Court lets Catholic clinic offer abortion pill reversals

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Domenico on Friday ruled to limit Colorado’s enforcement of a law prohibiting the use of medication to reverse a chemical abortion. State lawmakers in 2023 passed a law to discipline providers who engaged in the practice and claimed that it was a deceptive trade practice. In his Friday ruling, Domenico said the law violated the religious rights of nurses Dede Chism and Abby Sinnett, who operate the Bella Health and Wellness clinic in Denver. The mother-daughter pair offers abortion pill reversals. In 2023, they sued the state over the law. Domenico found that no one had been hurt by the treatment and that the state had failed to show it had a strong reason to regulate the practice.

How did the two respond to the ruling? Chism and Sinnett said they were overjoyed by the ruling that recognized their right to support women who want to protect their unborn children, according to the law firm Becket, which represented the clinic. Domenico’s injunction only applies to the plaintiffs in the case and does not apply to other clinics.

What is involved in abortion pill reversal? Pro-life doctors offer the treatment when a pregnant woman decides not to kill her unborn baby after taking only the first of the two pills used to perform a chemical abortion. Mifepristone prevents the hormone progesterone from being absorbed by the womb. Physicians trying to reverse the effects of mifepristone can prescribe a large dose of progesterone. The procedure has been effective at saving babies within 72 hours of a woman taking mifepristone, according to the Abortion Pill Rescue Network, though the process has not been approved by the FDA. The pro-abortion American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that the reversals are not backed by science. 

Dig deeper: Listen to Leah Savas’ report about a Colorado woman who received the reversal regimen and gave birth to a healthy daughter.