SCOTUS Could Make it Easier for Anti-Abortion Clinics to Mislead Pregnant Patients: Analysis
The Kansas Legislature is determined to make it harder for Kansans to access safe, medically sound reproductive care—even defying the governor to further their agenda.
On March 27, 2026, both legislative chambers overrode Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of an anti-choice bill that proposed to weaken government oversight of “crisis pregnancy centers” and exempt them from the standard patient-protection regulations that typically apply to health care facilities.
“Crisis pregnancy centers,” also sometimes called anti-abortion centers, are ideological facilities masquerading as health clinics. Today, thanks to the determination of state legislators—and against the will of its elected governor—Kansas has joined a broader national strategy to effectively legalize this kind of deception in reproductive care.
And now, the Supreme Court is poised to weigh in on a state’s investigation into “crisis pregnancy centers.”
SCOTUS to rule on regulating anti-abortion centers
This term, the Supreme Court is expected to step into the fight through First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Platkin.
This case asks the justices to decide if a federal or state court should determine whether New Jersey may investigate “crisis pregnancy centers” for potentially misleading donors and engaging in unlicensed practices. A statewide chain of anti-abortion centers called First Choice Women’s Resource Centers has refused to comply with the state’s subpoena.
New Jersey says its investigation stems from concerns that the organization is misleading donors, offering unlicensed practices, violating patient privacy, and making false medical claims. The organization and its lawyers appealed the state’s subpoena power to two federal courts, which dismissed the case. Now, they are alleging at the Supreme Court that compelling the “crisis pregnancy center” to hand over its donor information violates its First Amendment rights of association and free speech.
If ADF succeeds, its win could weaken one of the last safeguards states can use to regulate “crisis pregnancy centers”—obtaining records to facilitate fraud investigations—by creating a new First Amendment objection to state subpoenas in those probes.
During December 2025 oral arguments at the Supreme Court, Justice Amy Coney Barrett called the state’s probe a “war on pregnancy centers.” Validating that frame is a hint that at least one conservative justice may see less a question of state oversight authority and more a solely First Amendment concern in this case.
Given this Court’s track record, a ruling in favor of First Choice would not be surprising.
Anti-abortion centers exploit regulatory loopholes
As a reproductive rights attorney and as a Texan who grew up driving past these centers daily while........
