Pregnancy Centers Fighting California in Court to Defend Abortion Pill Reversal

Week three in the first Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) case to go to trial in the U.S. wrapped up with multiple experts having testified about APR and more to come.

The People of the State of California v. Heartbeat International & RealOptions concerns the right to speak about Abortion Pill Reversal and has implications for freedom of speech and pregnancy help beyond the state of California.

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The APR protocol entails administering bioidentical progesterone to counter the effects of mifepristone. It is an updated application of a treatment used since the 1950s to combat miscarriage. Mifepristone is the first of two drugs in a chemical abortion. The abortion pill accounts for the majority of all abortions in the U.S.

If a pregnant woman takes mifepristone and has regret it may be possible to save her baby with Abortion Pill Reversal.

Heartbeat is the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the U.S. and the world, with approximately 4,000 affiliates in more than 100 countries worldwide and around 2,400 affiliated pregnancy help locations in the U.S. Pregnancy help organizations include pregnancy centers and medical clinics, adoption agencies, and maternity homes.

Heartbeat International also manages the Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN), a 24/7 helpline and network of nearly 1,500 healthcare professionals, pregnancy centers and hospitals worldwide that administer the Abortion Pill Reversal protocol.

RealOptions Obria Medical Clinics is a Heartbeat affiliate and has four licensed medical clinics throughout the Bay Area that provide comprehensive health services to both men and women, including APR.

California’s Attorney General is suing to block Heartbeat and RealOptions from “advertising Abortion Pill Reversal as safe and effective” and seeking nearly $20 million in penalties from Heartbeat International over its promotion of Abortion Pill Reversal.

Heartbeat and RealOptions, represented by legal non-profit Thomas More Society, argue that women should be allowed to have access to information about APR, an updated treatment used since the 1950s to prevent miscarriage. They say that the state’s case is an unprecedented use of consumer protection law to curb the free flow of medical information with potential consequences reaching well beyond California.

RealOptions has had 44 babies born following APR treatment. Statistics show that more than 8,000 lives have been saved through the APRN.

The People v. Heartbeat International case will decide if state attorneys general can impose ruinous fines against a charity over viewpoints with which those AGs disapprove.

Heartbeat is asking the court to find that the First Amendment protects its speech and women’s rights to access information about all available options following a chemical abortion.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone called for prayer on X last week for Thomas More Society attorneys and their represention of Heartbeat and RealOptions Obria Medical Clinics in the trial, and for prayer for women who seek to reverse the effects of chemical abortion pills. Cordileone termed the lawsuit “an abuse of power by the State of California” in his social media post.

More than 200 women who sought assistance through the Abortion Pill Rescue Network, including more than 40 women from California, have signed an open letter expressing gratitude for the information and care they received from the APRN. Many of the women included pictures of their children with their message.

The State of California has admitted it has received no complaints from California women regarding APR.

The state has called Dr. Mitchell Creinin, abortion doctor and paid consultant for mifepristone manufacturer Danco Laboratories, to testify. The state had hoped Creinin would dismantle the science behind APR, according to Thomas More Society, however his testimony raised serious questions in at least 10 instances. The state has also called a statistics expert and a marketing expert.

Heartbeat International President Jor-El Godsey has testified, as has Dr. Mary Davenport, an M.D. and OB/GYN who is Medical Director for RealOptions. Dr. Elena Kraus, M.D., Ph.D., a specialist in maternal-fetal medicine, has testified.

Dr. Michael New, assistance professor of practice at the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America took the stand this past week.

Professor Laura Muñoz, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing at University of Dallas, testified this week about Heartbeat’s and RealOptions’ communications not being misleading under standard advertising and marketing principles.

Heartbeat International Senior Director of Medical Impact Christa Brown, BSN, RN, and Executive Director of the APRN, began her testimony on day 13 of the trial and is slated to continue her testimony next week.

Three APR moms are set to testify, one having done so on day 8 of the trial, and two more on the schedule in the coming weeks.

Dr. George Delgado, a pioneer of APR and founder of the Abortion Pill Reversal Network as it was known before he turned it over to Heartbeat in 2018, is scheduled to testify this coming week, as are RealOptions Chief Marketing Officer Donna Hecke and former CEO Valerie Hill. RealOptions CEO Tasha Keirns is scheduled to testify in the trial’s final week.

LifeNews Note: Lisa Bourne is Managing Editor of Pregnancy Help News and Content Writer for Heartbeat International. This originally appeared at Pregnancy Help News.