The head of the California pregnancy help medical clinics being sued by the state’s attorney general over sharing information about Abortion Pill Reversal stressed the importance of providing women full information about their choices related to pregnancy during court testimony this week.
“As a medical provider, it's important that women are fully educated,” said Tasha Keirns, RN, and CEO for RealOptions Obria Medical Clinics.
Keirns was answering a question from counsel for the state attorney general about her response upon learning of the lawsuit brought by AG Rob Bonta against RealOptions and Heartbeat International.
Heartbeat, the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the U.S. and globally, operates the Abortion Pill Rescue Network, a network of nearly 1,500 healthcare professionals, pregnancy centers, and hospitals that administer the Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) protocol.
RealOptions is a group of four licensed medical clinics the San Francisco Bay Area that provide comprehensive medical services to both men and women, a Heartbeat affiliate, and an APR provider.
APR is a newer application of a treatment used since the 1950s to combat miscarriage. It involves administering bioidentical progesterone to counteract mifepristone, the first of two drugs in a chemical abortion. Mifepristone acts to block progesterone, the natural hormone in a woman’s body that sustains pregnancy.
If a pregnant woman acts quickly enough after taking mifepristone it may be possible to save her unborn child with APR. Statistics show that more than 8,000 lives, and counting, have been saved through the APR protocol.
Bonta sued Heartbeat and RealOptions in September 2023, accusing them of sharing, “false or misleading statements,” and engaging in, “unlawful, unfair, and fraudulent business practices” by providing pregnant women information about and access to Abortion Pill Reversal. The lawsuit seeks roughly $20 million in penalties and to bar Heartbeat and RealOptions from “advertising Abortion Pill Reversal as safe and effective.”
The State has conceded that it has received no complaints about Abortion Pill Reversal.
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Heartbeat and RealOptions are represented in The People of the State of California v. Heartbeat International & RealOptions by legal non-profit Thomas More Society.
Heartbeat and RealOptions both learned of the lawsuit through media requests following Bonta’s conducting a press conference announcing his filing of the suit. The pregnancy help organizations were not served notice of the legal action until sometime later.
During her testimony Keirns answered questions about RealOptions’ services, programs, and operations, her duties there in each of the respective roles she’s had, RealOptions’ administering of APR, its APR records, the number of successful reversals the clinic has seen and representations of those statistics.
Asked in the context of her reportedly feeling disgust when learning about the lawsuit whether she thought the court should be able to determine if RealOptions’ statements were false and misleading, Keirns clarified that she found it unfortunate that this lawsuit was brought before a court.
“Because the science of Abortion Pill Reversal, from my opinion and perspective, is very simple,” Keirns said. “And I want to ensure that our patients have the opportunity to make whatever choice is best for them.”
Keirns was clear that whether their patients ultimately choose abortion or to have their pregnancy it was their decision.
“But if they start the abortion process and later make a decision that they want to stop that process,” Keirns said, “It is within their rights, even their autonomous reproductive rights, to be able to make that decision on their own.”
It’s part of RealOptions’ mission to give them the information that they need to make that decision, she said.
“And if a patient has hope that her pregnancy can be maintained and she wants to try whatever she can to save her pregnancy, then we want to make sure that that's available to her,” Keirns said.
Tweet This: If a patient starts the chemical abortion process & makes a decision to stop that process, it is within their rights make to that decision.
Keirns testified earlier that it was her passion as a registered nurse to make sure that women are fully informed and educated. She acknowledged that when a woman has an unexpected pregnancy it's not an easy decision to either decide to carry the pregnancy, to create an adoption plan, or to have an abortion. She spoke from experience of having had an unexpected pregnancy with her first child, now 15. Keirns said as well that RealOptions personnel respect the patient’s decision in every case.
Explaining RealOptions’ life-affirming approach to reproductive healthcare, Keirns said, “Our heart behind the mission of this organization, and especially me personally as a registered nurse, is to make sure that our patients are fully informed that they are fully educated.”
“God gave them the free will and the autonomy to make their own decisions,” she said. “And so, it is completely up to them to decide when they're facing a difficult pregnancy, when they're facing difficult circumstances, to make that decision on their own. Our part in that is to make sure that they're well educated, and that they have support and resources.”
Live testimony in the trial wrapped up July 30. Closing arguments are scheduled for September 17 and a ruling from the judge is due within 90 days of that date.
Case resources are listed below.
Thomas More Society Case Details & Documents
State of California’s Complaint against Heartbeat International & RealOptions
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and Pregnancy Help News. Heartbeat is currently the subject of two lawsuits brought by state attorneys general concerning sharing information about Abortion Pill Reversal.
