Abortion is a phrase that elicits strong emotions. There are people who view it as harmful, and there are those who believe it should be protected across the nation. Since Roe V. Wade was overturned in June of 2022, abortion and women’s healthcare have been at the forefront of many legal cases. 

One of the latest cases to be argued before the Supreme Court was First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin. The topic at the center of this case is Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPC), and according to some, there is one located in La Grange. 

As quoted by the LION Newspaper in 2019, “Local resident Maura Quinlan, assistant professor at Northwestern University and OBGYN—a doctor that specializes in women’s health and pregnancies—argues that the Women’s Care Center is a CPC, or an organization that attempts to convince women with unexpected pregnancies to not get abortions.”

Located at 136 N. La Grange Rd., La Grange, the Women’s Care Center is a counseling center that specializes in advising women about pregnancies and other healthcare needs for free, as advertised by the sign outside. Their website details meetings with a counselor, ultrasounds, and pregnancy tests. If visitors of this site scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, they will find, in small text, a message that prenatal medical care and abortions are not provided. Clinics like these have popped up across the nation, with adverse effects. 

According to the National Library of Medicine in June of 2022, “Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) are nonprofit organizations that present themselves as healthcare clinics while providing counseling explicitly intended to discourage and limit access to abortion. These facilities engage in purposefully manipulative and deceptive practices that spread misinformation on sexual health and abortion. CPCs have also been shown to delay access to medically legitimate prenatal and abortion care, which negatively impacts maternal health.”

This specific clinic is heavily financed by donors, and according to ProPublic’s Nonprofit Explorer, its revenue in 2024 was $19,961,299, 86.5% of which was from contributions. One of the largest donors is the Tom and Julie Wood Family Foundation, which has donated over $1 million to the center. 

Illinois itself tried to crack down on these centers in July of 2023, with Governor J.B. Pritzker signing a law that prevented the centers from using deceptive practices, CBS News detailed. According to NPR Illinois in December 2023, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, stopped enforcing this due to backlash from anti-abortion groups statewide. Before the order was stopped, Pritzker continued to support Illinois’s role as a pro-choice state.

“‘Women need access to comprehensive, fact-based healthcare when making critical decisions about their own health, not manipulation or misinformation from politically motivated, non-medical actors,” Pritzker said in a statement, according to CBS News on July 27, 2023.

Although Illinois’s statewide efforts fell flat, the topic of crisis pregnancy centers is hitting the national spotlight with First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin. This case, originating in New Jersey, has made its way to the Supreme Court, where it was argued on Dec. 2, 2025. The ruling is expected to be released in early July, according to the American Bar Association, a decision that will either further the precedent that these clinics cannot be challenged or lead to more insight into their operation.