A New Jersey pregnancy center will finally have its day in court—the Supreme Court.
On June 16, 2025, the highest court in the land agreed to hear First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin. First Choice is challenging what many pro-life advocates consider an unconstitutional investigation by Matthew Platkin, the New Jersey Attorney General who served a subpoena demanding that the pregnancy center identify the people behind nearly 5,000 donations and produce up to 10 years of its internal, confidential documents.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys representing First Choice are asking the Supreme Court to allow them to pursue the case in federal court. The Supreme Court will not rule on the validity of the subpoena itself but will decide whether First Choice has the right to challenge it in federal court rather than state court.
Previously, First Choice attempted to challenge the subpoena in federal court, but Platkin responded by filing a lawsuit. Multiple lower courts then ruled that First Choice must bring its federal claims before a state court first.
“The Constitution protects First Choice and its donors from unjustified demands to disclose their identities,” said Erin Hawley, Senior Counsel for ADF. “We are looking forward to presenting our case to the Supreme Court and urging it to hold that First Choice has the same right to federal court as any other civil rights plaintiff.”
ADF contended that Platkin issued a broad, baseless subpoena that required First Choice to expend its limited resources to produce massive amounts of confidential documents or face judicial penalties. ADF attorneys also claimed that Platkin sought help from Planned Parenthood to draft his office’s consumer alert.
In February 2025, Republican members of the New Jersey Assembly introduced articles of impeachment against Platkin, citing multiple grievances related to his conduct in office. One of the articles of impeachment included allegations that the Attorney General targeted pro-life pregnancy centers due to their religious speech and pro-life views.
“New Jersey’s attorney general is targeting First Choice—a ministry that provides parenting classes, free ultrasounds, baby clothes, and more to its community—simply because of its pro-life views,” said Hawley.
In December 2022, Platkin issued a consumer alert, alleging that pregnancy centers mislead and misrepresent how they operate. A consortium of New Jersey pregnancy centers, including First Choice, responded by filing suit, claiming that the consumer alert unfairly tarnished their reputation and disregarded the valuable services the centers offer at no charge to thousands of women and their families each year.
First Choice, a Care Net-affiliated group of pregnancy centers, has locations in Jersey City, Newark, Montclair, Morristown, and New Brunswick. Executive Director Aimee Huber told NJ Spotlight News in 2024 that her organization has never advertised anything other than what they do.
“On every page of our website, we clearly state that we do not perform or refer for abortion,” she said. “And whenever anyone calls or contacts us, we say the same thing. We are careful to advertise the services that we provide, and not the services we do not provide. We provide free pregnancy testing, ultrasounds to medically confirm pregnancy, material assistance, parenting programs, and after-abortion support and care.”
ADF attorneys are hopeful that the Supreme Court will allow First Choice to challenge the subpoenas in federal court, and that the pregnancy center will eventually be vindicated.
“The First Amendment protects First Choice’s right to freely speak about its beliefs, exercise its faith, associate with like-minded individuals and organizations, and continue to provide its free services in a compassionate environment to people facing unplanned pregnancies,” Hawley said.