SAN DIEGO (CN) — A religious health clinic in San Diego County lacks standing to pursue its claims that California Attorney General Rob Bonta is trying to stifle the constitutional rights of abortion pill reversal treatment providers, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.
In 2023, Bonta sued Heartbeat International — a trade group that represents anti-abortion resource organizations — for advertising the abortion pill reversal treatment with statements he claims are false, misleading, and unsupported by scientific evidence.
Culture of Life Family Services Inc, a Catholic health clinic in Escondido, California, that provides free abortion pill reversal — and has some ties to Heartbeat International. The clinic brought a pre-enforcement action against Bonta, claiming his lawsuit against Heartbeat International stifles its own ability to advocate for the abortion reversal treatment, violated their constitutional free speech and free exercise of religion rights, and violated their due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.
“The provision of APR treatment may be affected with constitutional interests, but the crucial point is that Bonta’s enforcement action is not targeting Heartbeat International’s provision of APR. The enforcement action is targeting Heartbeat International’s allegedly false and misleading statements about APR,” U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, a Barack Obama appointee, wrote in his order granting Bonta’s motion to dismiss the case Tuesday.
Curiel ruled that Culture of Life Family Services failed to prove how Bonta’s narrow suit and enforcement action against Heartbeat International affected its ability to advocate for the abortion pill reversal treatment, or how it affected their ability to actually administer the treatment.
Thus, Curiel found that the clinic lacked standing to proceed. He did, however, grant the clinic leave to amend its complaint.
“COLFS alleged that it is engaging in conduct (providing APR treatment) that Bonta is not actually prosecuting. There is no future injury here,” Curiel wrote.
Proponents claim the abortion pill reversal treatment safely allows a woman who might have second thoughts after already having taken the abortion drug mifepristone to reverse its effects by taking a hormone called progesterone in order to give birth successfully.
Bonta says Heartbeat International falsely claims that the treatment can’t cause life threatening side effects.
In a study of 12 pregnant women who took mifepristone described in the order, where half were given progesterone and the other half took a placebo, one woman who took progesterone and two who took the placebo went to the hospital with severe bleeding.
“We are pleased with the Court’s decision to dismiss Culture of Life Family Services lawsuit without prejudice,” a spokesperson for the state Attorney General’s office wrote in an email. “Individuals deserve access to accurate and comprehensive information about reproductive health care services. At the California Department of Justice, we will continue to fight against fraudulent and misleading claims about abortion pill reversal and will protect reproductive freedom for all.”
Attorneys for Culture of Life Family Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.