Suit was filed last week in a Massachusetts federal district court by Your Options Medical Center, an anti-abortion pregnancy resource center, against Massachusetts officials and an abortion rights foundation, alleging deprivation of free speech, free exercise and equal protection rights. The complaint (full text) in A Woman's Concern v. Healy, (D MA, filed 8/19/2024), alleges in part:
This case is necessitated by an overt viewpoint-based campaign of harassment, suppression, and threats against YOM and other PRCs. Directed by Governor Healey and the other Defendants, this campaign involves selective law enforcement prosecution, public threats, and even a state-sponsored advertising campaign with a singular goal – to deprive YOM, and groups like it, of their First Amendment rights to voice freely their religious and political viewpoints regarding the sanctity of human life in the context of the highly controversial issue of abortion.
Defendants’ retaliation and selective-enforcement campaign accuses YOM and other PRCs of being a public health threat, of carrying out false and misleading advertising, and of other falsehoods, while actively urging citizens to report PRCs to State law enforcement....
It is well-settled that viewpoint discrimination applied through threats of legal sanctions and other means of coercion and intimidation violates the United States Constitution where, as here, such measures chill protected First Amendment activities. That very kind of selective censorship scheme is evidenced here. Moreover, the threats in this case were targeted explicitly against the religious speech of PRCs in violation of the Free Exercise Clause.
Catholic News Agency reports on the lawsuit.
