Delaware agrees to stop enforcing law targeting pro-life pregnancy centers
The state of Delaware has agreed to stop enforcing a law requiring pro-life pregnancy centers to inform visitors that they do not have licensed medical professionals on staff amid legal victories for similar centers in other states.
The legal nonprofit organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announced that the state has agreed to permanently stop enforcing Senate Bill 300. This development comes more than a year after ADF and the law firm Simms Showers secured a temporary agreement on behalf of National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), a national network of pro-life pregnancy centers, and the Delaware-based pro-life pregnancy center A Door of Hope.
Under the permanent agreement, secured in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware on Friday, Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings agreed not to enforce Senate Bill 300 even as she disagrees with the pregnancy centers’ assertion that the measure violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The legislation, approved in 2024, governs “limited services” medical facilities, defined as those that provide “pregnancy-related services” and are “not licensed by this state.”
“Limited services” medical facilities are absent a “licensed medical provider on staff or under contract who provides or directly supervises, in person, the provision of each service provided at the facility” and the provision of services including ultrasounds, sonograms, prenatal care, pregnancy testing and pregnancy diagnosis.
The legislation stated that such facilities also employ staff who are not licensed medical professionals but “who dress in medical attire or uniforms that is typical of those professions.”
Senate Bill 300 requires “limited services” medical facilities to display notices on site and online stating that they are "not licensed as a medical facility by the state of Delaware and has no licensed medical provider who provides or directly supervises the provision of services.”
Support for the measure fell along party lines, with all support in the Democrat-controlled Delaware Senate coming from Democrats and all opposition coming from Republicans.
In the Democrat-controlled Delaware House of Representatives, one Democrat broke from his party to support the measure.
As explained in last week’s agreement, the “compelled statement” pro-life pregnancy centers were required to post “was almost identical to a required statement from a California law struck down by the United States Supreme Court in 2018” in the case National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra.
In addition to declaring Senate Bill 300 unenforceable, Friday’s agreement ordered Jennings to pay ADF $50,000 in attorneys’ fees.
“We applaud Delaware officials for allowing NIFLA and A Door of Hope to serve women and families free from government punishment,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “We’ve seen too many state attorneys general ramp up their efforts to silence, censor, and shut down pregnancy care centers across the country.”
Simms Showers Partner William R. Thertford, who served as legal counsel for the pregnancy centers, stressed that pregnancy resource centers are "a force for good" and offer families "true, life-affirming care and resources during unplanned or unsupported pregnancies." He said his clients can now "pursue that worthy mission unshackled by an inappropriate application of the law.”
Pro-life pregnancy centers have been targeted in multiple Democratic-led states. In New Jersey, the state sought to compel pro-life pregnancy centers to release information about their donors despite receiving a unanimous rebuke from the U.S. Supreme Court. Similarly, in New York, a federal court ruled that efforts to prevent pro-life pregnancy centers from sharing information about abortion pill reversal are unconstitutional.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
