Catholic Bishops Slam California for Bogus Lawsuit to Stop Abortion Pill Reversal

Two California Catholic bishops on Friday denounced the state’s lawsuit aimed at silencing pro-life groups that help women reverse chemical abortions and save their unborn babie.

The bishops are calling the California’s lawsuit an attack on second chances for mothers who change their minds.

In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece titled “California’s Case Against Second Chances,” Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco and Bishop Michael C. Barber of Oakland wrote that California is suing Christian nonprofits “that help women save their unborn babies.”

The bishops highlighted the case of Elizabeth Barrett, a young college dropout in Southern California who swallowed an abortion pill given by a local clinic and almost immediately regretted it. An online search led her to Heartbeat International, a Christian nonprofit that refers women to licensed doctors for treatment.

“It worked. Ms. Barrett is the mother of a healthy girl,” they wrote.

“The state of California wants to be sure that such things never happen again,” Cordileone and Barber stated.

In the ongoing trial in state court in Oakland, California’s attorney general seeks an injunction and up to $20 million in fines against Heartbeat International and RealOptions.

“Their offense is telling women who regret swallowing the abortion pill that there is a medical treatment that can sometimes save their babies,” they wrote.

Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the lawsuit in 2023 bogusly accusing the groups of false advertising for sharing information about abortion pill reversal, which involves administering progesterone to counteract the first abortion drug, mifepristone. The case is the first of its kind to reach trial in the United States.

Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue Network, which has connected women with healthcare professionals and helped save more than 8,000 babies. RealOptions operates licensed medical clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The state has conceded it has received no complaints from California women regarding the treatment.

More than 200 women whose babies were saved through the network signed an open letter expressing gratitude and opposing efforts to restrict information about the protocol.

“We stand together to affirm that women deserve to know all of their options,” the mothers wrote. “We are grateful for the care we received, and we support the continued availability of Abortion Pill Rescue Network services for women who may one day find themselves in the same position.”

The letter continued: “Regardless of one’s views on abortion, women facing life-altering decisions should never be denied information simply because others disagree with it. Nor should they be criticized, dismissed, or silenced for seeking help. … Restricting access to information does not empower women. It limits their choices.”

Over 90 of the mothers shared photos of their children.

Support has since broadened, with hundreds more healthcare providers and members of the public signing on, including many from California.

In their opinion piece, the bishops described reading depositions from women in the case as “a painful experience.”

“To be a Catholic priest these days, as we both are, is to have heard many similar stories of women who felt pressured to have an abortion they didn’t want,” they wrote. “Everyone should oppose this. But these women especially need support from the religious—those who hold that creation in God’s image means life is endowed with a dignity that can’t be trampled by a government determined to punish those who oppose unquestioned abortion.”

Heartbeat International and RealOptions, represented by the Thomas More Society, argue the case improperly uses consumer protection law to restrict medical information and free speech, insisting no woman should be forced to complete an abortion she no longer wants. Testimony in the trial was set to conclude at the end of July.

Pro-life advocates warn that shutting down information about the reversal protocol would endanger the lives of countless unborn children whose mothers seek a second chance.