In a win for anti-abortion advocates, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that an anti-abortion pregnancy center had the right to challenge an order that would force them to disclose information about their donors.
The ruling in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Davenport hinged largely on the First Amendment rights of both First Choice, an anti-abortion pregnancy center, and the donors who support it. Written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the 25-page opinion held that the subpoena for the disclosure threatened the organization’s First Amendment right to association, which gave First Choice standing to sue in federal court under Article III.
Essentially, First Choice is arguing in part that being forced to disclose its donors list could potentially discourage people from donating in the first place because they might be harassed for having done so. That would violate constitutional protections over joining or forming groups, including advocacy organizations, without meddling from the government, they argue.
The high court’s ruling, however, did not touch on the merits of the case, only concluding that it should be allowed to proceed.
“This Court has long held that ‘compelled disclosure of affiliation with groups engaged in advocacy may constitute as effective a restraint on freedom of association’ as more direct forms of suppression ... and thus has repeatedly subjected demands for private donor or member information to heightened First Amendment scrutiny,” Gorsuch wrote in the opinion.
