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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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A court has rejected New York Attorney General Letitia James' bid to move a lawsuit against an anti-abortion group and almost a dozen pregnancy counseling centers to Manhattan from upstate.
James, a Democrat, sued Heartbeat International and 11 "pro-life pregnancy organizations" in the state Supreme Court in Manhattan for promoting an unproven and unapproved "Abortion Pill Reversal" method in medication terminations. She argued the groups violated laws around making false or misleading advertisements.
She added: "Abortions cannot be reversed. Any treatments that claim to do so are made without scientific evidence and could be unsafe."
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After receiving a notice of intent to sue from James' office last month, Heartbeat International and the pregnancy centers filed a complaint against James on April 30.
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In an order, New York Supreme Court Justice Sam Valleriani combined the complaint and James' lawsuit and fixed Monroe County as the place of trial for the consolidated action.
"We are pleased that the Court in Monroe County agreed that the cases should be consolidated together and heard in Rochester, the 'most fair, appropriate and logistically convenient venue,' and not in Manhattan, which has no connection to the case," Peter Breen, the executive vice president of Thomas More Society, a conservative law firm which is representing the pregnancy organizations, said in a statement.
"We look forward to defending Heartbeat International, CompassCare, and all of New York's pregnancy help organizations targeted by James' unconstitutional witch hunt."
James' office has been contacted for comment via email.
Medication abortion is the most common way to end a pregnancy, and involves taking mifepristone and then another drug, misoprostol, 24 to 48 hours later.
According to James' lawsuit, the organizations promote a treatment called the "Abortion Pill Reversal," which involves administering repeated doses of progesterone to a person who has taken mifepristone but not the follow-up of misoprostol.
The treatment has never been approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration and major medical associations in the U.S. and abroad have warned that it is "unproven and unscientific," the lawsuit said.
"Heartbeat International and the other crisis pregnancy center defendants are spreading dangerous misinformation by advertising 'abortion reversals' without any medical and scientific proof," James said in a statement earlier in May.
Jor-El Godsey, the president of Heartbeat International, said New York is "targeting those who assist a woman in exercising her right to continue her own pregnancy.
"It is unconscionable to see the abortion industry and its paid-for politicians go so far as to insist she complete an abortion she no longer wants."
Update 5/29/24, 6:30 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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