By Thomas A. Glessner, J.D., President, NIFLA
Victory for pregnancy centers’ free speech rights came swiftly in New York! On August 22, 2024, Federal Judge John Sinatra granted NIFLA a preliminary injunction, which prevents Attorney General Letitia James from restricting pregnancy centers’ speech about Abortion Pill Reversal (APR).
The ruling is a huge loss for New York and will reverberate across the country to other states in cases where NIFLA is defending the free speech rights of pregnancy centers.
New York AG Letitia James abusively wielded her governmental authority against pregnancy centers that advertise about APR. She sued 11 NIFLA member pregnancy centers and Heartbeat International, which manages the Abortion Pill Rescue network, accusing them of spreading “false and misleading” information.
NIFLA filed suit against AG Letitia James in federal district court seeking an injunction prohibiting her from harassment and legal warfare against pro-life pregnancy centers. On the day of the hearing, which sought the preliminary junction against AG James, more than 40 representatives from New York pregnancy centers, Anne O’Connor, and I attended. (NIFLA serves and represents over fifty pregnancy centers in New York.) You will be encouraged as you see the rally outside the court!
Judge Sinatra wrote a wonderful decision. NIFLA is pleased that he cited two of NIFLA’s other victories – NIFLA v. Becerra (our Supreme Court victory against the state of California) and NIFLA v. Raoul (our federal court victory against Illinois). We thank Alliance Defending Freedom and Thomas More Society for their staunch defense of our First Amendment rights. With their constitutional litigation expertise, NIFLA is layering precedent-upon-precedent that supports the right of free speech for pro-life pregnancy centers. In rendering his decision, Judge Sinatra said the following:
“The First Amendment protects Plaintiffs’ right to speak freely about APR protocol and, more specifically, to say that it is safe and effective for a pregnant woman to use in consultation with her doctor.”
“Plaintiffs are irreparably harmed each day that their First Amendment freedoms are infringed.”
During the hearing, the Attorney General … “admits that no one has been harmed by Plaintiffs’ speech.”
Pregnancy centers truthfully inform women that it may be possible to halt the lethal effects of chemical abortion through the administration of progesterone, a safe and naturally occurring hormone that can counteract the fatal effects of abortion drugs 64-68% of the time. It is estimated that more than 5,000 unborn babies have been saved this way!