Pro-Abortion Defendants Try To Have Pro-Life Center’s Lawsuit Against a Government-Sponsored Abortion Propaganda Campaign Thrown Out – ACLJ Fires Back

Back in August, we informed you of a lawsuit that we filed against Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and a pro-abortion group on behalf of our client, a pro-life Pregnancy Resource Center (PRC) that has been a target of both the state government and the pro-abortion organization.

Two weeks ago, the pro-abortion organization filed a motion asking the court to dismiss our case. While a motion to dismiss is a common tactic in lawsuits, it requires the judge to determine – based solely on the complaint – that the case has no merit, even if all of the facts we alleged in our complaint are true. If the judge were to agree with that argument, this would effectively end the case against the private defendants (while the claims against the state would still continue).

Filing the motion to dismiss is exactly the tactic that we expected them to take because, if the case against them moves forward, we get to conduct discovery and will have the opportunity to uncover even more facts that support our claims and further solidify our case against them. 

As you’ll recall:

Our lawsuit alleges that the state officials engaged in an overt viewpoint-based discrimination campaign – including harassment, suppression, and threats against [our client Your Options Medical] YOM and other PRCs. Directed by Governor Maura Healey, this pro-abortion smear campaign involves selective law enforcement prosecution, public threats, and even a state-sponsored advertising campaign with a singular goal – to deprive YOM and their counterparts of their First Amendment rights to voice freely their religious and political viewpoints regarding the sanctity of human life.

The Massachusetts government, colluding with the abortion lobby, has orchestrated a retaliation and selective-enforcement campaign accusing YOM and other pro-life centers of being a public health threat, carrying out false and misleading advertising, and other falsehoods, all while actively urging citizens to report PRCs to state law enforcement. And it does so through public falsehoods and a misleading advertisement campaign splashed across the state. Moreover, the state has partnered with a pro-abortion group called Reproductive Equity Now Foundation (REN) in a campaign to discredit and dismantle every pro-life pregnancy center in the state. There’s an entire section on the state’s official website dedicated to this so-called AVOID Anti-Abortion Centers initiative, a campaign of viewpoint-discriminatory harassment.

We just filed our opposition to their motion to dismiss, and we have very strong arguments in support of our position. Now that we’ve filed our brief, the pro-abortion defendants have seven days to file a short reply, and then the judge will decide whether he wants to hear oral argument on the matter or if he will make a decision based on the briefs each party has submitted.

Either way, we have full confidence in the case that we have against both the abortion industry and the Massachusetts government to protect pro-life centers, and we look forward to continuing to advance our client’s cause.