Pro-life center fights New Jersey attorney general’s ‘fishing expedition’ in Supreme Court battle

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Tuesday in a case involving New Jersey pregnancy resource centers challenging actions by the state’s Democratic leadership that they say violate their constitutional rights.

First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, a nonprofit comprising five facilities across north and central New Jersey, has been wrapped up since 2023 in the dispute over an investigative subpoena issued by Attorney General Matthew Platkin, who alleges the nonprofit could be defrauding its donors. First Choice counters that the inquiry is baseless and a First Amendment threat because it has rattled donors, who have kept the centers afloat for four decades.

During a tour of the New Brunswick center, First Choice Executive Director Aimee Huber told Fox News Digital that Platkin’s subpoena — seeking donor names, contact information and employment records — is unjustified.

“I think it’s important to realize that there have been no complaints that have been cited by the attorney general against First Choice, not one,” Huber said. “So, when we received the subpoena, it was clearly a fishing expedition. There were no complaints by donors or clients.”

The Supreme Court is weighing a technicality over whether the subpoena fight should play out in state or federal court. In state court, the New Jersey attorney general could have the upper hand.

Dalton Nichols, a lawyer on the case who works for the conservative group Alliance Defending Freedom, told Fox News Digital Platkin’s demand was “egregious” and that it was crucial that First Choice have its day in federal court to make its First Amendment claim.

Nichols said: “this is bigger than just a state court versus federal court issue.”

“This could have implications that impact other claims [over] any invasive requests for donor names like that, so a loss for First Choice in this case could be a bit more far-reaching than just state court versus federal court,” Nichols said.

“It’s getting at whether or not you even have a claim at all, and if First Choice has a First Amendment claim, then First Choice should be able to press that in federal court.”

Platkin, a Democrat appointed by Gov. Phil Murphy, began scrutinizing pregnancy counseling centers in July 2022 by launching a “strike force” to promote abortion access in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs decision. Platkin said such facilities presented consumer fraud concerns because they misled donors and clients about the services they offered.

“If you’re seeking reproductive care, beware of Crisis Pregnancy Centers!” Platkin wrote on X in December 2022. His subpoena to First Choice came less than one year later.

“Attorneys General are the chief law enforcement officers of their States and have broad authority to investigate potential violations of state laws,” state lawyers wrote to the Supreme Court in defense of Platkin’s probe.

The state lawyers also argued that First Choice was overstating the threat that the subpoena presented because the scope of donor information it sought could become narrower if hashed out in state court.

Huber said First Choice is forthright about its mission to promote alternatives to abortion.

“We’re always very careful to share that we do not perform or refer for abortions, so [the client] knows ahead of time before she comes in what services we can provide her and what services we don’t provide,” Huber said.

The New Brunswick center, which takes appointments, has an ultrasound room where a woman faces a wall of images of babies growing in the womb as a sonographer or nurse performs an ultrasound on her to confirm the pregnancy. A small separate room is used for consulting clients, the majority of whom are Hispanic, Huber said. Yet another room appears as a large closet lined with baby clothing — a “baby boutique.” Huber said economic and family pressures are frequent obstacles for women.

“Women who are scared and vulnerable and think that abortion is their only option come to us, and they receive professional services and compassionate care, all free of charge,” Huber said, adding that First Choice has served more than 36,000 women.

Lawyers on behalf of New Jersey said the subpoena was intended to investigate whether donors were being solicited on certain websites under the false pretense that First Choice offered abortions and whether the nonprofit was making unsubstantiated medical claims about the abortion pill.

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First Choice lawyers wrote in court papers that the nonprofit provides “medically accurate” information, showcasing a divide over dissemination of information about the pill, which has become a top pain point in the aftermath of the Supreme Court flipping abortion policy to the states.

“Every once in a while, we hear someone who doesn’t agree with what we do, and so that happens, but our clients are so appreciative and grateful, and our staff and our donors, so I’ve learned to focus on the positive and not the negative,” Huber said. “Of course, when we received the subpoena from the New Jersey attorney general two years ago now, everything changed in terms of our legal battle and what we were called to do during this moment.”