Two nonprofit legal organizations are fighting back in court against New York Attorney General Letitia James’ effort to stop 11 pregnancy care centers and a nonprofit network of affiliated clinics from counseling women about the timely use of progesterone to reverse the deadly effects of abortion pills.
Thomas More Society attorneys filed suit on April 30 against James in Monroe County, on behalf of Heartbeat International and a group of New York pregnancy help organizations. On May 6, James filed a lawsuit against the same organizations, in New York County, which covers Manhattan.
Meanwhile, attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) are representing the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, Gianna’s House, and Options Care Center in a federal lawsuit filed against James in the U.S. District for the Western District of New York.
These faith-based, pro-life centers are fighting to defend their right to continue informing women who have taken the first abortion drug that it is possible to counteract its lethal effects by seeking treatment within the first few days of taking the first pill. James’ lawsuit, the pro-life groups say, is likely an attempt to give off a chilling effect for organizations such as theirs at the same time that pro-abortion groups are spreading misinformation about the abortion reversal process.
“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,” said ADF Legal Counsel Gabriella McIntyre, “Taking supplemental progesterone at that time can often save their baby’s life. The New York attorney general, however, is doing everything she can to deny women the freedom to make that choice. Women should have the option to reconsider going through with an abortion, and the pro-life pregnancy centers we represent in this case truthfully inform them about that choice. We are urging the court to affirm the pregnancy centers’ freedom to tell interested women about this lawful, life-saving treatment.”
Heartbeat International, a pro-life group, operates what is called The Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN), which reports that it receives over 150 calls a month from women who regret their abortion decision.
To date, statistics show that more than 5,000 lives, and counting, have been saved through the Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN), an alliance of more than 1,400 healthcare professionals, pregnancy medical clinics, and hospitals that provide the APR protocol.
According to the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, a 2018 peer-reviewed study that followed 754 women who wanted to discontinue their chemical abortions revealed that, when administered within 72 hours of taking the first abortion pill, mifepristone, the APR protocol using progesterone has a 64-68% success rate in saving unborn babies. It also found no increased risk of birth defects or preterm births. Progesterone is a natural hormone needed to sustain pregnancy and has been used for decades to prevent miscarriage and forestall preterm labor safely and effectively.
Peter Breen, executive vice president and head of litigation with Thomas More Society, said “New Yorkers deserve to know that abortion pill reversal is not just possible but safe and effective.”
“For the past month, Letitia James has tried to illegally frighten and harass New York’s pregnancy help organizations into silence, threatening them with lawsuits if they keep speaking their truthful message about abortion pill reversal,” Breen continued. “ … We look forward to defending Heartbeat International, CompassCare, and all of New York’s pregnancy help organizations targeted by James’ unconstitutional witch hunt.”
Meanwhile, abortions in the United States reached their highest number since 2011, according to the latest figures released March 19 by the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion research group. The rise tracks with FDA rulings in 2016 and 2021 that loosened abortion pill restrictions.
The estimated 1,026,690 abortions recorded in the U.S. health system also marked a 10% rise since the last reporting year of 2020. And the percentage of abortions via the abortion pill regimen rose significantly as well, jumping to 63% in 2023 from 53% in the 2020. The percentage is more than double that of 2014, when chemical abortions comprised 31% of the abortion total.
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