California Attorney General Tries to Stop Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers From Saving Babies
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a nonprofit pro-life pregnancy center and a nonprofit network of affiliated centers will be available for media interviews following oral arguments Tuesday in federal district court in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Bonta. National Institute of Family and Life Advocates and SCV Pregnancy Center are challenging California Attorney General Rob Bonta for using his power to censor pro-life pregnancy centers because they tell women about the option of lawfully taking supplemental progesterone to reverse the effects of taking mifepristone—the first drug in the two-drug chemical abortion regimen—and save their unborn babies’ lives.
Pregnancy centers wish to inform women in California who have taken the first abortion drug that it may be possible to counteract its lethal effects if they change their minds and seek treatment within 72 hours of taking the first drug. But their scientifically backed speech about the supplemental progesterone treatment is chilled by the attorney general’s censorship campaign against similar speech.
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“Access to information is a hallmark of a free society and is essential to making informed medical choices,” said ADF Senior Counsel Caleb Dalton, who will be arguing before the court. “Attorney General Bonta and his allies at Planned Parenthood may not like it, but the truth is that many women regret their abortions, and some seek to stop the effects of chemical abortion drugs before taking the second drug in the abortion drug process. Every woman should have the option to reconsider going through with an abortion, and the pro-life pregnancy centers we represent in this case truthfully inform women about that choice. We are urging the court to affirm the pregnancy centers’ freedom to tell the public about this lawful, life-saving treatment and end the attorney general’s censorship.”
In September 2023, Bonta sued Heartbeat International, a national network of pregnancy centers, and RealOptions Obria Medical Clinics, a chain of five pregnancy centers in California, for publishing information about abortion pill reversal, including that progesterone is considered safe and can be an effective treatment. Bonta’s politically motivated lawsuit threatens other pregnancy centers in the state that have made, or would like to make, similar statements, spurring ADF attorneys to file a lawsuit on behalf of NIFLA and SCV.
Multiple scientific studies support the statements that the pro-life pregnancy centers wish to share with women. Progesterone is a natural hormone needed to sustain pregnancy and has been used for decades to prevent miscarriage and preterm labor. Statistics show that abortion pill reversal has likely saved over 5,000 unborn lives and one study found a 64-68% success rate. Yet Bonta has targeted centers that tell women about this option because of the centers’ pro-life viewpoints and the content of their speech. ADF attorneys explain in the lawsuit that such actions from a government official violate the pregnancy centers’ First Amendment rights to speak freely and practice their religious beliefs.
Attorney Sean Gates, one of more than 4,800 attorneys in the ADF Attorney Network, is serving as local counsel on behalf of the pregnancy centers.
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