Pro-life attorneys: California failed to show abortion pill reversal harm

A California trial that could bankrupt two pro-life pregnancy ministries over their promotion of abortion pill reversal ended this month with defense attorneys saying the state failed to produce a single woman who says she was harmed by the treatment.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Heartbeat International and RealOptions in 2023, accusing the organizations of making false or misleading claims about abortion pill reversal (APR), a protocol for women who change their minds after taking mifepristone, the first drug in a two-step chemical abortion. The state is seeking more than $25 million in penalties and a permanent gag order barring the ministries from discussing the treatment with patients. Both organizations provide the information free of charge.

Closing arguments concluded Sept. 18 before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Patrick McKinney, who is expected to rule within 90 days. Peter Breen, executive vice president and head of litigation at the Thomas More Society, which represents the ministries, said the state’s case fell apart under its own evidence. 

“The Attorney General never named one woman harmed by this protocol, because there isn’t one,” Breen said. 

The APR protocol uses progesterone, a hormone naturally present in women, to counteract the progesterone-blocking effects of mifepristone. During trial, a 12-person study that claimed to show that APR is unsafe was found to have serious methodological shortcomings.  

Paul M. Jonna, special counsel at the Thomas More Society, said the state’s pursuit of the ministries amounts to an attack on charitable speech. 

“Heartbeat International and RealOptions have never charged a single woman a dime for this information,” Jonna said, “they give it away because their faith calls them to help mothers choose life.”

The case is among the first in the country to put the legality of abortion pill reversal speech itself on trial. Zeale News has reported that the six-week bench trial featured testimony from the state’s own medical expert, who defense attorneys said would not say under oath that abortion pill reversal is unsafe or ineffective. 

Nationally, the fight over abortion pill reversal has settled into two camps. California and New York have sued pro-life pregnancy centers over their APR advertising, arguing it’s false and misleading. Colorado remains the only state with an outright legislative ban on the practice itself, although Bella Health + Wellness and a nurse midwife practitioner prevailed in a lawsuit against the ban and received permanent protection from the law. Several Republican-led states have moved the opposite direction, requiring clinics to tell patients APR exists as an option. 

Abortion pill reversal remains legal in California and has been approved for continuing education credit by the California Board of Registered Nursing.