California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s ongoing war against crisis pregnancy centers for offering women a scientifically-backed solution to reverse chemical abortions violates those centers’ constitutional rights, a new lawsuit alleges.
In an Oct. 2 complaint for injunctive and declaratory relief, pregnancy center network National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) demanded the Western Division of California’s Central District Court halt Bonta’s attempt to criminalize advocacy of the lifesaving medication known to reverse chemical abortions because it infringes on its 136 California members’ First and Fourteenth Amendment right to “speak freely, to practice their religion, and to due process under the law.”
“The Constitution protects Plaintiffs’ right to speak to the public and women about lawful medical treatments provided by licensed medical professionals,” the plaintiffs, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, state.
Shortly after the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, Bonta issued a consumer alert accusing his state’s pregnancy centers of offering only “limited and potentially misleading” care because they gave women seeking alternatives to ending their babies’ lives.
Bonta’s Department of Justice also launched a government web page encouraging Californians who “believe their right to reproductive healthcare, including accessing abortion, has been violated” to report it to his office.
By September 2023, Bonta escalated to suing five of California’s pregnancy centers over what he deemed were “fraudulent and misleading claims to advertise an unproven and largely experimental procedure called ‘abortion pill reversal.’” His actions were already countered in court once by Culture of Life Family Services in July for “targeting protected speech and activities
