(LifeSiteNews) — A federal district court issued an order on Friday permanently blocking Colorado from forcing a Catholic pro-life pregnancy center to halt abortion pill reversal treatments.

In April 2023, the Centennial State enacted a law prohibiting doctors and nurses from providing abortion pill reversal (APR), forcing women to undergo abortions they wish to avoid.

“Abortion pill reversal is a safe and often effective treatment for women who change their minds about chemical abortion and can reverse the effects of the first chemical abortion drug, saving the life of the unborn child,” explained a statement from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represented licensed nurse practitioner and certified nurse midwife Chelsea Mynyk in her successful intervention in the case, Bella Health and Wellness v. Weiser. 

The abortion pill mifepristone (better known as RU-486) works by blocking the natural hormone progesterone that developing babies need to survive. APR consists of administering extra progesterone to counteract mifepristone’s effects, ideally within 24 hours of taking the abortion pill.

Pro-abortion detractors claim that APR is unproven and potentially harmful, but as pro-life OB/GYN Dr. William Lile has explained, the technique is based on principles that are well understood from progesterone’s common, FDA-approved use in a variety of other pregnancy-related situations.

According to the Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN), “initial studies of APR have shown it has a 64%-68% success rate.” Heartbeat International also publishes anecdotal, firsthand testimonials from women who have benefited from the technique.

As of June, APR has successfully prevented more than 7,000 chemical abortions, 

“Government officials can’t silence medical professionals and prevent them from saving lives,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “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. The court is right to rule that the state can’t force women to follow through with a chemical abortion when a safe alternative is available—one that Chelsea and the pro-life plaintiffs in this case can skillfully provide.”

ADF added:

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty sued Colorado on behalf of Bella Health and Wellness, a pro-life pregnancy center, in April 2023 and secured a preliminary injunction, preventing Colorado’s law from being enacted while the lawsuit continues. But the injunction applied to only Bella Health and Wellness.

Mynyk runs her own clinic, Castle Rock Women’s Health, where she provides reproductive health care services to women. Like Bella Health and Wellness, Mynyk believes that she is compelled by her faith to provide abortion pill reversal to women who request it.

In February 2024, Mynyk received a letter from the Colorado State Board of Nursing notifying her that she is being investigated for a possible violation of the Nurse Practice Act because of an anonymous complaint about her provision of abortion pill reversal.

“It is not disputed that by effectively prohibiting them from using a particular treatment for pregnant women, this law burdened Plaintiffs’ sincerely held religious beliefs…” the court wrote in its opinion. “[W]hile 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.”

“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.”