In a blow for local anti-abortion advocates, a federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a center’s claims that Massachusetts had violated its rights.
“The issues before the Court are straightforward,” wrote Judge Leo T. Sorokin. He noted that the plaintiff, Your Options Medical, did not demonstrate the state had specifically targeted it “for actual or threatened enforcement action, let alone to stifle its protected speech or viewpoint.”
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, Massachusetts leaders turned toward shoring up local access to abortions. One part of that effort was a state-funded marketing campaign, crafted with the help of a reproductive rights group, warning the public about anti-abortion centers, also known as crisis pregnancy centers or pregnancy resource centers.
Such centers are often independently run and not licensed as medical facilities, though they may offer free pregnancy tests. Advocates and lawmakers in favor of abortion access say these centers mislead pregnant people who are seeking medical counseling on all their options.
Your Options Medical, which is run by a religious nonprofit and operates multiple licensed health care centers in the state, sued Massachusetts officials and the organization that helped create the campaign, Reproductive Equity Now.
The center’s attorneys argued the state had violated its First Amendment rights, specifically freedom of speech and freedom of religious exercise, and equal protection rights against discrimination on the basis of religion and political speech.
Your Options Medical’s attorney Olivia Summers with the American Center for Law and Justice argued in court last July that the state had overstepped its authority.
“The state did not merely offer a pro-abortion information campaign to inform the public that there is such a thing as abortion, that they can access abortion, that there’s state funding for abortion. What they did was they used its official government platform to delegitimize and suppress a religious pro-life by labeling the plaintiff, and other pregnancy resource centers in the state, as dangerous, deceptive, and a threat to public health,” Summers said, according to the court transcript. “It’s a fundamental reason they exist is to speak out against abortion and that is what’s being suppressed here.”
Massachusetts’ public health commissioner Robbie Goldstein told GBH News in 2024 the campaign “counter-punches to the vast amount of misinformation and disinformation that these centers peddle every day, deceiving people who may be frightened or confused as they find themselves at a crossroads.”
The attorney general’s office and the governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment. The president of Reproductive Equity Now expressed relief to move past the lawsuit and refocus on their work.
“This ruling affirms what we have always known — our advocacy is grounded in the truth and rooted in a commitment to advance reproductive equity across New England,” said President Rebecca Hart Holder. “From the start, this lawsuit lacked merit and only served as an attempt to try to silence our organization. That strategy failed here. We are thrilled with this clear and decisive victory, and are more committed than ever to continuing our work.”
Attorneys for Your Options Medical did not respond to questions about the decision or whether the organization plans to appeal.
