California AG sues crisis pregnancy centers, anti-abortion group, alleging false advertising

California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Thursday announced that his office is suing a national anti-abortion group and a chain of five Bay Area crisis pregnancy centers, alleging false advertising and unfair business practices.

The lawsuit targets the group Heartbeat International, as well as the RealOptions Obria Medical Clinics, which has locations in San Jose, Oakland, Redwood City and Union City.

In a news conference announcing the lawsuit, Bonta said that these organizations are falsely advertising that it is possible to safely and effectively reverse a medication abortion.

Medication abortions are typically achieved using a combination of two drugs — mifepristone and misoprostol — taken within 24 to 48 hours from one another in order to terminate a pregnancy.

Advocates for alleged medication abortion reversals argue that taking high dosages of the hormone progesterone within 72 hours of taking mifepristone will cancel the affects of the abortion drug.

Websites for both Heartbeat International and RealOptions advertise medication abortion reversal services.

“This is an unproven and potentially risky protocol,” Bonta said.

The attorney general said that there is no scientific basis for medication abortion reversals, and that the one credible study on the subject had to be halted after three out of 12 participants experienced severe bleeding and had to be rushed to the emergency room.

“Their tactics are aimed at creating the false impression that abortion pill reversal is effective and safe during the 72-hour window and beyond,” he said.

Both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association have issued statements that medication abortion reversals are not supported by science.

The lawsuit, filed in Alameda Superior Court, seeks to block the organizations from any further advertising of that service.

All five RealOptions clinics are licensed as community clinics by the California Department of Public Health. None of the facilities have had any CDPH enforcement actions within the last three years, according to a review of the state licensing database.

The announcement is the latest step by the state of California to push back against abortion misinformation; earlier this year, California lawmakers considered a bill that would use the state’s false advertising law to prohibit crisis pregnancy centers from advertising that they provide, or are capable of providing, abortion-related services. That bill failed to advance.

Reached for comment, a spokesperson for Heartbeat International said that the organization had not yet been served the lawsuit by the attorney general.

“Through our Abortion Pill Rescue Network hotline, we know that some women almost immediately regret their chemical abortion choice. These women deserve the right to try and save their pregnancies. No woman should ever be forced to complete an abortion she no longer wants,” the organization said.

A 2020 study by UC San Francisco found that more than 95% of patients who received an abortion said that it was the right decision for them.

RealOptions did not immediately respond to The Sacramento Bee’s request for comment.

This story was originally published September 21, 2023 at 1:39 PM.