A group of Christian pro-life pregnancy resource centers and organizations have filed a lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James after she threatened to sue them over allegations of false advertising.
The coalition, represented by the Thomas More Society, filed the lawsuit against James on Tuesday, accusing her of violating the pro-life groups’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights as well as the New York state constitution. The suit comes after James sent a letter on April 22 to a dozen pro-life ministries accusing them of “repeated and persistent misleading statements and omissions” related to their support of the Abortion Pill Reversal protocol.
“James’ salvos against Plaintiff’s are the latest development in her politically motivated campaign against pregnancy organizations in general,” the lawsuit from the pregnancy organization says. “This time, James targets Plaintiff’s protected speech and activities engaged in for the sole benefit of pregnant women who have ingested — whether voluntarily or via trick or force — mifepristone, the first pill of the two-pill chemical abortion regimen, but wish to continue their pregnancies.”
The Abortion Pill Reversal protocol is a method backed by pro-life organizations where a woman can take a prescribed dose of bioidentical progesterone to potentially reverse the effects of mifepristone if she changes her mind at the last minute about going through with the abortion.
“Defendant James has no business butting into the intimate medical decision of an expectant mother, in consultation with the medical professional of her choice, to carry her pregnancy to term and save her unborn baby from the disastrous effects of mifepristone while there is still time to undo the effects of that powerful chemical,” the lawsuit adds.
One of the plaintiffs in the case, Heartbeat International, is an organization that helps facilitate access to the Abortion Pill Reversal protocol.
“New York State laws protect abortionists and abortion on demand up until birth,” said Jor-El Godsey, the president of Heartbeat International. “Now they are targeting those who assist a woman in exercising her right to continue her own pregnancy. It is unconscionable to see the abortion industry and its paid-for politicians go so far as to insist she complete an abortion she no longer wants.”
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The organizations are demanding that the court block James from initiating a lawsuit against them and that it declares that James’s notice to the pro-life group violated their rights. The case was filed in the Supreme Court of New York in Monroe County.
“This is a political witch-hunt against small nonprofits that have selflessly served New York’s pregnant women and their children for over 50 years,” said Thomas More Society Executive Vice President Peter Breen. “Letitia James should be heralding these charities, not launching outrageously false claims against them under laws that don’t apply to their noncommercial speech.”
Pregnancy centers around the country have come under fire from Democrat lawmakers and pro-abortion activists after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.