Trump-Appointed Judge Rules Colorado Clinic Can Offer Fake ‘Abortion Reversals’

"This ruling gives providers at this clinic the green light to lie to patients by offering them an unproven and potentially dangerous ‘treatment,'" Amy Myrick, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told Jezebel.

By Danielle Han | August 5, 2025 | 4:56pm

Photo: iStockphoto Abortion Politics

Trump-Appointed Judge Rules Colorado Clinic Can Offer Fake ‘Abortion Reversals’

In yet another win for junk science en route to Gilead, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Colorado has given one Catholic clinic a go-ahead on anti-abortion messaging and anti-abortion treatments that have little to no evidence of actually working. Praise be!

In April 2023, Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) signed SB 23-190 into law, which barred anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) from using scare tactics and false advertising to lure in pregnant people. One section of the bill states that “provid[ing], prescrib[ing], administer[ing], or attempt[ing] medication abortion reversal” would be cited for “unprofessional conduct.”

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Needless to say, the anti-abortion movement was not happy about a law that banned them from bullying pregnant people–and soon after, Catholic clinic Bella Health and Wellness filed a lawsuit saying their constitutional rights were being violated. They were backed by conservative law firms such as the Alliance for Defending Freedom (the same far-right cabal that helped overturn Roe v. Wade) and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

Judge Daniel Domenico’s ruling on Friday makes permanent his preliminary injunction from two years ago. And while the ruling only applies to Bella Health and Wellness for now, these bible-thumping loons are celebrating yet another moment of eroding the country’s reproductive-justice system.

In his ruling, Judge Domenico stated the rule violated the clinic’s religious beliefs, writing that “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.” But his argument is (obviously) weak.

The “so-called ‘abortion pill reversal’ is not real. There is no science behind it,” Amy Myrick, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, explains to Jezebel. “So, in effect, this ruling gives providers at this clinic the green light to lie to patients by offering them an unproven and potentially dangerous ‘treatment.’”

And yes–abortion-pill reversals entail some quack-ass prescriptions. Anti-abortion clinics claim the treatments work by taking progesterone within 24-72 hours after taking mifepristone and misoprostol: while mifepristone thins the lining of the uterus, progesterone is meant to “thicken” it up–thus allowing a pregnant person to “undo” their abortion. But “there is no credible scientific evidence that medication abortion ‘reversal‘ is an effective medical treatment protocol,” Molly Meegan, Chief Legal Officer at the American College of OBGYNs, told Jezebel. “The only study to consider the issue had to be stopped early because of the incidence of hemorrhage.”

Meegan also warns there could be other repercussions. “The ability of crisis pregnancy centers and fake clinics to prove this unproven treatment may have dangerous ramifications for patients and further stigmatizes abortion and proliferates harmful myths about abortion care.”

Despite the lack of scientific evidence, abortion reversals are posing serious challenges in the fight to improve abortion access. In states like Arkansas and Kentucky, clinicians are also now mandated by law to inform people seeking to terminate their pregnancy about the option–and similar legislation is being considered in other states, too.

“Patients should be able to trust that their doctors are offering them evidence-based care, no matter where they get it,” says Myrick. “No clinic—religiously affiliated or not—should be allowed to misinform patients and push dangerous concepts like ‘abortion reversal[s].’”

Correction: An earlier version of this post said the ruling applied to all Colorado clinics, and not just Bella Health and Wellness. This story has been updated to reflect that change, and we regret the error.

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