Federal Judge Blocks New Colorado Law Against ‘Abortion Reversal' Treatment At Catholic Clinic

By Sara Wilson, Colorado Newsline

April 17, 2023

A federal judge on Saturday blocked part of a recently-signed Colorado law that bans the administration of abortion reversal drugs from being enforced against a Colorado clinic.

Bella Health and Wellness, a Catholic clinic based in Englewood, filed the lawsuit Friday just hours after Gov. Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 23-190 into law. The lawsuit challenges the provision of the law that prohibits clinics from offering progesterone as a treatment to reverse medication abortion, unless medical boards in Colorado agree by October that it is an acceptable standard of practice.

It argues that the prohibition violates Bella’s First Amendment right to religious freedom.

“We opened Bella because of our belief that life is a precious gift from God, worthy of protection at all stages. When a woman seeks our help to reverse the effects of the abortion pill, we have a religious obligation to offer every available option for her and her child,” the clinic’s co-founder Dede Chism said in a statement.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists maintains that abortion reversal treatment, where a patient takes progesterone to offset the effects of mifepristone, is not based in science.

Bella offers progesterone to clients. One patient at the clinic was undergoing treatment when the law was signed on Friday.

“Absent immediate relief, this patient risks having her care interrupted, and plaintiffs will be in an impossible position: either deny care in accordance with this new law and violate their sincerely held religious beliefs or continue to provide life-affirming care to their patients at the risk of losing their licenses,” the clinic’s attorneys wrote.

Over the weekend, U.S. District Judge Daniel D. Domenico issued a temporary restraining order that halts enforcement of the provision. He wrote in his order that the plaintiffs “made a sufficient showing that Senate Bill (190) burdens their own First Amendment rights.”

“I find that the plaintiffs are sufficiently likely to succeed on the merits of one or more of their claims that short-term relief is warranted until the defendants can be heard in opposition and the propriety of continuing with a preliminary injunction can be determined,” Domenico, who was nominated in 2017 by former President Donald Trump, wrote.

The order only applies to enforcement of the abortion reversal provision within Bella’s three Colorado clinics. The primary intent of SB-190 revolves around outlawing deceptive advertising practices from so-called anti-abortion centers, sometimes referred to as crisis pregnancy centers.

Domenico wrote that the harm of not issuing a temporary restraining order outweighed the potential harm against the public if one was granted.

“But though the efficacy of progesterone treatment in maintaining a patient’s pregnancy after taking mifepristone appears debatable, this treatment does not appear to pose severe health risks to patients who receive it, as evidenced by the fact that the treatment currently remains legal in every state but Colorado. And the potential harm to the public interest will be limited by a short-term (temporary restraining order) that prevents enforcement of Senate Bill 23-190 only against a single medical clinic,” Domenico wrote.

A spokesperson for Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, did not comment on the ongoing litigation.

Polis included a signing statement on SB-190 on Friday, commenting on the abortion reversal provision of the law.

“Moving forward, I would be hesitant to support additional legislative attempts to circumscribe precise medical treatments into law. Although I don’t agree with legislating the practice of medicine, this direction only lasts five months under this bill. The standards of practice for medicine should be left to appointed medical professionals in the State driven by the ongoing process of science,” he wrote.

The order will last for 14 days. There will be a court hearing on April 24.

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