Pro-life Pregnancy Centers Win Big at Supreme Court

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2018
CONTACT: Mallory Quigley
[email protected] | 202-223-8073

Court Sides with Pregnancy Centers in Free Speech Case

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Supreme Court today delivered a major victory for the constitutional rights of pro-life pregnancy centers, reversing a 9th Circuit ruling upholding a California law that would force them to advertise and refer for abortion.

“We are extremely pleased to see the nation’s pro-life pregnancy centers and their advocates vindicated by the Supreme Court,” said Chuck Donovan, president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of Susan B. Anthony List. “The Court sent a clear message today that California’s cruel mandate unacceptably infringes on pregnancy centers’ First Amendment liberties – a ruling that will reverberate across the country wherever these remarkable nonprofits have been subjected to state bullying as they strive to carry out their mission of love. Pregnancy centers exist to serve and support mothers in the courageous decision to give their children life, even under difficult circumstances. Approximately 2,750 centers around the country provide a multitude of free services for millions of women, as well as tens of thousands of men, at nearly $161 million in annual cost savings to their communities. The biggest winners in today’s decision are women, children, and families.”

Prior research by the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) reveals that an overwhelming majority of Americans, regardless of whether they self-identify as “pro-life” or “pro-choice,” consider pregnancy centers a valuable community resource. Post-visit surveys indicate centers have extraordinarily high rates of client satisfaction.

CLI, in conjunction with the March for Life Education Fund and with the cooperation of a spectrum of pregnancy center networks, conducted the third national survey of pregnancy centers this spring to calculate their extraordinary social service contributions. The forthcoming 2018 report, A Half Century of Hope, a Legacy of Life and Love, is based on a comprehensive online survey conducted this spring. The report features an introduction by Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List; Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education Fund; and Moira Gaul, M.P.H., a CLI associate scholar and co-author of a previous national report on pregnancy centers as well as this edition. Key findings in the new report include:

  • In 2017, PHCs provided almost 2,000,000 people with free services, with estimated community cost savings of at least $161 million annually.
  • 2,752 center locations nationwide provide vital services including medical services, parenting programs, and sexual risk avoidance education.
  • More than seven in 10 locations offer free ultrasounds (up from 5 in 10 locations in 2010).
  • 400,100 hours of free services were contributed by credentialed nurse sonographers and registered diagnostic medical sonographers in 2017.
  • 100 mobile units with ultrasound are on the road to bring services to women out in the community.
  • 30,000 contacts per month reach Heartbeat International’s Option Line hotline and email/chat lines.
  • 67,400 volunteers serve pregnancy centers, including many medical and legal professionals who freely give of their time and skills.
  • Centers carried out 679,600 free pregnancy tests in 2017.
  • 295,900 moms and dads attended parenting courses.
  • 24,100 after abortion support clients were seen in 2017 (services include support, counseling, and referral to professional help when appropriate for both women and men).
  • More than 1 million students attended community-based sexual risk avoidance education presentations in 2017.

CLI and SBA List’s National Pro-Life Women’s Caucus, joined by the March for Life Education Fund, previously submitted an amicus curiae brief in support of petitioner National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) in the case decided today. NIFLA represents more than 1,400 pregnancy centers nationwide, including 135 in California.

Charlotte Lozier Institute was launched in 2011 as the education and research arm of Susan B. Anthony List. CLI is a hub for research and public policy analysis on some of the most pressing issues facing the United States and nations around the world. The Institute is named for a feminist physician known for her commitment to the sanctity of human life and equal career and educational opportunities for women.

Susan B. Anthony List and its partner super PAC, Women Speak Out spent more than $18 million in the 2016 election cycle, visiting more than 1.1 million homes in battleground states to defeat Hillary Clinton and maintain a pro-life Senate. SBA List is dedicated to pursuing policies and electing candidates who will reduce and ultimately end abortion. To that end, SBA List emphasizes the education, promotion, mobilization, and election of pro-life women. SBA List is a network of more than 630,000 pro-life Americans nationwide.

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