08/27/2024
Super great news!
On August 22, 2024, Federal Judge John Sinatra granted NIFLA a preliminary injunction, which prevents Attorney General Letitia James from restricting pregnancy centers' speech about Abortion Pill Reversal (APR).
The ruling is a huge loss for New York and will reverberate across the country to other states in cases where NIFLA is defending the free speech rights of pregnancy centers.
New York AG Letitia James abusively wielded her governmental authority against pregnancy centers that advertise about APR. She sued 11 NIFLA member pregnancy centers and Heartbeat International, which manages the Abortion Pill Rescue network, accusing them of spreading “false and misleading” information.
Judge Sinatra wrote a wonderful decision. NIFLA is pleased that he cited two of NIFLA's other victories - NIFLA v. Becerra (our Supreme Court victory against the state of California) and NIFLA v. Raoul (our federal court victory against Illinois). We thank Alliance Defending Freedom and Thomas More Society for their staunch defense of our First Amendment rights. With their constitutional litigation expertise, NIFLA is layering precedent-upon-precedent that supports the right of free speech for pro-life pregnancy centers. In rendering his decision, Judge Sinatra said the following:
"The First Amendment protects Plaintiffs' right to speak freely about APR protocol and, more specifically, to say that it is safe and effective for a pregnant woman to use in consultation with her doctor.”
“Plaintiffs are irreparably harmed each day that their First Amendment freedoms are infringed.”
During the hearing, the Attorney General … "admits that no one has been harmed by Plaintiffs' speech."
Pregnancy centers truthfully inform women that it may be possible to halt the lethal effects of chemical abortion through the administration of progesterone, a safe and naturally occurring hormone that can counteract the fatal effects of abortion drugs 64-68% of the time. It is estimated that more than 5,000 unborn babies have been saved this way!
NIFLA is also fighting with our friends at Heartbeat International, Alliance Defending Freedom, and Thomas Moore Society to stop California Attorney General Rob Bonta in near identical cases of harassment. Pregnancy Care Clinic is playing a key role in those lawsuits, where our ability to add abortion pill reversal to our services is being squelched. That is to say, our first amendment guarantee to free speech is threatened by California Attorney General Rob Bonta's harassment of Pregnancy Centers offering this life saving treatment.
Judge Sinatra's ruling should send a clear message to California's Attorney General. No woman should be forced to complete an abortion she no longer wants. California Attorney General Rob Bonta is taking choice away from women!