Attorneys for the Thomas More Society, including Senior Counsel Christopher A. Ferrara, are fighting a lawsuit by militantly pro-abortion New York Attorney General Letitia James against Ohio-based Heartbeat International and numerous New York-based pregnancy help centers (PHCs) who advocate for the so-called abortion pill reversal protocol (APR) which employs supplemental progesterone to counteract the effects of mifepristone, the first pill in the deadly two-pill chemical abortion regimen. James alleges, falsely, that promotion of APR constitutes a “deceptive” trade practice even though the PHCs’ statements promoting APR are true and the PHCs, which provide free advice and services to expectant mothers, are not engaged in commercial activity.
James issued five-day notices of “Intention to Sue” the PHCs to which the PHCs responded by suing her first in the Supreme Court of Monroe County located in Rochester, in the same region where many of the PHCs are located. James failed in her attempt to have the case transferred to Manhattan. Instead, her later-filed suit against the PHCs Manhattan was transferred to Monroe County to be heard together with the PHCs suit against her.
“James fought desperately to drag all the pro-life pregnancy centers she sued, based on nothing, into a Manhattan courtroom,” said Ferrara, “but she failed in her attempt to force the parties into her favorite venue after the judge in Monroe County decided that the case belonged there. After having lost on the issue of venue in Rochester, James was literally attempting to have a judge in Manhattan, which had no connection whatsoever to the case, overrule the judge in Rochester—a violation of all norms of judicial practice.”
“This is a case about free speech and nothing else,” Ferrara continued. “James does not even suggest that APR itself must be stopped. She can’t, because APR’s use of the natural, pregnancy-protecting hormone progesterone has harmed no one but rather has been successful in reversing the effects of the abortion pill (mifepristone) in many cases, allowing women who change their minds about chemical abortion and save their children in the womb. James is basically insisting that women may not be told of this option, and that once they begin the process of chemically killing their unborn children, they must take the second death pill to insure the unborn child miscarries and the dead child is expelled from the womb! This is monstrous. Meanwhile, James has no concern about the truly false advertising of abortion mills, which promote chemical abortion—shamefully packaged as ‘medication abortion’—as ‘safe and effective’ despite the potential for severe and even deadly side effects, including massive bleeding.”
TMS attorneys have filed an anti-SLAPP motion (anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) against James which seeks dismissal of her lawsuit on grounds that she has sued to prevent PHCs from in engaging in free speech on the issue of abortion. “We hope our anti-SLAPP motion will bring a quick end to James’s frivolous and harassing lawfare” said Ferrara. Remnant readers are asked to pray for the successful outcome of this major pro-life litigation.
To support this legal action or to find further information, please visit thomasmoresociety.org.
