by Jennifer Nuelle
A federal district court in New York ruled Thursday that pro-life pregnancy centers are allowed to promote an abortion pill reversal medication while the suit continues.
Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit in early May against 11 pregnancy centers, claiming the organizations were misleading pregnant women when talking about an abortion reversal medication. The court granted the preliminary order in favor of the National Institute for Family and Life Advocates and Gianna’s House Inc. and Options Care Center’s follow-up suit against James, stating that the First Amendment protects the right for the groups to talk about the abortion reversal pill.
“Fundamentally, freedom of speech and thought flows not from the beneficence of the state but from the inalienable rights of the person,” the ruling states. “Suppression of speech by the government can make exposure of falsity more difficult, not less so.”
The two groups were represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which claimed that James was specifically targeting pro-life pregnancy centers, a press release states.
“Women in New York have literally saved their babies from an in-progress chemical drug abortion because they had access to information through their local pregnancy centers about using safe and effective progesterone for abortion pill reversal,” ADF Senior Counsel Caleb Dalton said in the press release. “But the attorney general tried to deny women the opportunity to even hear about this life-saving option. Many women regret their abortions, and some seek to stop the effects of abortion drugs before taking the second drug in the abortion drug process.”
UPDATE🚨A federal district court halted the @NewYorkStateAG from violating #1A rights for @NIFLA and two pregnancy care centers in the state of New York.
Pro-life centers should be free to offer life-saving info to women who want the choice to save their child. The court was…
— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) August 23, 2024
The court found that the preliminary injunction sought out by the pregnancy centers is in the public interest and the groups’ speech surrounding the abortion pill reversal is beneficial to women who have had a chemical abortion and are seeking reversal to save their unborn child’s life, the ruling states.
“Taking supplemental progesterone may give them a chance to save their baby’s life,” Dalton said in the press release. “Women should have the option to reconsider an abortion, and the pro-life pregnancy centers we represent in this case truthfully inform them about that choice. The court was right to affirm the pregnancy centers’ freedom to tell interested women about this life-saving treatment option.”
The New York AG’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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Jennifer Nuelle is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Letitia James” by Letitia James.
