SCOTUS to Hear Free Speech Case Affecting CA Pro-Life Centers

In 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed the Reproductive FACT Act. This law essentially forces pro-life pregnancy help centers in the state to provide information on how the women who visit their clinics can obtain an abortion.

Naturally, this goes against the explicit goal of these clinics: to promote and support life-affirming decisions and care.

Last year, the notoriously liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the pro-abort movement. As Jay Caruso wrote about here, the decision defied all logic. The First Amendment right of these clinics is undoubtedly under attack.

Now, the Supreme Court is set to hear this case, as The Hill reports:

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a case challenging a California law that requires licensed pregnancy centers run by religious nonprofits to post notices informing women how to get information on state-funded abortions and birth control.

The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) claims California’s Reproductive FACT Act forces the centers to send a message that directly contradicts their anti-abortion message, violating the First Amendment’s right to free speech.

NIFLA argues there’s an “unmistakable advocacy component” to requiring pregnancy centers to tell women that California has programs that offer subsidized abortion and force them to urge women to “contact the county” for the information.

“If telling someone how to get a free abortion does not convey a particular viewpoint on abortion, it is difficult to think of what does,” the group argued.

Nationwide, there are approximately 2,200 pregnancy help centers that provide pro-life care, resources, and direction to women facing an unplanned pregnancy. These centers are the lifeblood of the pro-life cause. They meet individuals at the moment of crisis and encourage them to choose life for themselves and their unborn babies. There is a vast number of these clinics just in California alone, as made evident here on the California Pro-Life Council’s site.

The Supreme Court’s ruling on the matter will drastically affect the cause in the Golden State.

Frankly, women are aware of abortion. I mean, how could you not be? The largest abortion provider in the nation, Planned Parenthood, performed 328,348 abortions between 2015-2016, according to their own annual report. Women march in their p***y hats as they clamor on about so-called reproductive rights. Abortion is praised, celebrated, and talked of without stigma.

Women know about abortion.

What women aren’t as aware of is the hope and support available to them at pregnancy help centers and within the vibrant pro-life communities that prop them up. They are in the dark about life-affirming options such as open or closed adoptions.

A full life can be found on both sides of pregnancy. There is no need for fear. This is what is at stake for these clinics as they work to promote an agenda of life in the midst of a decidedly pro-death society.

Whether the Supreme Court will protect the First Amendment rights of these clinics remains to be seen.

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