California AG dismisses children of 200+ moms who used 'abortion pill reversal'

(Pregnancy Help News) Just as the first lawsuit over Abortion Pill Reversal to reach trial in the U.S. commences more than 200 women who sought assistance through the Abortion Pill Rescue Network have signed an open letter conveying gratitude for the care, information, and the hope they received from the Network.

More than 40 of the 200-plus women who chose to try and reverse their chemical abortion and signed the letter are from California – where the state attorney general is suing Heartbeat International and a network of pregnancy help medical clinics for sharing information about Abortion Pill Reversal.

The open letter comes as Heartbeat at RealOptions Obria Medical Clinics begin to stand trial in California on the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court Dobbs ruling returning the ability to regulate abortion to individual U.S. states.

Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Heartbeat, the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the U.S. and globally, and Real Options in September 2023 to block both organizations from “advertising Abortion Pill Reversal as safe and effective.” Heartbeat manages the Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN), a network of nearly 1,500 healthcare professionals, pregnancy centers and hospitals that administer the APR protocol.

In court documents Bonta’s legal team objects to the defendants’ inclusion of photos of babies born after the APR protocol in case materials as “irrelevant.”

“Some of us gave birth to children we cherish today,” the women say in the open letter. “Others did not experience the outcome they hoped for. Yet regardless of the outcome, we are thankful that we were informed of an option and allowed to decide for ourselves.”

They also said that no one at the Abortion Pill Rescue Network pressured or made decisions for them, rather, “the healthcare professionals who spoke with us, whether doctor, nurse, or staff, treated us with compassion and respect.”

“They provided information about a medical protocol that might help preserve our pregnancies,” the women said. “We were free to accept or decline that care. We made our own choices.”

“These precious women and their babies are not political talking points,” said Danielle White, general counsel for Heartbeat International. “They are the women whose voices and hopeful, life-altering stories have been largely absent from the public conversation.”

Heartbeat International has included pictures of many of the letter signatories’ children on its webpage containing the open letter.

“Heartbeat is honored to stand alongside these courageous women as they share their experiences publicly,” Andrea Trudden, Heartbeat International vice president of Communications and Marketing, said. “Each signature, story, and baby picture we receive reminds us that patients deserve truthful information, compassionate care, and the freedom to make informed medical decisions without government censorship.”

Heartbeat International and Real Options, represented by legal non-profit Thomas More Society, contend that no woman should be forced to complete an abortion she no longer wants, and that APR is a safe and effective option, supported by scientific evidence and the lived experiences of women who successfully reversed their chemical abortions.

The abortion pill, mifepristone, or chemical abortion, constitutes the majority of all abortions in the U.S.

The chemical abortion process has two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone blocks progesterone in the pregnant woman’s system, starving the baby in the womb of necessary nutrients. Misoprostol, taken a day or so later, causes the woman to go into labor and deliver her deceased child.

If a pregnant woman takes mifepristone and has regret it may be possible to save her baby with Abortion Pill Reversal.

 Abortion Pill Reversal involves administering bioidentical progesterone to counter the effects of mifepristone. The protocol is an updated application of a treatment used for decades to prevent miscarriage.

A 2018 peer-reviewed study had positive results with APR, including 64%-68% of the pregnancies saved through APR, no increase in birth defects, and lower preterm delivery rate than the general population.

Results are best within 24 hours, but successful reversals have taken place 72 hours after the mifepristone was taken.

Approximately 200 women call the APRN each month and start Abortion Pill Reversal. Statistics show that more than 8,000 lives have been saved through APR and counting. Heartbeat International shares many of the women’s stories on its website and in related news reports.

Even so, the abortion industry, its supporters, and some elected officials oppose the protocol. Heartbeat and pregnancy help organizations are facing litigation in both California and New York over sharing information with women about APR.

People v. Heartbeat International, et al. is being adjudicated in Superior Court of California in Alameda County.

The trial will include testimony from mothers who sought help through the APRN to reverse an abortion they no longer wanted and are today raising their healthy children.

Heartbeat and Real Options are asking the court to find that the First Amendment protects their speech and women’s rights to access information about all available options following a chemical abortion.

White denounced the State of California’s effort to deny these mothers’ stories and said it was instructive that the state has not produced any claims of women harmed from information about APR.

“It’s appalling that California’s lawyers seek to paint hope as harm, to silence their stories and dismiss as mere delusion their tangible gift of motherhood after APR,” she said. “It is also revealing that California cannot produce a single woman who claims to have been harmed by information about the APR protocol, even as multiple happy mothers prepare to take the stand to testify to how APR helped them to reverse their in-progress abortions.” 

The open letter is available HERE.

View a slideshow of APR babies and children HERE.

Heartbeat International's case page for The People of the State of California v. Heartbeat International & RealOptions is available HERE.

The Thomas More Society case page is available HERE.