Catherine Rusoff
Some anti-abortion groups are selling a procedure called “abortion pill reversal” that they claim can help women stop medical abortions. That claim is now being challenged by state authorities who claim the groups are veering into false advertising and fraud.
Heartbeat International, an anti-abortion rights group, and 11 other anti-abortion organizations were processed Monday by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who alleged that the organizations are making “false and misleading statements to advertise an unproven treatment.” The complaint follows a similar process filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta in September.
Heartbeat countersued, asking the courts to dismiss the California suit, saying it infringed on its First Amendment rights. It also states that abortion pill reversal is safe and effective.
The litigation comes at a time when the so-called abortion pill – in fact, a combination of two medications — is responsible for almost two-thirds of abortions in the US, according to to the Guttmacher Institute, which researches reproductive rights. More women are turning to medical abortion rather than surgery, in part because it allows them to seek private care and manage the process at home.
However, access to abortion has faced increasing restrictions across much of the U.S. following the 2022 Supreme Court ruling. overturning Roe v.. The high court is also currently considering a case which could end up reducing the use of the abortion pill in the US
In targeting anti-abortion groups, New York and California are turning to state laws that prohibit deceptive business practices as well as false advertising – in fact, both are asking the courts to decide whether clinics’ advertisements for abortion-reversal treatment abortion pill amounts to fraud.
New York and California also want courts to stop Heartbeat and affiliated anti-abortion clinics from continuing to promote abortion pill reversal because they are allegedly misleading consumers.
For its part, Heartbeat International told CBS MoneyWatch that James’ lawsuit is a “clear attempt to censor speech.”
“By singling out these organizations solely because they offer an alternative to abortion, it is not only violating their rights, but also denying women access to care and support as they try to continue their pregnancy,” Heartbeat said in an email.
What is “abortion pill reversal”?
Medication abortion involves taking two pills: mifepristone, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000, and misoprostol. To begin the process, the woman first takes mifepristone, which stops the pregnancy from growing. (The Supreme Court case involving the abortion pill focuses on mifepristone.)
About 24 to 48 hours later, the woman takes misoprostol, which causes the uterus to contract and abort the fetus.
As this process has become the most common abortion treatment, anti-abortion clinics have started to promote a technique that they claim can “reverse” the effect of the abortion pill. But that claim is misleading because it implies that the treatment can undo a miscarriage, James claims.
Anti-abortion clinics “imply the impossible – that fetal tissue that has been expelled from the uterus due to a complete abortion can be returned to the uterus. You can’t,” the New York lawsuit alleges.
In reality, the treatment aims to stop the medical abortion process midway by giving the woman a high dose of the hormone progesterone after she takes the first pill but before taking the second – at this point, the abortion has not yet occurred.
Heartbeat International told CBS MoneyWatch that the treatment “saved” 5,000 babies from women who tried to stop medical abortions. He added that the cost of treatment varies depending on the dose of progesterone used in the process. The group also promised to “continue to offer support to those who seek it.”
Is abortion pill reversal safe?
Heart beats website regarding the reversal of the abortion pill, he states that the process is effective and says that it “increases the chances” of the pregnancy continuing. The website also states that the treatment can save 64% to 68% of pregnancies, although it only cites “initial studies” for the statistics, without identifying the specific research.
According to James’ lawsuit, however, “no competent and reliable scientific evidence exists to substantiate these alleged success rates.” As a result, the complaint alleges that such claims may mislead consumers about the effectiveness of the treatment.
The lawsuit also claims that Heartbeat and other anti-abortion clinics describe the process as “proven safe and essentially risk-free,” even though the treatment has not actually been tested in any credible medical studies.
In response to CBS MoneyWatch, Heartbeat said the treatment “represents a safe and effective option for women who change their mind immediately after taking the abortion pill, mifepristone.” The group noted that progesterone, the hormone used in the treatment, is an FDA-approved medication that has been used “for decades to prevent miscarriage and premature birth.”
Heartbeat added that its claims are supported “both by scientific evidence and the lived experience of women who today hold their babies in their arms after initiating a chemical abortion and experiencing a successful reversal.”
However, medical experts agree that abortion pill reversal has not been proven safe, as the only randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial for the treatment had to be stopped after some women experienced “potentially fatal complications, like hemorrhage.” said Dr. Stacy Sun, an obstetrician and gynecologist and member of Physicians for Reproductive Health, a group of doctors who advocate for reproductive health.
“This dangerous, non-evidence-based regime is used to attack people who make thoughtful decisions about their bodies, families and futures,” Dr. Sun told CBS MoneyWatch. “It’s infantilizing and manipulative.”
In its rebuttal, Heartbeat said its claims that the treatment was effective in 64% to 68% of pregnancies are based on a 2018 study by Dr. George Delgado, a family doctor who created the pill reversal treatment abortive. But James’ lawsuit notes that the study was based on tracking women who called the abortion pill reversal hotline and was not a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.
Meanwhile, some states—particularly those that restricted access to abortion after Roe v. Wade was overruled — “in effect requiring that misinformation about medication abortion” be provided to women seeking abortions, the Guttmacher Institute said in an email.
For example, Nebraska requires that these patients be informed: “If you change your mind and want to continue the pregnancy after taking mifepristone, it may not be too late.” They are then directed to Heartbeat’s abortion pill reversal hotline.
“Note that this is misinformation about medication abortion in general, and some of these states publish this in their materials” even though it is not required by statutes or regulations, the Guttmacher Institute said.
Heartbeat in February filed a lawsuit seeking to dismiss the California case, arguing that the organization is protected by the First Amendment in providing information about abortion pill reversal. The group’s complaint also argues that “it is not appropriate to litigate the merits of scientific studies in the judicial system”.
Heartbeat, which does not operate any clinics but provides support to about 3,000 anti-abortion rights centers, said it “does not receive kickbacks or other payments for referring a woman to a doctor” in the network of clinics that offer abortion pill reversals, from according to your suit.
“With this process, [Attorney General] James is protecting Big Abortion in New York while denying women in his state the right to continue their own pregnancies,” said Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International, in the statement sent to CBS MoneyWatch.
