Earlier this year, Attorney General Letitia James (D-New York) sued 11 faith-based pro-life pregnancy centers along with a network of affiliated centers in New York, saying they are promoting the "unproven abortion reversal treatment." As a result, James is seeking damages and penalties that could shut down these pregnancy resource centers.
Attorney Gabriella McIntyre of Alliance Defending Freedom says James' effort also chills the speech of its clients -- National Institute for Family and Life Advocates -- that make those same statements.
"So, we sued on behalf of two pregnancy centers and our own network of affiliated centers as well alleging that she has violated their free speech rights and is trying to censor their speech about abortion pill reversal," says McIntyre.
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York ruled that ADF's clients are free to continue sharing information about abortion pill reversal for the time being.
The ruling suggested Judge John L. Sinatra, a Donald Trump appointee, didn’t wrestle long before deciding James’ request didn’t have much to work with.
“No abstention doctrine applies, and no other prudential, discretionary or equitable obstacle to such relief exists,” he wrote.
Chemical abortion involves taking the drug mifepristone and following it with a treatment of misoprostol within a few days, but pregnancy clinics have advised women who have a change of heart that they can continue their pregnancy by abandoning the second drug and instead taking doses of progesterone, Fox News reports.
Abortion reversal is not supported by science, according to The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
McIntyre called the court’s decision a great victory.
"The court agreed that the attorney general's attempt to silence and censor our clients' speech about abortion pill reversal was indeed a violation of their free speech rights, and he barred the attorney general from continuing to infringe those rights while we litigate the case," she said. "So, practically speaking, that means that while this lawsuit is being litigated, our clients can continue to speak about abortion pill reversal to their communities without fear of being prosecuted. This have life-saving impact because women will be able to hear about this life saving option."
