Why It Matters
Louisiana and several other states are watching closely as a growing wave of legislation redefines the legal standing of pregnancy resource centers across the country. At least four states introduced bills this legislative session designed to protect crisis pregnancy centers from certain government mandates and grant those centers the ability to countersue for damages if the law is violated. The trend carries significant implications for state health policy, religious liberty law, and the broader national debate over abortion access following the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision.
What Happened
Kansas and Wyoming recently enacted laws preventing government entities from imposing certain regulations on crisis pregnancy centers, joining Montana, which passed a similar measure in 2025. Identical or closely related bills remain pending in Oklahoma and New Hampshire. The legislation is modeled on framework drafted by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The model legislation grants pregnancy resource centers protection from government-mandated disclosures or operational requirements and allows the centers to seek damages in court if any government body attempts to enforce regulations that the law prohibits. Supporters say the measures reflect legal precedents established in earlier court battles over government attempts to compel speech at religious or ideologically motivated organizations.
The Alliance Defending Freedom has a direct history with the issue. The organization represented the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, a major umbrella organization for pregnancy centers, in a 2018 case after California required the centers to post signage directing clients to state-funded abortion services. That case, NIFLA v. Becerra, was decided in favor of the centers by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy for Students for Life Action, said the legislation addresses what she described as an ongoing pattern of government attempts to compel pregnancy centers to promote abortion options. “This really just reflects the legal reality that pregnancy care centers have been hauled into court when they’ve decided they are not interested in pushing abortion,” Hamrick said.
By the Numbers
- At least 4 states introduced the model legislation during the current legislative session.
- 2 states — Kansas and Wyoming — have already enacted the law in 2026, with Montana having passed similar legislation in 2025.
- 21 states have directed taxpayer dollars to crisis pregnancy centers since the Dobbs ruling in June 2022, according to a 50-state analysis by States Newsroom.
- Those 21 states allocated a combined total of more than $491 million in public funds to crisis pregnancy centers over approximately three years.
- Bills remain pending in 2 additional states — Oklahoma and New Hampshire — as of late March 2026.
Zoom Out
The legislation arrives during a period of heightened legal and political activity around abortion-adjacent policy at the state level. Since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, states have taken divergent approaches — some enacting near-total bans, others codifying abortion access into state law.
The push to insulate pregnancy resource centers from regulation is not limited to states with abortion bans. New Hampshire, which does not have an abortion ban, is among the states where the bill is under consideration, indicating the legislation’s appeal extends beyond post-Dobbs abortion restriction frameworks.
Medical organizations including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have raised concerns about certain practices at crisis pregnancy centers, including the possibility that centers offering free ultrasounds could miss diagnoses of ectopic or molar pregnancies — nonviable conditions that can become life-threatening without timely medical intervention. Critics have also raised questions about how some centers market their services to the public.
Supporters of the legislation counter that pregnancy resource centers provide essential services to women who choose not to pursue abortion and that government attempts to regulate their messaging constitute violations of free speech and religious exercise protections.
What’s Next
Legislators in Oklahoma and New Hampshire are expected to continue advancing their versions of the bill in coming weeks. Advocacy groups on both sides of the issue are likely to monitor implementation in Kansas and Wyoming as a preview of how the countersue provisions may function in practice. Legal challenges to the enacted laws remain possible, which could eventually produce new appellate court rulings on the scope of government authority to regulate nonprofit health-adjacent service providers.