New york Attorney General Leticia James accused nearly 12 pregnancy centers of fraud, deceptive business practices and false advertisements. Bebeto Matthews/Associated Press CNN In the civil lawsuit filed on Monday, James claimed that Heartbeat International and its 11 anti-abortion pregnancy centers conducted fraud, deceptive business practices and false advertisements by promoting "abortion pill reversal". Major medical groups said that this kind of operation has no scientific basis and does not meet clinical standards. James's office said that the "mission of the pregnancy center is to prevent people from having abortions."
Drug abortion approved by the US Food and Drug Administration involves pregnant women taking two oral drugs: mifepristone and then taking misoprostol 48 hours later.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Cabano and Amy Kony Barrett. Justice Barrett and Justice Cabano overturned Roy v. Wade. Why do they have access to birth control pills? According to the lawsuit, the so-called "abortion pill reversal" procedure promoted by these centers involves "taking progesterone repeatedly" for a pregnant woman who has taken mifepristone but has not taken misoprostol.
James said that some centers named in the lawsuit claimed to promote the on-site reversal procedure.
James said in a statement: "Defendants of Heartbeat International and other crisis pregnancy centers publicized' abortion reversal' without any medical and scientific evidence, and spread dangerous false information."
The lawsuit claims that Heartbeat International used a "multimedia marketing scheme", which included promoting the program on its website and providing tips to other centers to promote the program in other communities.
The purpose of the lawsuit is to prevent the pregnancy center from making these claims and demanding compensation for its illegal acts.
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology said that these operations were "unproven and immoral".
A study in 2019 evaluated the effectiveness of using progesterone to stop abortion after mifepristone was stopped due to safety problems. Three patients-one receiving progesterone treatment and two receiving placebo treatment-were taken to hospital due to severe bleeding.
On April 20, 2023, at the Alamo Women's Clinic in Carbondale, Illinois, a container containing mifepristone boxes was prepared for patients. Mifepristone is the first drug for medical abortion. Experts warn that the Supreme Court's drug abortion case may cause a "great change" in the drug approval process of the US Food and Drug Administration. Heartbeat International said that there are more than 2,000 "pregnancy help organizations" in the United States, sometimes called crisis pregnancy centers, which are associated with this organization.
On its website, the organization claims to have an "abortion pill rescue network" to connect patients who take mifepristone with "medical professionals who have been trained to implement abortion pill reversal programs".
"From the moment a woman takes the pill, she has about 72 hours to change her mind and save her child," the organization's website said.
The lawsuit pointed out that Heartbeat International claimed that the network "consists of 1,300 suppliers, clinics and hospitals around the world" and "provided assistance to women in all 50 states and 86 countries."
Heartbeat International said that trying to stop its efforts amounted to censorship.
Heartbeat International told CNN in a statement that the lawsuit "is obviously an attempt to censor the speech, keep women who regret chemical abortion in the dark, and finally force them to complete the abortion they no longer want." The organization claimed that James's behavior was "discriminatory and unfair, and these organizations were singled out just because they provided an alternative to abortion."
After receiving the notice of intention to sue from James' office last month, Heartbeat International and several crisis pregnancy centers filed a lawsuit against the Minister of Justice on April 30, trying to stop this action.
On April 20, 2023, the first drug mifepristone was prepared for patients in the Alamo Women's Clinic in Carbondale, Illinois, USA. Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters articles questioned that doctors of mifepristone face censorship because they have limited experience with this abortion drug. In a press release on Monday, James's office viewed the lawsuit as part of a larger effort to protect reproductive freedom in new york and the whole country. In new york, it is legal to have an abortion within 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Last September, California filed a similar lawsuit against Heartbeat International and the state's crisis pregnancy center. In 2023, a federal judge blocked Colorado's attempt to ban the reversal attempt procedure.
Some states have tried to get doctors to advise patients on surgery. An analysis by the guttmacher Institute in November 2023 found that eight states require that patients seeking abortion be provided with "medically inaccurate information, that is, medical abortion can be stopped after the patient takes the first dose of pills."
Last October, a state district court judge vetoed Kansas legislation requiring reversal counseling for drug abortion patients.
Reproductive health experts say that when drug abortion has become an important choice for people who restrict abortion services, the wrong information surrounding drug abortion is particularly dangerous.
In March this year, the US Supreme Court heard a debate on a case seeking to ban or restrict mifepristone, which may affect the nationwide access to medical abortion. A decision is expected in July.