NIFLA stands for life in the highest courts of the land, fighting unconstitutional legislation targeting its member centers.
Whenever a pro-life medical center and its mission is threatened by anti-life policies, mothers and their unborn children are also under attack. NIFLA is their last line of legal defense. Below are a few important cases to watch in NIFLA's fight for life.Pro-life Supreme Court Case: NIFLA v. Beccera
Case Summary
In 2015, California passed AB 775, the so-called "Reproductive FACT Act.” This law mandates that medical pro-life pregnancy centers provide written or digital information to their patients - such as a sign in the waiting room - on how to obtain a state-funded abortion. This means that nonprofit pro-life medical clinics as well as their staff and volunteers are being forced to violate their consciences - an outright violation of their First Amendment rights.
In defense of the 135 California pregnancy centers that it represents, NIFLA filed a lawsuit challenging this legislation. Arguments for this landmark pro-life free speech case were heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on March 20, 2018.
NIFLA v. Illinois
Case Summary
A suit has been filed against the state of Illinois in federal court seeking injunctive relief from a law that mandates all physicians, regardless of their moral convictions, provide referrals for abortions. Because Illinois medical pro-life pregnancy centers must have a licensed physician to serve as their medical director, this law directly infringes on their religious liberty.NIFLA v. Hawaii
Case Summary
In May 2017, the state of Hawaii passed SB501 which "requires all limited service pregnancy centers to disclose the availability of and enrollment information for reproductive health services." The law mandates that medical pro-life pregnancy centers, regardless of their moral convictions, provide referrals for state-funded reproductive health services including, but not limited to, abortion.
Because one of the Hawaii pregnancy centers is located in a church, this law impacts churches as well.