Federal appeals court upholds First Amendment rights of NY pregnancy resource centers

A federal court of appeals in New York has reversed a lower court’s ruling which upheld a state law forcing pregnancy resource centers to hire people who have had abortions and support abortion.

With the ruling, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said that Evergreen Association, Inc, which manages pregnancy resource centers in the state, did not have to employ anyone who has had an abortion. The court said that a lower court was wrong in dismissing Evergreen’s claim that the 2019 law violated its First Amendment rights.

According to the Thomas More Society, which represented Evergreen, CEO Chris Slattery brought a lawsuit against the state in 2020 following the 2019 passage of the “Boss Bill,” which protects people who have had an abortion under nondiscrimination laws. As Thomas More Society states, “[t]he suit contends that being forced to hire employees who have had abortions would hinder Evergreen’s mission to encourage expectant mothers to choose life for their unborn children.”

Thomas More Society Special Counsel Timothy Belz further explained the basis of the suit in an emailed press release.

“A counselor who espouses pro-life values, but did not regret having had an abortion or would opt to have an abortion in the future would undercut Evergreen’s message,” he said. “Evergreen’s constitutional right to expressive association allows it to determine that its pro-life views can be conveyed only by those who completely support and affirm the organization’s mission, in both word and deed.”

Belz expounded on this notion, noting that no organization should be forced to hire employees that differ from its mission. “That would be a contradiction and expose the organization to accusations of hypocrisy. That is true across the board for all types of groups. For example, a parochial school should not be forced to employ an atheist as a teacher, and an animal shelter should not have to hire an adoption facilitator who hates dogs.”

Circuit Judge Steven Menashi sided with this idea in the court’s ruling.

“Evergreen’s beliefs about the morality of abortion are its defining values; forcing it to accept as members those who engage in or approve of that conduct would cause the group as it currently identifies itself to cease to exist,” he wrote.

“We are thrilled that a Federal Court in New York affirmed what we knew from the beginning, the need to shield pregnancy resource centers from unconstitutional laws that try to thwart their mission. We are grateful to the Thomas More Society for defending our free speech rights,” Slattery said after the ruling.

According to Reuters, the case has now been sent back to a federal judge in Syracuse, New York, for further proceedings.

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