Federal Court of the USA

A Federal District Court ordered on August 1 that a Colorado Medical Clinic (United States) led by two Catholic nurses can continue its reversal ministry of the abortive pill, partially blocking a state law that sought to prohibit practice.

The federal district judge Daniel Domenico He said in his Friday failure that the prohibition of Colorado on the reversal of the abortive pill interfere with the religious rights of the nurses Dede Chism and Abby Sinnett.

The Catholic team made up of mother and daughter directs the Bella Health and Wellness Clinic in the Denver area. Part of its services includes the administration of the progesterone hormone, which can counteract the effects of chemical abortions.

Colorado prohibited in 2023 the reversal of the abortive pill claiming that it constitutes a “deceptive commercial practice.” That same year, nurses sued the State for the prohibitionarguing that it prevented their religious beliefs and those of their patients.

Domenico, in October 2023, issued A temporary block to the state prohibition. His Friday failure caused the blockade to be permanent.

“It is not disputed that, by effectively prohibiting them with the use of a particular treatment for pregnant women, this law taxed sincerely sustained religious beliefs (nurses),” the judge wrote.

He added: “While the clinical effectiveness of the reversal of the abortive pill remains debatable, no one has been injured by treatment and several women have managed to give birth after receiving it.”

The State failed to demonstrate that it had “an imperative interest in regulating this practice,” he ruled when the court order permanent.

The judge pointed out that Colorado, in numerous other contexts, allows the “out of indication” use of progesterone. The State, he said, did not provide convincing evidence that the use of progesterone to counteract an abortive pill “differentiates the reversal of drug abortion from other uses out of indication of progesterone.”

Domenico said that his ruling only prohibits taking action against the Bella clinic and does not affect the general law itself.

In a Press statement from the Religious Libertad Law School Becketwhich represented the clinic in the demand, the nurses said that the State “tried to deprive the pregnant women of the attention that life affirms and that it is better for them and their babies.”

“We are very happy that the Court has recognized our constitutional right to continue offering this support to the many women who come to our clinic in search of help,” they said.

For his part, Becket’s lawyer, Rebekah Ricketts, said the ruling “guarantees that pregnant women in Colorado are not deprived of this compassionate attention or are forced to abort against their will.”

In addition to the reversal of the abortive pill, the clinic also offers Primary care, gynecology, help with infertility and surgery for women’s health, as well as pediatric care and for the health of man.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA.