A New Jersey pregnancy center is claiming harassment and pushing back on a subpoena from the state’s attorney general that included a request to release the names of 5,000 donors and other highly sensitive information.
On October 15, 2024, Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of First Choice Women’s Resource Centers in Northern New Jersey, seeking to stop subpoena requests from Attorney General Matthew Platkin. In November 2023, Platkin investigated First Choice for potentially violating anti-consumer fraud laws, according to news reports.
Legal attempts by First Choice to stop the subpoena have been denied in various New Jersey courts over the past 11 months.
In its recent suit, ADF attorneys are asking a federal court “to halt Platkin’s targeting of First Choice because of its faith-based, pro-life views and his demand that it identify its donors and produce up to 10 years of its internal, confidential documents.”
ADF is claiming that Platkin issued a broad, baseless subpoena that requires the organization to expend its limited resources to produce massive amounts of confidential documents or face judicial penalties.
“The attorney general does not refer to any evidence of wrongdoing to justify his demands,” a press release states.
“First Choice Women’s Resource Centers fulfills a vital need in its community by providing free ultrasounds, STD testing, baby clothes, counseling, and much more,” said ADF Senior Counsel Lincoln Wilson. “New Jersey’s attorney general is making a political example of First Choice simply because it provides pro-life and religious alternatives to his extreme pro-abortion viewpoints. We are urging the court to protect First Choice from these burdensome demands and uphold its First Amendment rights.”
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 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.
In a previous lawsuit, ADF attorneys claimed that Platkin sought help from Planned Parenthood to draft his office’s consumer alert.
“This is a case of unlawful harassment by the New Jersey Attorney General against pregnancy centers,” said ADF Counsel Wilson in a NJ Spotlight News article. “He has engaged in selective enforcement based on speech… He has shown that he publicly opposes pregnancy centers, and he’s doing this because he’s trying to minimize their work. The First Amendment says you have to meet a high standard for [his] request. He hasn’t met it here.”
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 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 program, after-abortion support and care.”