In all of their enthusiasm to target crisis pregnancy centers, Delaware legislators decided to largely copy California’s 2018 compelled speech law — even though the U.S. Supreme Court long ago ruled it to be blatantly unconstitutional.
The National Institute of Family and Life Advocate (NIFLA) and A Door of Hope, a pro-life pregnancy center, have filed a suit that seeks to block a Delaware law formulated to target crisis pregnancy centers. The law requires them to post a message on all communications that the plaintiffs say is untrue and violates their First Amendment rights.
Senate Bill 300, which was passed in 2024, mandates that crisis pregnancy centers post a message at the entrance to their facilities and on all digital or print communications that states, “This facility is not licensed as a medical facility by the state of Delaware and has no licensed medical provider who provides or directly supervises the provision of services.”
The plaintiffs argue that the law, which is officially described as “An act to amend Title 6 of the Delaware code relating to Crisis Pregnancy Centers,” is an intentional targeting of pro-life centers; it even cites a different definition of “licensed medical provider” than used in other Delaware laws. The lawsuit argues that the claim is also misleading, as NIFLA clinics, including Door of Hope, are staffed with licensed registered nurses and supervised by a doctor who serves as medical director, though the doctor may not always be “in person.”
In addition, the lawsuit points out that no evidence or complaint against a pregnancy center was ever presented to support the law when it was being discussed in committee.
Once the window for evidence passed, state Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown, D, claimed, “this conversation, unfortunately, it is pretty obvious, is literally a pro-life vs. pro-choice conversation and at the end of the day there are certain people that won’t support this just because they may be pro-life vs. pro-choice. . . we just need to dispel all of the other chatter because that’s what it comes down to, unfortunately, whether or not you support a person being able to make a choice for themselves and their life or not.”
The suit also claims that the law is obvious viewpoint discrimination, alleging that Planned Parenthood was involved in proposing and drafting the legislation.
The plaintiffs wrote:
“The Compelled Statement must be posted merely because A Door of Hope serves pregnant women from a pro-life perspective, and not with any prerequisite that the center has engaged in any improper behavior or has ever suggested that the care women receive is from unlicensed personnel impersonating licensed medical personnel.”
They continue,
“SB 300 is therefore unconstitutional under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is a classic example of compelled speech in violation of the Free Speech Clause. The law is expressly content-based both because it compels the content of speech and because it regulates only speakers who wish to discuss the subject of pregnancy from a pro-life perspective rather than any other health topic.”
Examples are provided of the ridiculousness of the law including showing that the pregnancy centers would have to include the statement on top of social media posts and business cards. Social media posts of Bible verses or celebrating Sanctity of Human Life Sunday would have the message imposed over the top of them.
The suit points out as well that the Supreme Court has already ruled on a nearly identical law, California’s Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency Act in the 2018 case of NIFLA v. Becerra. Similar to Delaware, California had mandated that crisis pregnancy centers post the following government message on their billboards:
“California has public programs that provide immediate free or low-cost access to comprehensive family planning services (including all FDA-approved methods of contraception), prenatal care, and abortion for eligible women. To determine whether you qualify, contact the county social services office at [insert the telephone number].”
The Supreme Court found that the law violated the First Amendment by compelling the centers to express a message that violated their beliefs.
When it comes to policies involving unborn children, the American left has long taken its marching orders from Planned Parenthood — but now they don’t even try to hide it. They parrot the same blatantly false claims about crisis pregnancy centers, describing them as “fake clinics” that “deceive women” and have no medical professionals present. They lie and claim that centers purport to provide care they do not provide and market themselves as abortion clinics in ads when they clearly advertise their pro-life beliefs.
In numerous states, laws have now been passed that brazenly single out pregnancy resource clinics based on their pro-life beliefs. Yet they never have any evidence of a single complaint against the centers. Their claims are baseless and are attempts to stamp out competition for Planned Parenthood, which makes its money from aborting children and selling their body parts.
Illinois passed a law targeting pro-life centers, claiming that they were using deceptive business practices. The law specifically singled out those clinics with pro-life views, to the point that a center could provide every imaginable service except abortion and still be deemed a “limited services pregnancy center” subject to the law; by contrast, an abortion clinic could provide no service but abortion and be fully exempt from the law.
Pregnancy centers filed suit, and a U.S. District Court Judge blocked the law calling it, and we’re quoting, “stupid.” He then ruled, “The bill is painfully and blatantly a violation of the First Amendment.”
In response, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul capitulated and said he would stop enforcing the law.
Two courts have also blocked New York Attorney General Letitia James who filed lawsuits in hopes of censoring pregnancy resource centers from discussing abortion pill reversal; she claims the reversals don’t work, despite the more than 5,000 babies who have been born after their mothers underwent the treatment.
The list goes on.
Still, no matter how many times a court tells rogue pro-abortion government officials that they can’t target pregnancy centers because of their beliefs, they keep doing it. And they’ll keep losing. Delaware will come face to face with this reality.
The Constitution promises the right of freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion. Period. By that standard, pro-life centers have a right to exist, a right to care for pregnant women and their babies, and a right to say and believe that life is precious and abortion is murder. And no matter how much pro-abortion advocates lie, obfuscate, threaten, and scream, there’s nothing they can do about it.
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