In the newest legal skirmish seeking to hinder the life-affirming mission of pro-life ministries, former Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley—now Counsel at Foley Hoag and Co-Chair of the firm’s State Attorneys General practice—has resurfaced as lead counsel for the abortion facility Four Women Health Services in Thomas More Society’s latest case to defend pro-life ministries against legal attacks on their First Amendment-protected activities.  

The case, Four Women Health Services v. Choose Life Marketing, et al., represents yet another brazen attempt to redefine pro-life efforts as “deceptive,” as part of a legal strategy to gag pro-life voices and pregnancy centers. Thomas More Society is fighting back to protect the fundamental freedoms at stake, and the lives that could be lost along with them.  

This case is not a petty business squabble between an abortion business on one side and pro-life ministries on the other. Rather, it’s about the right to speak the truth about abortion and the fight to share information about abortion alternatives in the digital public square.  

A history of abortion advocacy

Martha Coakley has a long history of advocating for pro-abortion policies and, as Massachusetts Attorney General, using her office to target the pro-life movement. As attorney general, Coakley championed policies that favored the abortion industry while smothering pro-life speech. She vocally supported partial-birth abortions, secret abortions for minors without parental consent, and efforts to kick pro-life doctors out of emergency rooms.

Most notably, her defense of Massachusetts’ 35-foot buffer zone law in the landmark case McCullen v. Coakley (2014) sought to restrict pro-life sidewalk counselors like Eleanor McCullen from offering compassionate, life-affirming alternatives to women outside abortion businesses. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down the law, ruling it violated the First Amendment by burdening speech unnecessarily.

Coakley’s current role in Four Women Health Services v. Choose Life Marketing is another chapter in her long history of pro-abortion advocacy. Representing Four Women Health Services, a Massachusetts-based abortion facility, Coakley and her legal team are targeting Choose Life Marketing, a faithful ally to pro-life pregnancy centers across the country. Choose Life helps these centers effectively reach abortion-minded women with life-affirming resources using industry-standard, quality marketing strategies. Four Women alleged that Choose Life was engaging in “deceptive business practices,” when the organization was simply utilizing standard marketing practices. By manufacturing a business dispute, Coakley seeks to obscure the true issue at hand: an attempt to suppress pro-life speech under the guise of commercial regulation.

As Thomas More Society attorneys noted in the Motion to Dismiss filed on behalf of Choose Life, pregnancy centers offering free services are not engaged in “trade or commerce,” rendering such consumer protection laws inapplicable to the pro-life pregnancy centers that Choose Life helps promote. Moreover, the First Amendment guarantees their right to share messages of hope and healing, even if abortion advocates such as Martha Coakley may disagree with their message.  

The stakes in this case

The implications of this case extend far beyond Massachusetts.

A victory for Four Women Health Services will signal to abortion advocates that they have a free pass to target pro-life ministries nationwide, threatening ministries that exist solely to help women by providing free ultrasounds, counseling, classes, and other resources to women who find themselves in difficult circumstances. These nonprofits are a lifeline for women seeking alternatives to abortion. Coakley’s legal browbeating is aimed at gagging pregnancy centers and preventing them from carrying out their mission. Women deserve access to abortion alternatives and Choose Life’s constitutionally protected efforts help provide that critical access.

“This case is an assault on pro-life speech dressed up as a business dispute,” says Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation. The outcome will ripple across the nation, upholding free speech and protecting pregnancy centers—or permitting further attacks on Americans’ fundamental freedoms and the pro-life message.

Protecting the right to share freely the pro-life message

Public sidewalks and digital platforms are traditional, longstanding forums for the exchange of ideas, and the First Amendment exists to protect speech, even if that speech is uncomfortable or controversial. As Chief Justice John Roberts penned in the Court’s decision for McCullen v. Coakley, “It is no accident that public streets and sidewalks have developed as venues for the exchange of ideas.” Thomas More Society continues the fight to vindicate Choose Life’s First Amendment rights, so that Coakley’s attempt to silence pro-life speech in the digital public square is thwarted once again, just as it was when speech on the sidewalks was threatened in McCullen.