California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, is suing pro-life pregnancy resource centers for alleged false advertisement of “abortion pill reversal,” an option for expectant mothers who already took one dose of the medication abortion regimen and changed their minds.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Bonta filed the lawsuit on Thursday to go after these centers, which provide women and mothers with resources they need to raise their children (via the LA Times):
Bonta called the centers “predatory,” alleging they “took advantage” of vulnerable pregnant patients by making false promises. He is asking a judge to block “further dissemination of the misleading claims,” citing violation of California’s false advertising and unfair competition laws.
“Those who are struggling with the complex decision to get an abortion deserve support and trustworthy guidance — not lies and misinformation,” said Bonta, who held a news conference in Oakland on Thursday.
The so-called reversal, touted by pregnancy centers across the state and nation, involves ingesting the hormone progesterone after a patient has taken a dose of abortion-inducing pills. The practice has been deemed “unethical” and “not supported by science” by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
In 2019, UC Davis researchers halted a study of the practice after three out of 12 women participating in the medical experiment were sent to the hospital for “very significant bleeding.”
The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court on Thursday, names the antiabortion organization Heartbeat International and RealOptions Obria Medical Clinics, a Bay Area chain, as defendants, alleging they have violated state law by falsely advertising the procedure as safe and effective.
I’m suing 5 crisis pregnancy centers and an anti-abortion group for misleading patients about so-called “abortion pill reversal”— a risky experimental protocol.
— Rob Bonta (@AGRobBonta) September 21, 2023
Those struggling with the decision to get an abortion deserve trustworthy guidance — not lies. https://t.co/amzHNT6KB0 pic.twitter.com/g8iNstqxgU
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Heartbeat International shared a statement about the lawsuit.
"Through our Abortion Pill Rescue Network, we know that some women almost immediately regret their chemical abortion choice," the organization said. "These women deserve the right to try and save their pregnancies. No women should ever be forced to complete an abortion she no longer wants."
Here is our response to today’s news that California @AGRobBonta is suing us and one of our pregnancy help organizations. pic.twitter.com/xndmm2ZPFt
— Heartbeat Int'l (@HeartbeatIntl) September 22, 2023
In January, on the anniversary of the March for Life, Townhall reported how Heartbeat International was committed to helping women through its Abortion Pill Rescue Network, since medication abortions were on the rise after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.
“We’ve been preparing for is the increase in abortion pill access. Already, from 2020, it accounts for more than 50 percent of abortions. There are estimates that it’s going to get up to 70 to 80 percent of all abortions and with the FDA changing some rules as well as HHS…the mail-order abortions are going to become more and more prevalent,” Heartbeat Intertional’s Vice President of Communications and Marketing Andrea Trudden said, adding that “telemedicine” abortion appointments have become more common. In this scenario, a woman never meets with a physician in-person before undergoing a medication abortion.
“Now, with the ability to get it [abortion pill] straight through the mail, it’s kind of scary,” Trudden said.
In 2022, pro-life organization Live Action reported that more than 3,000 lives had been saved through Abortion Pill Reversal (via Live Action):
The abortion pill, also called a chemical abortion, is approved for use up to 70 days into a pregnancy. Abortion pill reversal is a process that works to combat the effects of the first drug of the abortion pill regimen (mifepristone) with the goal of saving the lives of preborn children whose mothers have taken the drug but regret it. Mifepristone blocks the action of the natural pregnancy hormone progesterone, which helps to nurture the growing baby and sustain the pregnancy. When mifepristone blocks progesterone, the baby is deprived of nutrients — beginning the abortion pill process meant to kill her.
Abortion pill reversal involves administering the pregnancy hormone progesterone, which has been used to help prevent miscarriage for decades, in the hopes of counteracting the effects of mifepristone. This protocol has an effectiveness rate of 64% to 68% according to a 2018 peer-reviewed study. While results are best if the process is started within 24 hours of taking the abortion pill, babies have been reportedly saved as long as 72 hours after.