A federal judge this week issued New York Attorney General Letitia James a preliminary injunction that bars her from taking action against pregnancy clinics that promote abortion pill reversal on the grounds it would restrict protected free speech.
The ruling came amid a lawsuit by the Thomas More Society on behalf of two pro-life ministries, Summit Life Outreach Center and the Evergreen Association. The lawsuit argues that James has targeted pregnancy centers with threats of prosecution for sharing information about abortion pill reversal, which she has said is unproven.
“These small nonprofits, which exist to compassionately serve women and offer them alternatives to abortion, deserve to have their speech elevated—not chilled,” Peter Breen, Thomas More Society’s executive vice president and head of litigation, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “This court order makes clear Ms. James cannot censor pro-life speech purely because she dislikes it.”
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New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference National Town Hall. James has sued several pro-life pregnancy centers over their promotion of abortion pill reversal. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Congressional Black Caucus Foundation)
Fox News Digital has reached out to James’ office.
In his order, Judge John Sinatra Jr., a Trump appointee, wrote that James is barred from preventing the clinics from promoting abortion pill reversal on their websites and social media platforms.
Medicinal abortion involves taking mifepristone and following it with treatment of misoprostol days later, but pregnancy clinics have advised that those who change their minds and want to continue the pregnancy can do so by abandoning the second drug and instead taking doses of progesterone.
In May, James filed lawsuits against 11 pregnancy centers that promoted the abortion pill reversal procedure, accusing them of engaging in fraud, deceptive business practices and false advertising. She claimed the groups were “spreading dangerous misinformation by advertising … without any medical and scientific proof.”
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Mifepristone and Misoprostol pills are pictured Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018, in Skokie, Illinois. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Despite not being named in James’ lawsuit, Summit Life Outreach Center and the Evergreen Association said her targeting of other pregnancy centers had put them at risk.
Barbara Bidak, the executive director of Summit Life Outreach Center, said her staff works “tirelessly to provide life-affirming options for women in need.”
“We’re incredibly pleased a federal judge has now made clear that Attorney General Letitia James’ legal attacks on our state’s pro-life ministries unconstitutionally chills our First Amendment right to share the lifesaving message of Abortion Pill Reversal—which gives pregnant moms in the middle of a chemical abortion a second chance to choose life.”
Breen said the pro-life ministries have a constitutional right to share information about abortion pill reversal, and that “their message is saving thousands of lives.”
The Thomas More Society is representing the 11 clinics in a separate case. Last month, a federal judge in that case ruled the clinics were protected by the First Amendment.
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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“Based on a careful application of the preliminary injunction factors, especially as they relate to Plaintiffs’ First Amendment Free Speech claim, motion for a preliminary injunction is granted,” the judge wrote.
Fox News Digital’s Peter Aitken contributed to this report.
