Recently, we told you about our important victory in a First Amendment lawsuit we filed against the State of California’s misguided attempt to force pro-life pregnancy care centers to act as referral agencies for the abortion industry. That case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled last June that California’s FACT Act – a measure co-sponsored by then California Attorney General, now Senator and Presidential hopeful, Kamala Harris – violated the free speech rights of our clients. After remand from the Supreme Court, the State agreed to the entry of a permanent injunction against enforcement of the law.
But the case we pursued in the courts was just one prong of our multi-pronged strategy against the FACT Act. While we were litigating the issue under the First Amendment, at the same time we filed Complaints with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights. That agency is charged with enforcing a number of laws passed by Congress over the years aimed at protecting the conscience rights of individuals and entities whose religious beliefs and ethical principles prevent them from advocating for or participating in abortion. Two such laws – the Weldon Amendment and the Coates-Snowe Amendment – prohibit state and local governments from discriminating against individuals or health care entities because they do not provide, pay for, or refer for abortions. Sadly, these laws have mostly remained dormant since their enactment, little used during both Republican and Democratic administrations.
But no longer. Under the leadership of longtime conscience rights advocate, Roger Severino, HHS’s Office of Civil Rights has finally begun to take these conscience-protecting laws seriously. And so, just days ago we received notification from HHS that it has completed its investigation of our Complaints against California’s FACT Act and “determined that California violated the Weldon Amendment and the Coates-Snowe Amendment.”
Additionally, OCR’s Director Severino, in a 12-page “Notice of Violation” letter, informs the State:
California subjected pro-life pregnancy resource centers . . . to an untenable choice that violates the Weldon and/or Coates-Snowe Amendments: violate the FACT Act and face financial penalties, lawsuits, attorney fees, costs, and, fines, or violate their protected right to be free from discrimination on the basis that they will not refer for or make arrangements for abortions.
And while HHS’s action does not impose any penalty in addition to the Permanent Injunction already entered into as a result of our lawsuit, the agency does put the State on notice that, were California to violate the terms of that injunction, it would face the wrath of not only the federal judiciary, but the Executive branch as well in the form of separate enforcement action by the Office of Civil Rights.
This is an important victory for conscience, not only in the specific cases of our three California clients, but perhaps even more important, in what it says about the willingness of the federal Executive Branch to take seriously its distinctive role in protecting pro-life conscience rights. With the legislatures and executives of many states firmly in the hands of Big Abortion, we are sure to see other efforts to squelch the pro-life message at the state level. With this action by HHS, however, we have an important additional tool in our arsenal.
We’re engaged in a comprehensive legal strategy to defend pro-life pregnancy centers. Stand with us. Have your gift doubled today.
Planned Parenthood may be gearing up to make another play for federal relief funds intended for actual small businesses and not a billion-dollar abortion behemoth. This cannot be tolerated. A group of 31 pro-life Senators, led by Sen. Tom Cotton (AR), has taken action to block Planned Parenthood...
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has been a reliable pro-abortion vote on the Supreme Court. That didn’t change when she dissented from a recent pro-life victory in abortion-pill litigation. Yet ironically, in her dissent (joined by Justice Elena Kagan), Justice Sotomayor embraced several...
According to a new report , abortion is now the world’s leading cause of death, accounting for nearly 42% of all deaths worldwide. Let that sink in for a moment. That’s almost HALF. More than cancer. More than heart disease. More than any criminal violence. In 2020, our entire country, and indeed...
In a critical blow to Planned Parenthood’s access to taxpayer funds, the full United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the states of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi could disqualify Planned Parenthood as a medical services provider under Medicaid. This effectively defunds...