First Choice Women’s Resource Centers face daunting opposition in New Jersey.
By Catholics for Catholics
In progressive New Jersey, pro-life pregnancy centers have to survive in hostile territory.
But when the state swiped First Choice Women’s Resource Centers with a subpoena wanting the names of its donors, Aimee Huber chose to fight back, according to The Washington Times.
As the executive director of the five-facility network, Huber accused New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin of violating First Choice’s First Amendment rights in a case scheduled for oral argument Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Since pregnancy centers like ours do not perform or refer for abortion, we are targets for a government that disagrees with our views,” said Ms. Huber on a recent press call. “If our attorney general can bully us, it can happen in other states that promote abortion.”
She added that “it’s our hope that our efforts will result in protection for pregnancy centers across the nation.”
For the longest time, Democrats and progressives have faulted pro-life pregnancy centers of ensnaring folks by posing as abortion clinics, which the centers deny. Still, the pro-abortion opposition surged after the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson.
Platkin, a Democrat, sent a “consumer alert” about crisis pregnancy centers in December 2022, warning that they may “provide false or misleading information about abortion” and offering “tips on how to spot a CPC.”
Justice Thomas forces the New Jersey AG's chief counsel to admit the state issued a subpoena for a pro-life pregnancy center's donors without receiving a single complaint about the organization.
— Katelynn Richardson (@katesrichardson) December 2, 2025
"So you had no basis to think that they were deceiving any of their contributors?"… pic.twitter.com/oN5TAt1RPm
Platkin issued in November 2023 a subpoena seeking documents dating back 10 years on First Choice’s advertising, statements on abortion-pill reversals, and the identities of its donors, contending that the clinics may be “misleading donors and potential clients” in violation of state law.
First Choice countered by suing in federal court to block the subpoena, but the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that the center’s case was not yet “ripe,” holding that the faith-based network must first adjudicate its claims in state court before bringing a federal challenge.
“The question before the U.S. Supreme Court focuses on whether First Choice sued prematurely, not whether our subpoena was valid,” said Mr. Platkin in the statement. “I am optimistic that we will prevail when the Supreme Court considers that question.”
The director of ADF’s Center for Life and Regulatory Practice, Erik Baptist, said the attorney general is “trying to force First Choice to litigate its case in state court,” even though federal courts have more experience with cases involving constitutional rights.
“This is especially egregious in New Jersey, where the governor appoints both the attorney general and state judges, giving him a structural home-court advantage,” said Mr. Baptist.
Anyone seeking to donate to First Choice via its website will have no doubt that it doesn’t perform abortions, he said, contrary to Mr. Platkin’s claims.
“His theory of deception is that these donors, when they’re going onto First Choice’s website and they see on the donations page pictures of happy smiling families with babies, might think they’re donating to an abortion clinic by mistake and accidentally give to First Choice instead,” said Mr. Wilson.
First Choice offers free medical services, including pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, as well as free material goods like diapers and baby clothes at its locations in Jersey City, Montclair, Morristown, Newark and New Brunswick.
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