OPINION:
What would you say if someone tried to put your successful and compassionate family doctor out of business simply because they did not like the way he or she practiced medicine? Or because your doctor’s competence and success posed a threat to a less competent and compassionate physician, shrinking his or her financial bottom line?
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Planned Parenthood and its ilk are trying to do. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin.
This case, brought by Planned Parenthood and its allies in the abortion industry, exposes the abortion industry’s attempts to intimidate and ultimately shut down pregnancy centers, putting women and children who depend on them for compassionate, life-affirming health care at great risk.
First Choice Women’s Resource Centers is a faith-based pregnancy center with five locations in New Jersey. It serves women and families facing unplanned pregnancies by providing baby and maternity clothing, as well as food.
You would think such compassionate care would be applauded. Instead, it was attacked by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, who targeted First Choice because of its pro-life and religious views. He went so far as to launch an investigation of the center, demanding 10 years of information on donors, personnel and advertising. After all that, the investigation failed to produce a single complaint of any wrongdoing.
Not to be deterred, Mr. Platkin, at the bidding of the abortion industry, continued with his persecution. He issued a consumer alert “warning” New Jersey citizens about the center while thanking Planned Parenthood for its “partnership.” First Choice responded by filing a First Amendment lawsuit accusing the state of viewpoint harassment.
Why are Mr. Platkin, Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry so zealously attacking First Choice and other pregnancy centers? Well, as the evidence makes clear, they are losing “market share,” finding less demand and reaping fewer profits since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 in the Dobbs decision.
Meanwhile, business is booming for pregnancy centers such as First Choice, which do not seek to profit financially from unplanned pregnancies, but instead walk beside a woman and her family, providing vital support during a very difficult time.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute recently released a report showing that, in the U.S. in 2024, pregnancy centers served more than 1 million clients. The number of centers also increased to 2,775 from 2,750 in 2022. In 2024, the centers also provided an estimated $452 million in material goods and services, up from $365 million in 2022. All these are typically provided free of charge. The materials alone were worth $116 million, up by 48% from two years earlier. Finally, the number of ultrasounds performed increased from 546,683 in 2022 to 636,514 in 2024, and testing for sexually transmitted diseases and infections rose 18%.
Another report found that 60% of women who had undergone abortions would have given birth if they had had the emotional and financial support pregnancy centers provide.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, which does not offer either form of support, is seeing its numbers go in a different direction, with a 23% drop in patients from 2013 to 2023. Like many other failing businesses, it’s beginning to close outlets. Nearly 50 have closed this year, including 20 since July 4, when the One Big Beautiful Bill Act halted Medicaid funding to most Planned Parenthood affiliates. Planned Parenthood has now filed a federal lawsuit against that provision because, without the federal funding gravy train, even more affiliates will have to close their doors.
That lawsuit, along with efforts such as those by Mr. Platkin, is like a 70-yard heave by the quarterback of a losing team at the end of a football game — a last-second attempt to win a game they know is on the verge of slipping away.
No one should lose a doctor simply because the physician cares more about patients than profits. Nor should pregnancy centers be denied the opportunity to provide compassionate care simply because of their success in doing so.
Let’s hope our nation’s high court knocks down the abortion industry’s desperate pass by affirming legal protections for pregnancy centers so they can continue to flourish and thrive, and their patients can too.
• Timothy S. Goeglein is vice president of external and government relations for Focus on the Family. He served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush and as a deputy director of the White House Office of Public Liaison.
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