On May 6, 2024, New York Attorney General (AG) Letitia James sued 11 crisis pregnancy centers and Heartbeat International. She asked a state court to require the defendants to stop speaking about Abortion Pill Reversal (APR). Despite evidence supporting APR therapy, she alleges those centers are spreading “false and misleading” that violates New York business fraud laws.
AG James is asking the court to do the following:
- Declare the defendants violated NY law,
- Permanently enjoin the defendants from speaking about APR,
- Require them to remove any websites, social media accounts, and other APR promotional material,
- Grant civil penalties of $5,000 per violation of NY law,
- Award the State $2,000.00 against each Defendant,
- Order defendants to pay the State’s costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.
Counter Lawsuit
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys state that Attorney General James is discriminating against these pregnancy centers because of their beliefs. They state she is denying women the freedom to continue their pregnancies by censoring those who promote it.
For these reasons, ADF attorneys filed a counter lawsuit on May 24, 2024. They filed on behalf of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA)1, Gianna’s House, and Options Care Center. ADF states that the AG is abusing her authority by censoring the pregnancy centers because they tell women about the potential of using progesterone for abortion pill reversal.
Preliminary Injunction and Appeal
A federal district court ruled on August 22, 2024, awarding a preliminary injunction that enables NIFLA, Gianna’s House, and Options Care Center in New York to tell women about the life-saving potential of using progesterone for abortion pill reversal while their lawsuit continues.
In response, AG James filed an appeal to the preliminary injunction. On Monday, March 17, 2025, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys filed their response brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. Their filing was in response to New York AG Letitia James’ appeals case against pregnancy centers’ freedom of speech. Both lawsuits continue.
Learn more
Read the ADF press release here. Read the original NY AG lawsuit here. Access the ADF resources page for this topic here.
- NIFLA is a nonprofit organization providing legal resources, training, and support to its members of pregnancy center. It represents 1,700 pregnancy care centers in the United States and has 51 members in the State of New York, including Gianna’s House and Options Care Center. ↩︎