Lawmakers unveil legislation to protect pregnancy care centers across the country

 

Washington D.C., Mar 25, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

U.S. Reps. Chris Smith, Claudia Tenney, and Michelle Fischbach and other pro-life leaders at a March 24 press conference at the U.S. Capitol unveiled the Let Pregnancy Centers Serve Act to protect pregnancy care facilities.

Smith, co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, noted that “there are more than 2,700 pregnancy care centers throughout the United States. Each and every one of them [is] an oasis of love, compassion, empathy, respect, and quality care for both mothers and their precious children.”

“Yet,” he continued, “state governments like my own state of New Jersey and some lawmakers seek to discriminate against pregnancy care centers by violating fundamental conscience rights to compel complicity in abortion.”

The Let Pregnancy Centers Serve Act of 2025 aims to “prohibit discrimination against entities that do not participate in abortion and to strengthen implementation and enforcement of federal conscience laws,” Smith explained.

According to the text of the act, “the federal government and any individual or entity that receives federal financial assistance … may not penalize or retaliate against an entity because the entity offers life-affirming support and resources to women facing unexpected pregnancy, offers life-affirming alternatives to abortion, or refrains from abortion action.”

“For many women, finding out that they’re expecting comes with fear, and abortion feels like the only option, and that is exactly what the abortion industry wants those women to believe,” Fischbach said. “Crisis pregnancy centers offer women options and support.”

Fischbach highlighted how these centers help mothers, babies, and families. She said they “provide treatment, counseling, ultrasounds, parenting and prenatal education, diapers, clothing, referrals for housing and transportation, and so much more.”

“Make no mistake,” Fischbach continued, “conservatives are here for unborn babies, children, and their mothers, and we want to ensure that these mothers and their babies are supported. This bill helps to make sure that women have that opportunity.”

“The bill will also provide pregnancy care centers facing discrimination with a private right of action. I am proud to stand here today, supporting efforts to empower women with the knowledge and resources they need to choose life.”

Other pro-life leaders who work for or directly with the centers spoke to express their support for the bill and to detail the care the organizations provide.

Jo Ann Gerling, chairwoman of the Life Choices Resource Center in Metuchen, New Jersey, shared that the organization also provides free pregnancy tests, a 24-hour hotline, breastfeeding consultations, adoption information, and abortion pill reversal information.

It will even supply mothers with material aid including strollers, car seats, and cribs. “Whatever they need, we find it for them and we help them,” Gerling said.

Anne O’Connor, an attorney for the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), said the Let Pregnancy Centers Serve Act “is absolutely essential at this time in history. We must halt the targeted harassment and abuse by governmental agencies against life-affirming pregnancy centers.”

She said NIFLA represents 1,800 centers across the nation and has “been fighting government harassment for decades.”

“If their tactics are successful and pregnancy centers cease to exist, abortion would literally be the only option for women in unplanned and unsupported pregnancies,” she continued. “At community-supported nonprofit and life-affirming centers, women receive free care and any support they need so no one ever feels like abortion is their only choice.”

“So let’s just let pregnancy centers serve. It’s that simple,” O’Connor concluded.

Lisa Bourne, managing editor of Pregnancy Help News and a writer at Heartbeat International, pointed out that in 2022 pregnancy care centers “provided families with material goods and services valued at $367 million, served nearly 1 million new clients, and maintained higher than a 97% client satisfaction rate.”

“No woman should ever feel alone, coerced, or so hopeless that she ends her child’s life through abortion,” she added.

“By ensuring these organizations are protected from coercive mandates and legal threats, the Let Pregnancy Center Serve Act of 2025 empowers them to continue offering compassionate care to women and families in need at no cost,” Bourne continued.

“We urge policymakers to stand for a true choice by prioritizing and passing this legislation to preserve the integrity and effectiveness of life-affirming pregnancy health services,” she concluded.