Letitia James lawsuit accuses business of “misleading” women

New York Attorney General Letitia James sued an anti-abortion group and 11 crisis pregnancy centers on Monday, accusing them of promoting and “misleading” an abortion reversal treatment.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, leaving individual states to choose their legal status on abortion, access to women’s health care has waned. While several states have rolled out abortion bans, growing concern over access to contraceptives and abortion continue.

According to James’ lawsuit, Heartbeat International, an anti-abortion group, and the Crisis Pregnancy Centers allegedly used false and misleading claims in an effort to “convince pregnant people to get the abortion pill reversal (APR) treatment.”

“Attorney General James alleges that making false and misleading claims about APR to convince pregnant people to get the treatment constitutes fraud, deceptive business practices, and false advertising under New York law,” James’ office said in a press release emailed to Newsweek.

An APR procedure involves a woman who has changed her mind about aborting a pregnancy after taking mifepristone, the first part of a two-drug regimen used for medication abortion, which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to terminate pregnancy in the first 10 weeks.

APR involves taking progesterone to offset the effects of mifepristone. However, the course of action has not been approved by the FDA. Additionally, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said the method is “not based on science and do not meet clinical standards.”

On Monday, James took to X, formerly Twitter, to announce the lawsuit as she warned of the potential danger the treatment can be as abortions cannot be reversed.

“I’m suing @HeartbeatIntl and 11 crisis pregnancy centers across New York for illegally advertising and promoting an abortion reversal treatment. Abortions cannot be reversed, and this treatment could be incredibly dangerous,” James wrote on X.

According to the lawsuit, the crisis pregnancy centers throughout the state advertise the abortion pill reversal method on their websites and through social media. James alleges that some of the centers “appear to offer or facilitate APR treatment on-site at their offices, while others direct people to obtain APR treatment through Heartbeat’s Abortion Pill Rescue Network.”

“Abortions cannot be reversed. Any treatments that claim to do so are made without scientific evidence and could be unsafe,” James said in a statement. “Heartbeat International and the other crisis pregnancy center defendants are spreading dangerous misinformation by advertising ‘abortion pill reversal’ without any medical and scientific proof.

“Amid the increase in attacks on reproductive health care nationwide, we must protect pregnant people’s right to make safe, well-informed decisions about their health. Your reproductive health care decisions are yours and yours alone, and my office will always protect New Yorkers from those who push a scientifically unproven and potentially life-threatening intervention.”

James’ lawsuit comes after a lawsuit was filed against her over her attempts to stop pregnancy crisis organizations from providing “persistent misleading statements” about the APR methods.

The coalition of anti-abortion groups, represented by the Thomas More Society—a conservative law firm based in Chicago—accused James of carrying out a “witch hunt” and violating their First Amendment rights after she sent multiple “Notice of Intention to Sue” letters to multiple pregnancy centers calling on them to stop providing “persistent misleading statements.”

The group’s lawsuit says that James’ office is violating the constitutional rights of the pregnancy help organizations by preventing them from promoting APR and is suing her office to prevent any potential future prosecution.

“New York State laws protect abortionists and abortion on demand up until birth. Now they are targeting those who assist a woman in exercising her right to continue her own pregnancy,” Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International, one of several anti-abortion groups named as plaintiffs in the suit, said in a statement.

In response to James’ recent lawsuit, in a statement emailed to Newsweek, Heartbeat International condemned James and reiterated their efforts to fight against the lawsuit, calling it an attempt to “censor speech.”

“As stated last week when we filed our complaint, we strongly condemn New York Attorney General Letitia James’s unjust and biased targeting of a dozen non-profit life-affirming pregnancy help organizations. Her lawsuit against Heartbeat International and these organizations is a clear attempt to censor speech, leaving women who regret their chemical abortions in the dark, and ultimately forcing them to complete an abortion they no longer want. We look forward to challenging these baseless allegations and defending the rights of both the organizations targeted and the women they serve,” Heartbeat International said in a statement to Newsweek.

Update 05/06/24, 5:10 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Heartbeat International.