Inside the fight to keep NYC’s pro-life clinics open amid battle with Mamdani
CompassCare Pregnancy Services CEO Rev. Jim Harden braces for legal action, suggesting that Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani may choose to "rob" women of free healthcare.
THE BRONX, N.Y.— The CEO of a pregnancy care center organization says he's concerned about the future of his ministry and others like it as self-avowed democratic socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani prepares to take office in January.
"We have some significant concerns with respect to Mayor-elect Mamdani's ideas around protecting New Yorkers from pro-life pregnancy centers," said Rev. Jim Harden, CEO of CompassCare, an anti-abortion medical network based in Buffalo, New York, in an interview Friday with Fox News Digital.
Harden, who leads pregnancy care centers in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island and elsewhere in New York, recently penned an op-ed titled, "Zohran Mamdani Vows to Shut Down Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers."
The CEO of a pregnancy care center organization says he's concerned for the future of his ministry and others like it as New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani prepares to take office. (Fox News Digital/Deirdre Heavey)
In it, Harden wrote that during Mamdani’s campaign, he planned to "protect" New Yorkers from pro-life pregnancy centers, accusing them of spreading "false or deceptive information," according to campaign materials.
Harden said that during his campaign, Mamdani proposed using Local Law 17— which Harden described as a consumer protection rule — against pregnancy centers.
In a "Zohran for New York City" document entitled, "Trump-Proofing NYC," the portion discussing reproductive rights reads, "The Mamdani administration will protect New Yorkers from false or deceptive information spread by Crisis Pregnancy Centers, including lies about abortion safety and medications, and enforce Local Law 17 forcing these centers to disclose whether they have licensed medical professionals. It will also strengthen the city’s Abortion Access Hub by doubling funding to $2M, which confidentially helps New Yorkers find abortion providers and supports people living outside of New York through the process of scheduling appointments and finding financial assistance."
The document adds, "It will also double funding to the New York Abortion Access Fund, which will provide essential funding to ensure New Yorkers get the medical care they need as New Yorkers face cuts to Medicaid."
Harden said enforcing Rule 17 would require pregnancy care centers to post onerous New York City–mandated language in large font in advertising outlets and onsite locations.
"That language may include anything from a list of what we do not provide, such as abortion, to a phone number referring women to an abortionist," Harden told Fox News Digital in a statement. "Rule 17 itself represents a violation of First Amendment rights."
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Rev. Jim Harden, the CEO of CompassCare Pregnancy Services, told Fox News Digital that he is considering legal action if Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani attempts to shut down his centers. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)
CompassCare has three pro-life pregnancy centers located in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island.
"We're not exactly sure, you know, how pro-abortion Mayor-elect Mamdani is, because he's Islamic, right," he added. "And the Muslim faith essentially prohibits abortion. But he also ran on a communist ticket. So he was piggybacking off of kind of a coalition of left-wing progressives, transgender, pro-abortion, environmentalism, etc. And so we're not exactly sure which Mamdani is going to show up for work in January."
Mamdani has repeatedly rejected claims by figures such as President Donald Trump that he is a "communist." In Islam, there are varying interpretations about the moral permissibility of abortion, although some sects are strictly against it unless the mother's life is endangered.
Harden, who has worked in the pro-life movement for decades, said there are few alternatives to abortion in New York City.
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The CompassCare Pregnancy Services logo is seen in New York City. There are three centers in the city. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)
"We're outnumbered 53 to 3," Harden said.
Harden said he cannot understand why Mamdani would want to "rob women of free medical care and community support."
His organization offers pre-termination evaluation, STD testing and treatment, basic OB-GYN care, after-abortion care, and other services, all at no cost to the patient.
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Harden said his pregnancy care centers exist to give a choice other than abortion to women, and that choice will cease to exist should clinics like his be forced to close. (iStock)
"If Mamdani were able to accomplish his ostensible goals according to his campaign to shut us down or somehow protect women from free medical care and community support, it would impact women in the Bronx. It would impact women in Brooklyn. It would affect women in Staten Island," Harden said. "They would not have an ethical alternative to abortion."
Harden said his pregnancy care centers exist to give a choice other than abortion to women, and that choice will cease to exist should clinics like his be forced to close.
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Zohran Mamdani delivers a victory speech at a mayoral election night watch party, on Nov. 4, 2025, in New York City. (Yuki Iwamura/AP)
"Not a sane woman alive really wants to have an abortion. She just feels stuck, trapped, like she has no other choice, and so that's why our mission statement reads that we're a Christ-centered agency dedicated to empowering men and women to erase the need for abortion," Harden said.
Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Mamdani for comment.
Fox News' Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.
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