Supreme Court to review New Jersey's subpoena of faith-based pregnancy centers

Source: CNN Politics

PUBLISHED Dec 2, 2025, 4:00 AM ET


The Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday about a subpoena served on a faith-based nonprofit in New Jersey that runs “crisis pregnancy centers,” an appeal that has put both civil rights advocates and some of the nation’s best-known conservative groups on the same side.

First Choice Women’s Resource Centers is urging the 6-3 conservative court to throw out a decision from a federal appeals court that effectively required the religious nonprofit to continue fighting the subpoena in state court, rather than seeking early intervention from federal courts. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, a Democrat, subpoenaed the centers in 2023 as part of an investigation into whether the nonprofit violated consumer fraud laws.

Pregnancy centers are opposed to abortion, but state officials said their marketing may have left some patients with the impression that they could receive abortions at the facilities. The subpoena was aimed at evaluating whether the centers “or its staff engaged in misrepresentations and other prohibited conduct,” according to the state. It sought advertisements, donor solicitations and the identification of licensed medical personnel.

At a time when red and blue states are often pursuing radically different policies on abortion, immigration and LGBTQ rights, the religious nonprofit has asserted that both liberal and conservative groups are at risk of overzealous state officials using subpoenas to lean on groups they disfavor. The answer, First Choice said, is to let federal courts review those subpoenas at an early stage.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/02/politics/supreme-court-crisis-pregnancy-centers-new-jersey