the legislation "censors the centers' ability to advertise their free services."
The law also prohibits pregnancy centers' non-medical staff and volunteers from providing clients with any information related to pregnancy and counseling clients about their options without hiring medical staff.
In addition, if the state attorney general deems the centers' advertising to be "misleading," the attorney general could "request a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation, an order of restitution to consumers, and an order requiring reimbursement to the State for its expenses investigating and prosecuting the violation."
According to the lawsuit, the law's Advertising Prohibition does not define the term "misleading." Instead, it is left up to the discretion of the attorney general.
"The Advertising Prohibition provides no guidance as to how it should be applied to advertisements including medical information (for) which there is no medical consensus," the lawsuit argues.
"The Advertising Prohibition has chilled Plaintiffs' speech," it states.
The law applies only to pro-life pregnancy centers—an abortion clinic that provides identical information would not be subject to the law.
Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit religious rights law firm, are representing NIFLA – which has six member facilities in Vermont – and Aspire Now, and Branches Pregnancy Resource Center in their complaint before the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont.
NIFLA is a religious nonprofit that provides pro-life pregnancy center members with legal resources and counsel, with the aim of developing a network of life-affirming ministries in every community across the nation.
"Women who become unexpectedly pregnant should be empowered with life-affirming options, emotional support, and practical resources," ADF Legal Counsel Julia Payne said in a press release.
"Vermont's law, however, does the opposite—it impedes women's ability to receive critical services during a difficult time in their lives and suppresses the free-speech rights of faith-based pregnancy centers," Payne added. "Pregnancy centers should be free to serve women and offer the support they need without fear of unjust government punishment."
The ADF shared an interview with a woman who runs one of the pregnancy centers involved in the lawsuit.
"Trafficked from age 2, pregnant at age 29, turned away from 27 different shelters until a pregnancy care center stepped in to save her life. Today, she runs her own pregnancy care center, and she's fighting a Vermont law that threatens to shut it down," the law firm tweeted.
Trafficked from age 2, pregnant at age 29, turned away from 27 different shelters-until a pregnancy care center stepped in to save her life.
— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) August 9, 2023
Today, she runs her own pregnancy care center, and she's fighting a Vermont law that threatens to shut it down.
WATCH NOW pic.twitter.com/kxIhfnnp2y
Daily Signal Writer Notes Vermont's Intent in Passing Law
In a commentary published by The Daily Signal on Aug. 7, contributing writer Nicole Russell points out Vermont's "legislature findings accuse pregnancy centers of misleading pregnant women by somehow implying that their facilities offer abortion services and, in the same breath, the legislature said it was concerned that some pregnancy centers may not 'openly acknowledge in their advertising, on their websites, and at their facilities that they neither provide abortions nor refer clients to other providers of abortion services.'"
It's not clear where this came from, as it's hard to imagine any pro-life pregnancy center purposely fooling women into believing they perform abortions, although it's a popular claim from abortion supporters," Russell explained.
"Clearly Vermont's law is intended to diminish the existence and the good that pregnancy centers do and to continue to showcase abortion as the only viable alternative to pregnancy," she wrote.
"In 2019, 2,700 U.S. pregnancy centers helped almost 2 million people," Russell noted.
"According to the Pregnancy Center Coalition of Northern New England's 2022 Impact Report for Vermont, in 2022, Vermont pro-life pregnancy centers helped over '476 male and female clients, performed 176 ultrasounds, 183 pregnancy tests, 59 STD/STI {sexually transmitted disease/sexually transmitted infection} tests, and 617 educational classes, saving the community over $395,770.00,'" she explained.
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