A federal court in New York ruled this week that forcing pregnancy centers to employ radical pro-abortion employees violates the life-saving care organizations’ First Amendment rights to expressive association.
“We are thrilled that a Federal Court in New York affirmed what we knew from the beginning, the need to shield pregnancy resource centers from unconstitutional laws that try to thwart their mission. We are grateful to the Thomas More Society for defending our free speech rights,” Evergreen Founder and President Chris Slattery said in a statement.
Evergreen Association, Inc. is a New York City-based company that operates both several Expectant Mother clinics and EMC Frontline Pregnancy Centers. Since the organization’s conception in 1985, EMC has helped over 150,000 people and saved 43,000 babies from abortion.
These health centers choose to employ only staff that believe in the sanctity of life in the womb and oppose extramarital sexual relationships. A 2019 law dubbed the “Boss Bill,” however, sought to change that by asserting that abortion is a protected class of employment. That meant Slattery would be forced by the state to hire employees whose words and actions completely contradict Evergreen’s mission to promote life instead of abortion.
The legislation offered no exceptions for religious employers like Slattery who refuses to hire anyone who expresses support for abortion. Instead, the legislators who penned the bill carved out a private right of action for any employees who feel they are unfairly discriminated against based on their history with abortion.
Mere months after the “Boss
