Women's Right to Abortion Pill REVERSAL Upheld in Colorado amid Drug's Nationwide Spread
"Colorado's pro-abortion lobby pressured the legislature to enact this ridiculous law that prohibits doctors from saving lives by offering abortion pill reversal to the women who changed their minds about their pregnancy, and really what it does is it interferes with a woman's right to choose life and to continue her pregnancy ... [T]he court entered a great decision, saying this law violates her rights as well as Bella Health's rights." -Kevin Theriot, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom
[WashingtonStand.com] In a court ruling being hailed as a victory for women with unplanned pregnancies to be given more options, a Colorado district court last week permanently blocked a state law that prohibited health care providers from administering medication to reverse the effects of the abortion pill. The pro-life victory comes in the shadow of the continued proliferation of abortion drugs being illegally shipped into states with pro-life laws. (Image: iStock-DKart)
The legal dispute in Colorado began in 2023, when nurses Dede Chism and Abby Sinnett of Bella Health and Wellness clinic in the Denver area filed suit against a state law that banned the use of the common female hormone progesterone (which helps sustain pregnancies) to reverse the effects of the abortion pill mifepristone, claiming that it constituted a "deceptive trade practice." But Chism and Sinnett argued that the law infringed on their and their clients' religious freedom. US District Judge Daniel Domenico agreed, placing a temporary block on the law in October 2023.
On August 1, Domenico placed a permanent block on the law. In his ruling, he noted that "while the clinical efficacy of abortion pill reversal remains debatable, nobody has been injured by the treatment and a number of women have successfully given birth after receiving it." As reported by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, studies show that up to 66% of women who change their minds about aborting their baby and take progesterone to counteract the effects of the mifepristone abortion pill successfully continue their pregnancies.
Domenico went on to point out that Colorado allows the "off label" use of progesterone in other contexts and that the state failed to provide compelling evidence that utilizing progesterone to reverse the effects of mifepristone "sets medication abortion reversal apart from other off-label uses of progesterone."
Religious freedom experts like Kevin Theriot, who serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, applauded the ruling, arguing that it expands the choices that women with unplanned pregnancies have as well as protects the rights of health care practitioners.
"Colorado's pro-abortion lobby pressured the legislature to enact this ridiculous law that prohibits doctors from saving lives by offering abortion pill reversal to the women who changed their minds about their pregnancy, and really what it does is it interferes with a woman's right to choose life and to continue her pregnancy," he emphasized during "Washington Watch" Wednesday. "We joined a lawsuit that was filed by our friends over at Becket Fund on behalf of Chelsea Mynyk, who's a nurse practitioner in Castle Rock. [A] complaint was filed against her with the nursing board saying that she violated this new law. And so, we asked the court to intervene. ... [T]he court entered a great decision, saying this law violates her rights as well as Bella Health's rights."
While pro-life advocates welcomed the ruling as well the news that the last two Planned Parenthood facilities in Louisiana are closing (among many others that have already closed), experts like Mary Szoch, who serves as director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, say that there is much work to do to clean up the abortion drug mess left by the Biden administration.
"They used the COVID pandemic as an excuse to remove the in-person dispensing requirement form," she explained during "Washington Watch." "They said requiring a woman to meet with a health care professional in person increased her risk of obtaining COVID, and therefore, that requirement had to be removed for the entire pandemic. But following that, they removed the ... in-person dispensing requirement for this drug. And after they did that, the Biden administration's Department of Justice issued an opinion that the Comstock Act—which clearly states that an abortion inducing drug cannot be sent through the mail—they issued an opinion that said that they would enforce that as narrowly as possible, meaning basically, not at all."
Szoch went on to observe that the issue of pro-abortion states illegally mailing drugs into pro-life states is likely to become a very prominent issue.
"This is something that we will likely see at some point reach its way to the Supreme Court," she predicted. "There's a man in Texas who has filed a lawsuit against a California doctor for mailing the abortion drug mifepristone to his girlfriend in Texas. We've seen cases in Louisiana where the abortion drug has been sent by an abortionist from New York to Louisiana, resulting in a woman needing to go to the emergency room. That same abortionist sent that drug to a woman in Texas, and it again resulted in that woman needing emergency care. This drug is dangerous, and it can't be sent through the mail."
Szoch concluded by urging the Trump administration to take action by enforcing the law via the Comstock Act. "[T]he Department of Justice needs to re-examine the opinion that the Biden administration issued on Comstock. The Trump administration has a wonderful reputation of being in favor of the rule of law. This is a law that is clearly stated. It is on the books, and it should be enforced." Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here
Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.
