California Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing pro-life nonprofits Heartbeat International and Real Options for $20 million for supporting abortion pill reversal. The trial People of the State of California vs. Heartbeat International & Real Options started June 24, highlighting a vital topic for the prolife movement: freedom of speech.

The lawsuit does not seek to ban abortion pill reversal itself, but the promotion of it. Bonta allegedly claimed the two nonprofits were providing “false or misleading statements” and practicing “unlawful, unfair, and fraudulent” business by offering information to women about abortion pill reversal. He partially based these statements on the claim that “95% of women reported that having the abortion was the right decision for them.”

Even if this were true, in no way would it validate the attempt to prevent these pro-life nonprofits from providing information and aid to the other 5% of women who regret taking steps toward abortion. The Thomas More Society, which is representing both of the nonprofits in this trial, stated that abortion pill reversal is “safe, legal, and has helped thousands of women bring their babies into the world.” The attorney general has received no consumer complaint about abortion pill reversal and no evidence that it is unsafe or ineffective.

The Thomas More Society attorneys are asserting that this lawsuit targets the First Amendment’s protection of free speech, under which Heartbeat International and Real Options have a right to give pregnant mothers information that can save their unborn children. Additionally, they point out that California’s constitutional reproductive privacy protections and false advertising law do “not apply to charitable, noncommercial speech in the first place,” stressing the absurdity of the attorney general’s actions.

Abortion pill reversal uses progesterone, an FDA-approved hormone, which, taken within 72 hours, can counter the effects of mifepristone, contained in the first of two chemical abortion pills. It is estimated to have saved over 8,000 lives.

“California claims to fight for women’s choices,” said Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International. “But seeking the ‘death penalty’ in fines to silence the charity she calls when she changes her mind is not freedom — it’s control. No mom should be denied the chance to save her own baby’s life. Heartbeat will always fight for a mother’s right to know and her right to choose life.”