Pregnancy Help Centers Win Injunction Against New York Attorney General

A federal judge on Sept. 24 temporarily blocked New York Attorney General Letitia James’s efforts to prevent pro-life pregnancy help organizations from promoting abortion pill reversal services.
The state claims that the groups are misinforming the public about the abortion pill reversal (APR) protocol, which is used when women who have begun the medication abortion process change their minds. The groups argue that the protocol has been proven safe, but the state counters that it is not universally accepted and has not been approved by federal regulators.
Some pregnant women opt for reversal when they change their minds about proceeding with an abortion after taking one of the two pills required in the medication abortion procedure.
This type of chemical abortion generally involves the use of mifepristone, which blocks the hormone progesterone, and misoprostol, which induces contractions. In the APR protocol, a large dose of progesterone is administered to the pregnant woman, counteracting the mifepristone, which would otherwise prevent the progesterone from being absorbed by the womb and causing contractions.
She also “threatened to harass the recipients with suits under those inapplicable statutes unless they promptly showed how pro-APR statements she did not identify were not misleading,” according to the complaint.
James described pregnancy help centers as “fake clinics” that “confuse patients, trick them into visiting, and shame patients into not getting an abortion,” it states.
“Tellingly, James sought not to restrict the practice of APR itself, which, because it is perfectly safe, remains entirely legal under U.S. and New York law. She threatened only to silence disfavored actors who speak about this utterly lawful practice—triggering a veritable First Amendment crisis across ‘the Empire State,’” the complaint stated.
“Amid the increase in attacks on reproductive health care nationwide, we must protect pregnant people’s right to make safe, well-informed decisions about their health,” James said.
“Your reproductive health care decisions are yours and yours alone, and my office will always protect New Yorkers from those who push a scientifically unproven and potentially life-threatening intervention.”
Sinatra’s Sept. 24 order specifically directed James not to enforce anti-fraud provisions of two state laws against the plaintiffs for making statements to the public or “women considering or in the midst of a chemical abortion” indicating that APR or progesterone is safe or effective.
Before that, on Aug. 22, the court temporarily blocked James from enforcing the same state law provisions against three other pregnancy help organizations known as the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NILFA), Gianna’s House, and Options Care Center. Alliance Defending Freedom is serving as legal counsel for those plaintiffs.
Thomas More Society Executive Vice President Peter Breen was pleased with the new court order.
“These small nonprofits, which exist to compassionately serve women and offer them alternatives to abortion, deserve to have their speech elevated—not chilled,” Breen said in a statement.
The Epoch Times reached out to James’s office but did not receive a reply by publication time.