Despite many of the pregnancy centers offering the APR protocol for free, AG James is appealing that decision maintaining that “someone must bear the cost,” and therefore, speech involving APR is commercial speech which can be regulated by business laws. However, in a May 2024 press release, AG James revealed her viewpoint claiming advertisements for APR contained “misinformation” and that “abortions cannot be reversed.” Yet, statistics show that the APR protocol has likely saved more than 6,000unborn babies with a success rate of up to 64-68 percent.
“The context makes clear that [AG James] is engaging in both content- and viewpoint-based discrimination,” wrote Liberty Counsel. “She rejects [pro-life pregnancy centers’] speech because it attempts to save unborn children and it projects a Christian, and therefore pro-life, worldview that [she] rejects.”
In the brief, Liberty Counsel noted the state’s effort to restrict APR advertising is a move to eliminate a mother’s choice to save her baby. While the state allows the choice to seek an abortion, it wants mothers to lose any choice to save their babies after they have taken Mifepristone.
“This ‘limit of choices’ veiled as freedom, is yet another case wherein the government attempts to permanently degrade First Amendment protections due to political disagreements regarding the sanctity of human life,” wrote Liberty Counsel. “That is a clear violation of [pro-life pregnancy centers’] First Amendment rights.”