A federal judge in Colorado has blocked the enforcement of a state law that prevented medical professionals from providing women with abortion pill reversal services. The ruling allows for a metro-based health care clinic to continue the practice — though it did not block the state from enforcing the law at other clinics.
The case stems from a 2023 state law that would have made Colorado the first state in the country to ban the use of so-called abortion pill reversal treatments meant to undo medication abortions. Bella Health and Wellness, a Catholic health care clinic with locations in Denver and Englewood, sued, claiming the law infringed on their constitutional rights.
In an order issued on Friday, Judge Daniel D. Domenico wrote that the state lacked a compelling argument in regulating the practice.
“While the clinical efficacy of abortion pill reversal remains debatable, nobody has been injured by the treatment and a number of women have successfully given birth after receiving it,” Domenico wrote. “The Defendants have thus failed to show that they have a compelling interest in regulating this practice.”
Conservative legal groups, the Alliance for Defending Freedom and Washington, D.C.-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who both assisted in the lawsuit, praised the ruling.
“Government officials can’t silence medical professionals and prevent them from saving lives,” Kevin Theriot, the senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement. “Many women regret their chemical abortions, and some choose to reverse the effects of the first abortion drug, which can save their baby’s life. But Colorado’s law wrongly attempted to deny women the freedom to make that choice.”
“Colorado tried to deprive pregnant women of the life-affirming care that is best for them and their babies,” Dede Chism and Abby Sinnett, co-founders of Bella Health and Wellness, said in a statement. “We are overjoyed that the court has recognized our constitutional right to continue offering this support to the many women who come to our clinic seeking help.”
The law, Deceptive Trade Practice Pregnancy-Related Service, aimed to address what the sponsors called deceptive practices, like false advertising, by crisis pregnancy centers and health clinics. Critics of the abortion reversal treatments pointed to a 2019 study of the treatment that had to be halted after several participants experienced severe bleeding.
CPR News has reached out to abortion rights groups and the sponsors of the bill and will update with any comments.
The lawsuit, filed the same day Polis signed the bill, claimed the law targeted religious clinics’ duty to help pregnant women in need — which they said was a violation of their constitutional rights.
The plaintiffs said aid includes helping women who’ve changed their minds after taking mifepristone, the first of two steps in a medication abortion. A second drug, misoprostol, has to be taken at least 24 hours later to complete the abortion.
The clinics use large doses of the hormone progesterone in an attempt to reverse the effects of the mifepristone, which is used to thin the lining of the uterus. Progesterone can thicken that lining and allow a pregnancy to continue, the clinics say.
The 2023 law required state medical boards to weigh in on whether the procedure was a ‘standard medical practice’ and, based on their findings, banned clinics from using progesterone for that purpose.
In October of 2023 the State Medical Board classified the practice as unprofessional conduct. According to the order, no nationally recognized medical organization has found that progesterone intervention meets generally accepted standards of medical care.
Domenico had previously blocked the state’s ban in a 2023 preliminary injunction that applied only to Bella Health and Wellness. Friday’s order made that injunction permanent.
“...to be clear, my authority is limited to adjudicating disputes between the parties before me, and I have no freestanding power to enjoin laws beyond my power to enjoin parties responsible for enforcing them,” Domenico wrote, citing the recent Trump v. CASA ruling that states injunctive relief must be limited to the parties. “I therefore emphasize that any injunction in this case covers enforcement actions against the Plaintiffs, not the law itself.”
The case marks another victory for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has filed numerous lawsuits against Colorado.
“Colorado should never have tried to stop Bella from helping pregnant women who want to choose life for their babies,” Rebekah Ricketts, senior counsel at Becket, said in a statement. “This ruling ensures that pregnant women in Colorado will not be denied this compassionate care or be forced to have abortions against their will.”
