Federal court rules Colorado Catholic nurses can continue abortion-pill reversal ministry

CNA Staff, Aug 2, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

A federal district court on Friday ordered that a Colorado medical clinic run by two Catholic nurses can continue its abortion-pill reversal ministry, partially blocking a state law that had sought to ban the practice.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico said in his Friday ruling that Colorado’s abortion pill reversal ban interfered with the religious rights of nurses Dede Chism and Abby Sinnett.

The Catholic mother-daughter team runs the Denver-area Bella Health and Wellness clinic. Part of their services include administering the hormone progesterone that can counteract the effects of chemical abortions.

Colorado in 2023 banned abortion pill reversal alleging that it constitutes a “deceptive trade practice.” That same year the nurses sued the state over the ban, arguing that it impeded their religious beliefs and those of their clients.

Domenico in October 2023 issued a temporary block on the state’s ban. His ruling on Friday made the ban permanent.

It is “not disputed that by effectively prohibiting them from using a particular treatment for pregnant women, this law burdened [the nurses’] sincerely held religious beliefs,” the judge wrote in part.

And “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,” he said.

The state failed to show it had “a compelling interest in regulating this practice,” he ruled in making the injunction permanent.

The judge noted that Colorado in numerous other contexts allows “off-label” use of progesterone, The state, he said, did not provide compelling evidence that using progesterone to counteract an abortion pill “sets medication abortion reversal apart from other off-label uses of progesterone.”

Domenico said his ruling only prohibits action against the Bella clinic and does not impact the overall law itself.

In a press release from the religious liberty law firm Becket, which had represented the clinic in the suit, the nurses said the state “tried to deprive pregnant women of the life-affirming care that is best for them and their babies.”

“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,” they said.

Becket attorney Rebekah Ricketts, meanwhile, said the ruling “ensures that pregnant women in Colorado will not be denied this compassionate care or be forced to have abortions against their will.”  

In addition to abortion pill reversal, the clinic also offers primary care, gynecology, infertility help, and surgery for women’s health, as well as pediatric care and men’s health care.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/265749/federal-court-rules-that-catholic-nurses-can-continue-abortion-pill-reversal-ministry