In November 2023, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin subpoenaed First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, a Christian and pro-life medical nonprofit that runs a pregnancy center serving women and families in the Garden State. According to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), Platkin requested that "First Choice turn over 10 years’ worth of documents including its statements on abortion pill reversal, information it provided to clients and donors, documents identifying personnel, copies of every First Choice solicitation and advertisement, and information related to outside organizations that First Choice works with."
The ADF sued on behalf of First Choice in December 2023, calling the subpoena "unlawful" and "unjust." In that suit, ADF said AG Platkin "selectively targeted First Choice Women’s Resource Centers based on its religious speech and pro-life views with a wide-ranging, unfounded, and burdensome subpoena that requires the organization to expend its limited resources to produce extensive documentation or face judicial sanctions."
A district court dismissed the case in January 2024, finding it lacked jurisdiction. Throughout 2024, First Choice and ADF fought the subpoena in court, with both a district court and the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in favor of Platkin. In January 2025, ADF asked the U.S. Supreme Court to acknowledge First Choice's right to file a federal suit against Platkin and the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.
Oral arguments are set for December 2, and ADF hosted a media call to discuss the upcoming case, including the far-reaching implications such actions could have on pregnancy centers across America.
New Jersey is telling this nonprofit and its donors: "If you don't align with our agenda, we'll make life hard for you." That's unacceptable.
— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) November 19, 2025
Everybody should be free to peacefully support causes they believe in without fear of government harassment or intimidation.
Learn… pic.twitter.com/uB4bqK0tI1
During the call, Aimee Huber, the Executive Director of First Choice, called the subpoena a "fishing expedition" and pointed out that New Jersey has the nation's fifth-highest abortion rate. "Our state has done everything it could to make New Jersey a sanctuary state for abortion," she said. "Since pregnancy centers like ours do not perform or refer for abortions, we are targets for a government that disagrees with our views."
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"Women who are scared, vulnerable, and think abortion is their only option come to us for professional services and compassionate care, all free of charge," Huber said, noting they've served over 36,000 women and their families across the organization's five New Jersey locations.
Huber said a representative from Platkin's office came to her office and handed her the subpoena. "There were no allegations of wrongdoing," Huber noted. She said receiving the subpoena was "completely overwhelming."
"If our attorney general can bully us," Huber said, "it can happen in other states that promote abortion."
Huber added, "There is such a great need in New Jersey for women to consider all of their pregnancy options and not think that abortion is their only option. There's also a great need for support throughout their pregnancy and after the birth of their baby. First Choice provides all of this free of charge in some of the most densely populated cities in our state."
Lincoln Wilson, an attorney with the ADF, said this case is about whether First Choice has a right to bring a Constitutional challenge to Platkin's subpoena in federal court, and about the organization's right to free association with donors and donor privacy. "The attorney general's theory is that he needs to know the identities of more than half of First Choice's donors, and he says he needs to do that because he's concerned that those donors are being deceived."
Wilson said Platkin's argument is that donors might think they're donating to a clinic that performs abortions and not a pro-life pregnancy center. "We're skeptical of that theory because he's someone who has been overtly hostile to the mission of pregnancy centers," Wilson said. "He issued a consumer alert against pregnancy centers, warning New Jerseyans that they do not perform abortions, and he even asked Planned Parenthood to help him draft the alert."
"This is exactly the sort of thing where it's properly read and understood as an attempt for him to harass and persecute First Choice for its protected speech and get its donors to stop supporting it," Wilson said. He added that the Supreme Court has long been concerned about such behaviors by the government. "Go back to the 1950s and 60s, when you had a campaign against the NAACP, where there was various southern states trying to shut them down and get their member list. Because if you had their members identified, you could isolate the members and harm the organization's mission. The U.S. Supreme Court said that's protected information and states can't get at that."
Five years ago, California tried the same thing, demanding that charitable organizations operating in the state turn over the names of their top donors. "That was a situation where the U.S. Supreme Court said again that this is something that's protected by the Constitution. We think the same thing is going on here with the Attorney General's subpoena and his attempt to get that information from First Choice," Wilson said.
"That's an issue that matters not just to First Choice, it matters to pregnancy centers around the country," Wilson added. "They're all subject to the same type of harassment, and especially after the Dobbs decision, many of them have suffered violence and vandalism." Such behavior, Wilson said, emphasized the importance of keeping donor information private.
Odalys Banks, First Choice Director of Centers, said, "The support that we're able to provide is really made possible because of private donors and volunteers."
"Many choose to serve anonymously, and that's because of concerns about their privacy, their safety, and unwanted exposure," she added. "If donors or volunteers were no longer to remain anonymous, the center's mission would significantly be impacted."
Mary Fiorito, a Chicago-area attorney and pro-life volunteer, attested to the vandalism and violence pregnancy centers face. In a statement, Fiorito wrote, "Following the closing events of the Democratic National Convention held in Chicago last August, one of Aid for Women's local centers was badly vandalized, with doors cemented shut and red paint thrown on to the windows, graffiti reading, ‘The real dead babies are in Gaza.’ Aid for Women's annual dinner is protested every year, despite the fact that the organization is not political, only service-oriented. The fear of retribution by supporters of legal abortion is not a fiction, it is a fact."
Meera, a First Choice client, came to the organization in 2024 while pregnant. "When you don't have insurance, people tend to be rude to you." But at First Choice, she said, she was treated very well. When she couldn't find childcare for her young sons, a staffer said she could bring them with her to the ultrasound appointment. "They're very kind, they're very loving," she added, and she called the center's parenting classes "so beneficial" to her. "These women have changed my life, they have been so good to me," Meera said. She recommended three friends go to First Choice, who also helped them and their babies.
"They saved me when I needed them," Meera added.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, President, SBA Pro-Life America, also issued a statement on the case, calling pregnancy centers "the beating heart of the pro-life movement."
"They’re heroes in our communities, providing the authentic help women need and want to choose life for their children, in contrast to the profit-driven abortion industry which just hands them deadly abortion drugs and sends them out the door," the statement read. "Pregnancy centers have every reason to stand tall and stand up to the abortion lobby in defense of the women, children and families they serve. We’re proud to stand with them."
"New Jersey’s invasive inquiry into First Choice’s religious governance is unnecessary, unjust, and un-American," wrote Becket Senior Counsel William Haun. "New Jersey seeks to sabotage that decent and honorable work. The courthouse doors should be open for First Choice to protect its religious ministry and uphold its self-governance."
"It's our hope that our efforts will result in protection for pregnancy centers across the nation," Huber said. "This legal battle is never something we thought we would be involved in, but the women and the families that we serve are worth it."
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