HUDSON VALLEY, NY — New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued anti-abortion group Heartbeat International, Inc. and 11 anti-abortion centers including one in the Hudson Valley, alleging they are using false and misleading statements to advertise an unproven treatment they call “Abortion Pill Reversal.”
The APR treatment involves administering repeated doses of progesterone, a hormone bodies naturally produce during pregnancy, to a pregnant person who has taken the first of the two oral medications used in medication abortion.
The local center cited in the lawsuit is listed as the Crisis Pregnancy Center, Inc. d/b/a Care Net Pregnancy Center of the Hudson Valley in Poughkeepsie.
“Heartbeat International and the other crisis pregnancy center defendants are spreading dangerous misinformation by advertising ‘abortion reversals’ without any medical and scientific proof,” James said in an announcement Monday. “Abortions cannot be reversed. Any treatments that claim to do so are made without scientific evidence and could be unsafe.”
The only clinical trial conducted to evaluate APR had to be halted due to concerns about patient safety, the AG’s office said.
In an article about “reversal” treatment on its website, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said:
Prosecutors said Heartbeat and the 11 crisis pregnancy centers named in the lawsuit “aggressively advertise APR on their websites, social media, and other promotional materials using false and misleading claims.” that lead patients to think that APR is a proven and safe treatment with minimal risks, despite the lack of reliable scientific evidence.”
A national public interest law firm, the Thomas More Society, is defending the centers. Its Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation Peter Breen issued a statement:
According to their websites, some of the crisis pregnancy centers appear to offer or facilitate APR treatment on-site at their offices, while others direct people to obtain APR treatment through Heartbeat’s Abortion Pill Rescue Network, prosecutors said.
The Care Net Pregnancy Center in Poughkeepsie has a webpage about APR on which it refers people to a hotline run by the Abortion Pill Rescue Network.
James alleged that making false and misleading claims about APR to convince pregnant people to get the treatment constitutes fraud, deceptive business practices, and false advertising under New York law.
She is holding them to the same standard as any other entity advertising health care services directly to consumers in the state, the AG’s Office said. She is also seeking the payment of civil penalties for violations of the law.
Medication abortion involves taking two oral medications—first, mifepristone followed by misoprostol 24-48 hours later.
The APR treatment involves administering repeated doses of progesterone, a hormone bodies naturally produce during pregnancy, to a pregnant person who has taken mifepristone but has not yet taken misoprostol.
Medical experts, including ACOG, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institute of Health agree that medication abortion is safe and effective.
Medication abortion has grown in popularity as abortion foes continue to ramp up efforts to block access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the AG’s office said. They cited data from the Guttmacher Institute, a sexual and reproductive health research and policy organization, that medication abortion accounted for 63 percent of all U.S. abortions in 2023, an increase from 53 percent in 2020.
“Amid the increase in attacks on reproductive health care nationwide, we must protect pregnant people’s right to make safe, well-informed decisions about their health,” James said. “Your reproductive health care decisions are yours and yours alone, and my office will always protect New Yorkers from those who push a scientifically unproven and potentially life-threatening intervention.”
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