Groups sue NY attorney general for crackdown on pregnancy centers that 'reverse' the abortion pill

A coalition of pro-life groups filed a lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James last week over her attempts to stop pregnancy centers from offering life-saving treatments.

What are pregnancy centers?

Pregnancy centers, also called crisis pregnancy centers, are the opposite of abortion facilities. Crisis pregnancy centers educate women who are considering abortion and offer resources and services to help them give birth. Some women visit pregnancy centers after having already taken the abortion pill mifepristone. This pill blocks the hormone progesterone, which a woman’s body needs for the pregnancy to continue.

In such cases, some pregnancy centers offer a treatment called “abortion pill reversal” (APR). This involves the woman taking FDA-approved progesterone supplements, which has been shown to successfully reverse the abortion pill’s effects and lead to healthy births.

AG James is suing pregnancy centers for providing life-saving treatment

AG James has so far sued 11 pregnancy centers and Heartbeat International, a network of pregnancy centers, over APR treatments. She has accused the organizations of false advertising by spreading “misinformation.” James insists the pro-life facilities are making “false and misleading statements” by telling women that progesterone supplements may help continue the pregnancy if taken in the first few days after ingesting the abortion pill.

There are no accusations of these treatments being unsafe for women or causing harm. 

'Doing everything she can to deny women the freedom to make that choice’

Last week, the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit against James for violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of the pro-life network National Institute of Family and Life Advocates and two pregnancy centers, Gianna’s House and Options Care Center.

“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 in a statement. “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.”

Is progesterone effective at reversing abortion?

Progesterone is commonly prescribed by physicians for women who are at risk of having a preterm birth, have a history of miscarriages, or suffer excessive blood loss during menstruation, to support endometrial function during in vitro fertilization, and other cases.

In its lawsuit, ADF cites studies showing that progesterone is effective at preserving pregnancy after taking mifepristone. In a 2018 study, 547 women who took the abortion pill underwent progesterone treatment within 72 hours after taking mifepristone. The treatment had a 48% success rate, including 247 live births and four miscarriages of viable babies after 20 weeks.

When divided into subgroups, the researchers found that pregnancies in women who took intramuscular progesterone had a 64% survival rate, while those in women who took high dose oral progesterone had a 68% survival rate.