A California court heard a motion for summary judgment April 17 from Heartbeat International, a pro-life group that asked the court to allow it to provide abortion pill reversal (APR) services without state restrictions in light of the fact that the state has failed to show evidence of harm.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Heartbeat International and another pro-life group in 2023, alleging that APR has not been shown to be effective or safe and potentially carries health risks, according to court documents. The suit sought to restrict the pro-life organizations’ ability to advertise and share information about APR, claiming the service is harmful to the people of California.
According to a press release from legal nonprofit Thomas More Society, which represents Heartbeat International, years of litigation have not produced evidence to support the state’s claims. TMS says that the state “has failed to produce a single consumer complaint, any evidence of harm, or a sufficient legal basis to restrict constitutionally protected speech.”
The state also commissioned a study on APR, which claimed it caused hemorrhaging. However, Dr. Mitchell Creinin, who conducted the study, reportedly contradicted its findings in his testimony, stating no hemorrhaging occurred in the APR treatment group.
For its part, Heartbeat International has produced several testimonies from mothers whose children were saved by APR, as well as medical research on the effectiveness of APR. Studies claim that APR has an effectiveness rate as high as 68%.
TMS further says that Bonta has “explicitly admitted he cannot satisfy strict scrutiny, the legal standard required when government restricts core constitutional speech.”
If the court made a decision following the summary judgment hearing, it has not yet been made public. According to the release, Danielle White, general counsel at Heartbeat International, stated prior to the hearing that the group was “confident” that the case would be recognized as “a sustained effort to weaponize legal authority and suppress a message the plaintiff finds objectionable.”