On April 24, Thomas More Society attorneys sent a letter to Albany County, New York legislators, demanding that they cease-and-desist from moving forward on a proposal designed to target and clamp down on the protected speech of pro-life pregnancy centers. On behalf of Alpha Pregnancy Care Center and CompassCare—two pregnancy resource organizations with six locations across the county—we outlined in our seven-page cease-and-desist letter how Albany County's proposed local law would violate our clients' constitutional rights.

The Albany County Legislature's Resolution No. 214, proposing Local Law No. "D," attempts to skirt First Amendment protections by labeling the pro-life speech of pregnancy centers to be "false advertising" or "misinformation." Albany County's proposal comes as part of a new offensive against pro-life ministries, that is, under the guise of 'consumer fraud protection,' abortion-friendly states and municipalities are attempting to regulate pro-life speech.

Last year, in Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his Attorney General, Kwame Raoul, attempted to similarly crack down on pregnancy centers by redefining their pro-life speech as “deceptive” and “misleading." Raoul personally promoted SB 1909, and Pritzker signed it into law. Illinois' law could have meant that pro-life pregnancy ministries would be investigated, dragged to court, and fined up to $50,000 if they failed to share pro-abortion talking points.

Thomas More Society, representing the National Institute of Life and Family Advocates (NIFLA) and other pregnancy help ministries in the state, sued Raoul in federal court. One week after the suit was filed, U.S. District Court Judge Iain D. Johnston issued a preliminary injunction against the law. In his written order, Judge Johnston called SB 1909 “both stupid and very likely unconstitutional.” In December 2023, Illinois surrendered this battle and agreed to a permanent injunction barring the enforcement of SB 1909.

Unfortunately, this was not and will not be the end of the road for such attempts to unconstitutionally regulate and target pro-life speech. These attempts, however, cannot pass legal muster. In particular, when it comes to Albany County's proposal:

1. Albany County’s proposed law would only apply to pro-life pregnancy centers—exempting abortion facilities and other abortion providers from following the same rules. This is blatant viewpoint discrimination and illegal under the First Amendment.

2. It would unconstitutionally force our pro-life clients to speak a message they disagree with, in violation of the First Amendment.

3. And the county has failed to provide any valid evidence that shows a compelling need to regulate First Amendment-protected speech to begin with.

We write:

The proposed Local Law “D” would illegally regulate the speech of PROs [pregnancy resource organizations] in two ways. First, it would prohibit them from making a variety of statements, alleged to be “misleading” or “inaccurate,” about their services and about pregnancy and abortion, among other topics. Second, it would force each PRO to prominently post notices with a variety of statements (some of which are misleading or false), including (1) that their facilities are not medical facilities; (2) that they do not have licensed medical staff on site; (3) whether they offer or refer for abortion or emergency contraception; and (4) that abortion and emergency contraception are legal in New York. Proposed Local Law “D” only applies to what it calls “crisis pregnancy centers” and wholly excludes abortion facilities, along with doctor’s offices providing abortions and pregnancy services, from its requirements.

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READ the full letter to the Albany County Legislature, Re: Resolution No. 214, Proposing Local Law No. “D” for 2024 to Regulate the Speech of Pregnancy Resource Organizations, by clicking here.