Abortion cheerleaders

CCV sent a brief to the Supreme Court, this time to stop the government from turning us all into Abortion Cheerleaders.It seems every time the US Supreme Court goes back into session, fundamental freedoms are on the line. This time, the court is deciding whether the State can force pro-lifers to advertise and tell women about abortion.Here’s the situation per our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom in the case of National Institute of Family Life Advocates v. Becerra:California’s Reproductive FACT Act, AB 775, forces pro-life pregnancy care centers to provide free advertising for the abortion industry. The law requires licensed medical centers that offer free, pro-life help to pregnant women to post a disclosure saying that California provides free or low-cost abortion and contraception services. The disclosure must also include a phone number for a county office that refers women to Planned Parenthood and other abortionists. The law also forces unlicensed pregnancy centers to add large disclosures about their non-medical status in all advertisements, even if they provide no medical services. Other courts have invalidated or mostly invalidated similar laws in Austin, Texas; Montgomery County, Maryland; Baltimore; and New York City.In short, if this law in California is allowed to stand, pro-lifers would be forced to become cheerleaders for the abortion industry, and refer women to get brutal and life-destroying abortions.CCV wanted to make sure Ohio’s voice was heard in this case, so we filed a brief with the Supreme Court, along with 40 other state-based Family Policy Councils.Our brief, graciously drafted by National Review’s David French, highlighted how this case cuts the very core of our free speech rights:Free speech threatens power. Free speech on matters of deep and profound public concern threatens power all the more. That is why — when given the opportunity — the powerful will seek to confine, limit, or (as in this case) coerce dissenting speakers. And that is why Justice Kennedy was right in his observation during the Masterpiece Cakeshop oral argument when he asserted that “tolerance is essential in a free society. And tolerance is most meaningful when it’s mutual.” (Oral Arg. Tra. 62) A society in which pro-life clinics are constrained to direct women to a means of obtaining abortions is a society made less free.You can read our entire brief here.Remember to pray for this case! And pray specifically for Alliance Defending Freedom CEO Michael Farris, who will be arguing in favor of free speech at the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, March 20.The Rundown is a weekly update from CCV President Aaron Baer.