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Anti-abortion center’s lawsuit against Mass. officials gets tossed
Lawyers for Your Options Medical have vowed to appeal the dismissal.
A federal judge sided with state officials Tuesday, agreeing that a Massachusetts public education campaign against crisis pregnancy centers did not violate an anti-abortion organization’s constitutional rights.
“The issues before the Court are straightforward,” U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin opined, dismissing a 2024 lawsuit brought by Your Options Medical.
The complaint accused officials of trampling YOM’s religious, speech, and equal protection rights, pointing to a state-led awareness campaign that warned of potentially misleading practices and medical disinformation.
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But Sorokin ultimately tossed the organization’s claims, even as he acknowledged the campaign’s “scalding” language. The lawsuit, he found, “does not plausibly suggest that [state officials] have targeted YOM for actual or threatened enforcement action, let alone to stifle its protected speech or viewpoint.”
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In launching the public education campaign, Massachusetts officials sought to help consumers identify crisis pregnancy centers — also known as anti-abortion centers or pregnancy resource centers — and redirect them to “trusted” reproductive health providers.
While anti-abortion centers often provide resources like pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, or counseling, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists warns that these facilities may “actually aim to dissuade people from accessing certain types of reproductive health care, including abortion care and even contraceptive options.”
Massachusetts’ public education materials, according to Sorokin, “express the state’s opinions about the services provided by [pregnancy resource centers]. These opinions, though strong, do not plausibly tread beyond the bounds of constitutional government speech.”
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The judge also shot down allegations that Gov. Maura Healey and public health officials used state resources to “defame, threaten, and intimidate pro-life pregnancy resource centers.” State officials are allowed to share their opinion that pregnancy resource centers “pose a legitimate danger to patient safety,” he ruled.
“The fact that the government speaker possesses regulatory authority does not transform the phrase into a coercive threat or alternatively require the speaker to refrain from voicing their views,” Sorokin added.
Further, he noted, state officials’ words and actions have not prohibited YOM from “identifying and operating as a Christian, life-affirming healthcare organization.”
The complaint’s dismissal was hailed by co-defendant Reproductive Equity Now, a nonprofit that helped create the public awareness campaign.
“From the start, this lawsuit lacked merit and only served as an attempt to try to silence our organization. That strategy failed here,” Rebecca Hart Holder, the organization’s president, said in a statement. “We are thrilled with this clear and decisive victory, and are more committed than ever to continuing our work.”
Attorneys for YOM, meanwhile, vowed to appeal Sorokin’s decision.
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“The significant problem with the decision is that the court viewed each component of the state’s conduct in isolation,” rather than “parts of a coordinated effort,” argued the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative organization focused on religious freedoms.
“Your Options Medical has spent decades serving women with compassion and care,” ACLJ said in a statement. “We intend to ensure it can continue to do so — free from government coercion and retaliation — even if it means taking this fight all the way to the Supreme Court.”
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