Bipartisan coalition rallies to support free speech in New York

NEW YORK – Pregnancy centers, along with other pro-life advocates, submitted friend-of-the-court briefs Monday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. James, supporting two nonprofit pregnancy centers and a nonprofit network of affiliated centers represented by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys.

Over the past year, New York Attorney General Letitia James has taken action against 11 faith-based, life-affirming pregnancy centers in state court in an effort to silence their speech about the use of progesterone therapy to counteract the effects of the abortion drug mifepristone, a treatment that is commonly known as “abortion pill reversal.” Her enforcement action alleges—despite contrary evidence—that those centers are spreading “false and misleading” information in violation of state business fraud laws.

“Many women regret their abortions, and some change their minds after taking the first abortion drug and want to try to save their unborn babies lives,” said ADF Senior Counsel Caroline Lindsay. “Women in New York have been able to do just that because they had access to information about safe and effective progesterone therapy through their local pregnancy centers—information the attorney general has been trying to censor. These pro-life advocates are sending a message to Attorney General James that she can’t deny women the opportunity to hear about this potentially life-saving option.”

In August 2024, the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, Gianna’s House, and Options Care Center—who had ceased advocating for progesterone therapy to avoid prosecution—sued in federal court to protect their First Amendment rights to tell women about the life-saving potential of progesterone therapy. A federal district court ruled in their favor, halting the attorney general from violating their freedom of speech while the case proceeded. James then appealed to the 2nd Circuit.

Progesterone is a safe and naturally occurring hormone that can be used to counteract the life-ending effects of mifepristone when taken in time. The body naturally produces progesterone to sustain pregnancy, and medical professionals have safely and effectively used it for decades to prevent miscarriage and preterm labor.

Multiple studies support the information the centers wish to provide women. Statistics show that the abortion pill reversal process, which includes progesterone therapy, has likely saved over 6,000 unborn lives, and research demonstrates a success rate of up to 64-68%. Yet the attorney general has sought to censor speech about this life-saving treatment by targeting pregnancy centers based on the content and viewpoint of their speech. ADF attorneys explain that such actions violate the centers’ freedom of speech.

“The Defendant should not be allowed to wield the immense power at her disposal as Attorney General to further her own agenda, whether personal, ideological, or political, especially when lives and the free flow of information are at stake,” argued Life Legal Defense Foundation and Democrats for Life of America in their brief. “Defendant may wish to ignore those lives, but she cannot, consistent with the U.S. Constitution, muzzle those who recognize and try to save them.”

“The women who opt for APR do so in the well-founded hope, supported by numerous studies, that chemical abortion can be prevented by supplemental progesterone before the second pill is taken and their children in utero are thus saved from imminent death,” added pro-life pregnancy centers Summit Life Center and The Evergreen Association in their brief. “Yet James claims that mere advocacy of what physicians themselves not only advocate but lawfully prescribe is somehow ‘consumer fraud’ when merely advocated by the NIFLA Plaintiffs. That untenable claim alone compels affirmance of the NIFLA Injunction barring James’ lawfare on this issue.”

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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