Colorado forced to pay $5.4M to cover attorneys’ fees and court costs for state’s unconstitutional attack on abortion pill reversal A federal court found that Colorado’s attempt to ban abortion pill reversal violated the First Amendment

WASHINGTON – The State of Colorado must pay $5.4 million in attorneys’ fees to Becket following the state’s unconstitutional effort to outlaw abortion pill reversal. Becket represented Bella Health and Wellness, a Denver-area Catholic pro-life healthcare clinic, defending them against Colorado’s attempt to make it illegal for doctors and nurses to help women who take the first abortion pill but then decide to continue their pregnancies. A federal court found that Colorado’s attempt to ban abortion pill reversal violated the First Amendment. A federal law now requires the state to pay attorneys’ fees and court costs. 

“At least 18 moms who received abortion pill reversal care at Bella just celebrated Christmas with babies born during this case,” said Rebekah Ricketts, senior counsel at Becket and an attorney for Bella Health and Wellness. “All Coloradans should celebrate those little miracles and the brave medical team at Bella that helped their moms when no one else would.” 

Founded by Catholic mother-and-daughter nurse practitioners Dede Chism and Abby Sinnett, Bella offers dignified, life-affirming healthcare to men, women, and children. Like healthcare clinics across the nation, Bella offers progesterone—a naturally occurring hormone that is essential to the maintenance of a healthy pregnancy—to women at risk of miscarriage. Studies show that progesterone can help women who have taken the first abortion pill but decide they want to continue their pregnancies. Consistent with its religious mission to uphold the dignity of every life, Bella offers progesterone to these women who seek help to keep their unborn children after taking the first abortion pill. 

In 2023, Colorado passed a law that targets pro-life clinics like Bella Health and Wellness by making it unprofessional conduct to help women who are seeking to reverse the effects of the first abortion pill. Bella asked a federal court to block the law and protect its ability to help pregnant women in need of life-saving care. In October 2023, Judge Daniel Domenico temporarily stopped Colorado’s abortion pill reversal ban. Represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, nurse practitioner and certified nurse midwife Chelsea Mynyk later intervened in the lawsuit and obtained parallel protection to perform abortion pill reversal. 

Last August, Judge Domenico made a permanent finding that Colorado had violated the First Amendment, allowing Bella and Ms. Mynyk to continue offering compassionate care to women in need. 

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Ryan Colby at [email protected] or 202-349-7219.