New York Attorney General Letitia James is a fierce advocate for so-called “reproductive freedom” and a “woman’s choice”—until a woman chooses to reverse her chemical abortion and keep her pregnancy.

Now, she is trying to strip women of their option to save their babies by kicking off a witch-hunt against pro-life pregnancy centers—using investigations, lawsuits, and threats of ruinous penalties to silence the constitutionally protected speech of life-affirming pregnancy centers.

Pregnancy centers offer hope & save lives

63% of all abortions in the United States are now chemical abortions, done through what is commonly known as the “abortion pill.”

Often, women choose abortion because they are overwhelmed and lack the resources and support they need. Pregnancy centers exist to serve these women with free, life-affirming resources, compassionate care, alternatives to abortion, and encouragement. They offer hope to women who feel trapped into getting an abortion. According to a study conducted by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, pregnancy centers outnumber Planned Parenthoods 389 to 52 in New York alone.

In April 2024, James’ office sent off a barrage of legal threat letters to pro-life ministry Heartbeat International and a collective of pregnancy centers across the EmpireState—threatening ruinous legal action against these pro-life ministries because they offer or simply share information about Abortion Pill Reversal, or APR. And soon after, she sued them in state court to quash their constitutionally protected free speech rights.

A second chance at choosing life

Abortion pills lack oversight, follow-ups, often prescribed via telehealth appointments that don’t require verification of pregnancy. There are many women who regret taking the abortion pill immediately after—and seek out a way to save their pregnancy before it is too late. Thankfully, APR is a process that can reverse a chemical abortion after taking the first abortion pill, if action is taken quickly.

The “abortion pill” is actually a two-part regimen, that can be used up to 10 weeks of a woman’s pregnancy. The first pill in the regimen is mifepristone, which blocks progesterone, the naturally produced hormone necessary for a baby’s growth and development in its mother’s womb. The preborn child is then deprived of nutrition and starved to death. The second pill, misoprostol, causes the body to expel the baby.

APR works by using the science-backed method of flooding the body with progesterone to counteract the effects of mifepristone and save the mother’s baby. Supplemental progesterone has been used since the 1950s to support women whose bodies are unable to sustain healthy, full-term pregnancies. And it works.

To date, over more than 4,500 women have been able to successfully continue their pregnancies thanks to Abortion Pill Reversal.

“We know our information is good. We know that lives have been saved,” says Jor-El Godsey, President of Heartbeat International.

But New York’s Letitia James does not want women to know that they can still save their baby even after taking the first abortion pill, and she’s using ruinous fines and litigation to target pro-life pregnancy centers across the Empire State for helping women access a way to save their pregnancy.

And we’re fighting back.

Fighting Letitia James’ censorship

Thomas More Society attorneys are leading the fight against Letitia James and her lawfare against pregnancy centers. In response to her barrage of threat letters, Thomas More Society sued James in state court to pre-empt her attack, helping stall James’ bullying tactics against Heartbeat International and the coalition of pregnancy centers that she targeted. James filed suit against these pro-life ministries soon after, but because these pro-life ministries went on the legal offensive, her attempt to swiftly silence their speech have faced a major barrier thus far.

She's claimed that these nonprofit organizations spread “dangerous misinformation” about Abortion Pill Reversal. Nothing could be further from the truth. Thomas More Society is defending Heartbeat International and its co-defendants against James’ suit, requesting court intervention against her unconstitutional and targeted attacks on their free speech.

Despite being touted by abortion providers as safe and effective, there is nothing safe or effective about the chemical abortion procedure. The chemical abortion procedure frequently results in adverse side effects for the mother, including severe bleeding, blood clots, septic shock, a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, and death—not to mention the death of the baby. But Abortion Pill Reversal offers a woman the choice to reverse the effects of the abortion pill and to save her baby’s life.

Pregnancy centers across New York are raising the alarm on James’ politically motivated campaign against their work, taking precautions to avoid litigation that could permanently shut them down—but these precautions seriously limit their capacity to serve women. Thomas More Society now also represents Summit Life Outreach Center and The Evergreen Association, two other New York pro-life ministries who are now suing James in federal court to stop her witch-hunt against pro-life speech.

Abortion Pill Reversal saves lives. Thomas More Society is fighting for pregnancy centers in New York and across the nation to protect their lifesaving work and the right of a woman to reverse a chemical abortion she no longer wants, so that she can save her baby.

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Header photo credit: Alec Perkins