Two pro-life pregnancy centers filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the state of Vermont over a bill passed by the state Legislature that “censors” their ability to provide resources to pregnant women.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a free speech advocacy group that provides legal counsel filed a lawsuit on behalf of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, which operates two pregnancy care facilities in Vermont, alleging that state Senate Bill 37 restricts these centers ability to advertise pro-life services, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that the bill violates the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by prohibiting these centers from offering counseling services without medical licenses.
“That law impedes the ability of pro-life pregnancy centers to continue providing help and support to Vermont women and families in two ways: First, it censors the centers’ ability to advertise their free services (Advertising Prohibition),” the lawsuit states. “Second, it precludes centers from offering non-medical services, information, and counseling unless provided by a licensed health care provider (Provider Restriction).” (RELATED: ‘Taken A Toll’: Pregnancy Centers Reflect On A Year Of Violence After The End Of Roe v. Wade)
CASE FILED: New laws enacted by Vermont are impeding pregnancy centers’ ability to care for women and families.
So we’re taking action and representing the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates and two pregnancy care centers in a case against VT state officials.
— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) July 26, 2023
Senate Bill 37 was passed by the state Legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. Phil Scott in May. The bill targets “misleading” information it says has been pushed by some pregnancy resource centers in the state and places restrictions on these facilities’ advertising methods, according to the bill’s text.
“False and misleading advertising by centers that do not offer or refer clients for abortion is of special concern to the State because of the time-sensitive and constitutionally protected nature of the decision to continue or terminate a pregnancy,” the bill states.
In an interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation, legal counsel for ADF Julia Payne said that the bill targets pro-life pregnancy centers by not applying the same law to clinics that provide abortions.
“So the law is specifically designed to target pro-life pregnancy centers and it does that by limiting its application to centers that do not provide or refer for abortions,” Payne told the DCNF. “So, for example, Planned Parenthood could have a non-licensed counselor discuss a woman’s pregnancy options with her but a pro-life pregnancy center could not have the same counselor do the same thing.”
The DCNF also interviewed Jean Marie Davis, the executive director of Branches Pregnancy Resource Center, one of the facilities suing Vermont. Davis, a human trafficking survivor who found help at a pregnancy care center, told the DCNF that she “would be a dead woman” if centers were not available to offer her free pregnancy resources.
“And so with these restrictions that this law has put on my center, to know that if the restrictions had passed nine years ago, I would be a dead woman,” Davis told the DCNF.
The office of Vermont’s attorney general did not immediately respond to a DCNF request for comment.
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