First Choice Women's Resource Centers v. Platkin
Description: First Choice Women’s Resource Centers is a Christian, pro-life, medical nonprofit that serves pregnant mothers, mothers of newborns, and fathers. New Jersey’s attorney general selectively targeted the nonprofit 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. The attorney general does not refer to any substantive evidence of wrongdoing to justify his onerous demands.
ADF to 3rd Circuit: Stop New Jersey AG's harassment of pro-life ministry
WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys
WHAT: Available for media interviews following oral arguments in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin
WHEN: Immediately following hearing, which begins at 9:30 a.m. EST, Tuesday, Dec. 10
WHERE: U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, Maris Courtroom, 601 Market St., Philadelphia; or view the livestream. To schedule an interview, contact ADF Media Relations Manager Bernadette Tasy at (480) 356-0324.
PHILADELPHIA – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Christian, pro-life medical non-profit will be available for media interviews following oral arguments Tuesday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin. ADF attorneys are asking the court to halt New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s unlawful attempt to force First Choice Women’s Resource Centers to turn over a list of its donors and his targeting of the organization because of its faith-based, pro-life views.
In December 2023, First Choice sued Platkin for initiating a retaliatory investigation demanding First Choice’s sensitive documents and information, including the identities of its donors. First Choice is appealing a lower court’s dismissal of the case last month.
“New Jersey’s attorney general is targeting and harassing First Choice Women’s Resource Centers—a ministry that provides free ultrasounds, STD testing, baby clothes, and more to its community—because of its pro-life views,” said ADF Senior Counsel Lincoln Wilson, who will be arguing before the court. “The U.S. Constitution protects First Choice and its donors from unjustified demands for their identities and from government threats that attempt to shut down their speech because of its viewpoint. The First Amendment protects First Choice’s right to freely speak about its beliefs, exercise its faith, associate with like-minded individuals and organizations, and continue to provide its free services in a caring and compassionate environment to people facing difficult pregnancy circumstances. The district court in this case erred by depriving First Choice of its opportunity to present its constitutional claims in federal court. We are urging the 3rd Circuit to uphold the constitutional rights of First Choice, protect its donors, and end this unlawful harassment.”
Platkin targeted First Choice with a broad, baseless, and burdensome subpoena that requires the organization to turn over the names of its donors and expend its limited resources to produce massive amounts of confidential documents or face judicial penalties—all without identifying any evidence of wrongdoing to justify its demands.
ADF attorneys explain in the lawsuit they filed on behalf of First Choice that Attorney General Platkin sought help from Planned Parenthood to draft his office’s consumer alert warning New Jerseyans about pregnancy centers. The suit argues that the attorney general’s demands violate the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and are designed to harass and hurt First Choice’s ministry of caring for women and their children.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
# # #
Photos
Previous News Releases
Legal Documents
Related Resources
ABOUT Lincoln Wilson
Lincoln Wilson serves as senior counsel on the Center for Life Team at Alliance Defending Freedom. Prior to joining ADF, Wilson served as chief of civil litigation and constitutional defense for the Idaho attorney general. Before entering government service, Wilson worked in private practice for several New York law firms, including Skadden Arps, Quinn Emanuel, and Dechert LLP, where he served as counsel. Wilson’s private practice focused on complex class action and products liability litigation in trial and appellate courts around the country. He also maintained an active pro bono practice focusing on religious freedom matters, including a petition for certiorari named a “Petition of the Week” by SCOTUSblog. Wilson earned his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, where he earned the Academic Excellence Award and served as executive editor of the Law Review. He also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Idaho College of Law teaching appellate advocacy and complex litigation. He is admitted to practice in Idaho, Washington, and New York, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court and nine federal courts of appeal.