New York sues anti-abortion groups for promoting false treatments to reverse medication abortions

NEW YORK -- New York is suing an anti-abortion group and almost a dozen pregnancy counseling centers for promoting an unproven method to reverse medication abortions, Attorney General Letitia James announced Monday.

James, a Democrat, sued Heartbeat International and 11 pregnancy centers in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, arguing the groups violated laws around making false or misleading advertisements.

The case follows a similar lawsuit in California and other legal action in states such as Colorado regarding unsubstantiated treatments to reverse medication abortions.

Medication abortion is the most common way to end a pregnancy. The process involves taking two different drugs — mifepristone and misoprostol — days apart.

According to the New York lawsuit, the organizations promote a protocol called the “Abortion Pill Reversal," in which a person who has taken mifepristone is advised not to take the follow-up of misoprostol and instead is given repeated doses of the hormone progesterone.

The so-called “Abortion Pill Reversal" treatment has not been approved by federal regulators and major medical associations have warned that the protocol is unproven and unscientific, the lawsuit said.

“Abortions cannot be reversed. Any treatments that claim to do so are made without scientific evidence and could be unsafe,” James said in a statement.

Heartbeat International, in a statement, said the lawsuit is “a clear attempt to censor speech."