Colorado hit with $6 million tab after judge blocks ban on abortion pill reversal

DENVER — That Colorado law banning health care professionals from offering abortion pill reversals to pregnant women is proving expensive.

The state has agreed to pay $6.1 million in attorneys’ fees and court costs after a federal judge issued a permanent injunction against enforcement of the 2023 law, which redefined providing abortion-pill reversals as “unprofessional conduct” and made it a “deceptive trade practice” to offer them.

Under the settlement agreement announced Tuesday, Colorado will pay $5.4 million to attorneys for Bella Health and Wellness, a Catholic pro-life pregnancy center that challenged the law in 2023, and $700,000 to attorneys for Chelsea Mynyk, a licensed nurse practitioner who joined the lawsuit the following year.

A spokesperson for Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser had no comment.

Colorado became the first state to effectively ban abortion pill reversals, known as APR, which seek to interrupt the two-pill abortion process by prescribing progesterone within 24-72 hours after the first pill is taken.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not recommend APR, saying that it is “not supported by science.” The Abortion Pill Rescue Network says that more than 7,000 babies have been born after pregnant women changed their minds and underwent the process.

Rebekah Ricketts, senior counsel at Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Bella Health, said that more than two dozen babies have been born since the case began using the APR method.

“At least 18 moms who received abortion pill reversal care at Bella just celebrated Christmas with babies born during this case,” Ms. Ricketts said Tuesday in a statement. “All Coloradans should celebrate those little miracles and the brave medical team at Bella that helped their moms when no one else would.”

Ms. Mynyk, who runs Castle Rock Women’s Health, intervened in the lawsuit after receiving a letter from the Colorado State Board of Nursing saying she was being investigated for a possible violation of the law based on an anonymous complaint.

VICTORY: Colorado state officials have agreed to pay $700,000 in attorneys’ fees to settle licensed nurse practitioner and certified nurse midwife Chelsea Mynyk’s part of the lawsuit Bella Health and Wellness v. Weiser. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent Mynyk.…

— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) January 6, 2026

U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico ruled Aug. 1 that the state had violated the plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to free speech and free exercise of religion with its ban, finding that pro-life pregnancy centers were “singled out.”

He noted that progesterone is prescribed for a host of reasons, including miscarriages, in vitro fertilization, and gender-affirming care, making it “impossible to avoid the conclusion that Plaintiffs’ use of progesterone is not be regulated neutrally.”

The measure, known as Senate Bill 190, easily cleared the Democrat-led state Legislature and was signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in April 2023 as part of a package of abortion-rights laws.

Kevin Theriot, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Ms. Mynyk, said many women regret taking the first abortion pill and seek to reverse the effects, but that “Colorado’s law wrongly attempted to deny women the freedom to make that choice.”

“We’re pleased Chelsea and the other pro-life plaintiffs in this suit are allowed to get back to their life-saving work of helping women and children,” he said.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has fought to stop pro-life pregnancy centers from advertising APR, accusing them of spreading “false and misleading” information.

Last month, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower-court ruling saying that Ms. James’ office cannot take legal action against two faith-based nonprofit clinics and a network of pro-life pregnancy centers promoting APR pending the outcome of their lawsuit.