Pro-life pregnancy centers have sued New York Attorney General Letitia James for targeting their promotion of abortion pill reversals, accusing her of violating their First Amendment rights with a politically motivated clampdown.
The federal lawsuit filed Friday charged Ms. James with censorship, viewpoint discrimination and religious discrimination for enforcing business-fraud statutes against progesterone treatment to reverse the two-step abortion pill process.
“She is unlawfully targeting pro-life pregnancy centers, threatening punishment for promoting and offering a service that gives women the option of changing their mind and attempting to save their baby’s life,” said the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates and two of its New York members, Gianna’s House and Options Care Center.
The Democrat James, a staunch pro-choice advocate, accused Heartbeat International and its 11 state affiliates in a May 6 lawsuit of “spreading dangerous misinformation by advertising ‘abortion reversals’ without any medical and scientific proof” and declaring that “abortions cannot be reversed.”
The lawsuit filed Friday countered by relating the experience of a pregnant woman named Maranda who changed her mind after taking mifepristone, the first in the two-drug abortion pill protocol, and reached out to New Hope Family Services in Syracuse to reverse the process.
Maranda was treated by an “onsite medical professional” with progesterone free of charge to counteract the effects of mifepristone, which blocks progesterone and prevents the pregnancy from continuing. She ultimately gave birth to a girl named Myli’anna, according to the filing.
“Myli’anna was born healthy about seven months later,” said the lawsuit. “But if defendant, the attorney general of New York, had her way, Myli’anna may not be alive today. That’s because Maranda would likely never have heard about the possibility that her baby could survive after taking the first abortion drug, or that progesterone treatment might increase her likelihood of survival.”
The motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York said the pro-life centers have already “censored their constitutionally protected speech in order to avoid prosecution by the attorney general” by removing statements about abortion reversals from their public sites.
“If not for the attorney general’s enforcement of the Business Fraud Statutes against pro-life pregnancy centers’ statements about progesterone treatment, plaintiffs would immediately republish their statements about progesterone treatment,” said the lawsuit.
The filing also said the attorney general has touted the abortion pill protocol as “safe and effective,” even though the mifepristone warning label says 2.9% to 4.6% of participants in a study wound up in the emergency room after taking it.
The attorney general’s office argued that the “APR is not an accepted mainstream medical practice, and there is no credible scientific evidence proving that the treatment is safe or effective,” while proponents say progesterone has been used for over 50 years to prevent miscarriages.
The lawsuit cited a 2018 observational study that found 64%-68% of abortions were successfully reversed when women took doses of progesterone after ingesting mifepristone, “with no apparent risk of increased birth defects.”
Lining up against abortion pill reversals are major pro-choice medical groups, including the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which say the treatment’s efficacy is unproven.
In 2021, the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended progesterone for at-risk pregnant women, citing a study that showed a 15% increase in the live-birth rate for those with early bleeding and three or more prior miscarriages with “no increased risk of birth defects,” the lawsuit said.
“Many women regret their abortions, and some seek to stop the effects of chemical abortion drugs before taking the second drug in the abortion drug process. Taking supplemental progesterone at that time can often save their baby’s life,” said ADF Legal Counsel Gabriella McIntyre. “The New York attorney general, however, is doing everything she can to deny women the freedom to make that choice.”
The New York legal battle comes with the Supreme Court weighing a challenge filed by pro-life doctors to the Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 approval of mifepristone for the abortion pill process.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.