In September of 2023, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed suit against Heartbeat International and RealOptions Obria — two medical pregnancy center groups — for allegedly “misleading patients” about the prospects of “abortion pill reversal” (APR).
Bonta wants to block the centers from advertising APR as “safe and effective,” claiming that the treatment — which consists of administering the pregnancy-supporting hormone progesterone to outcompete the progesterone-blocking effects of the abortion pill, mifepristone — has “no credible scientific backing, and has potential risks for patients who undergo it.” In reality, progesterone has been recommended to and safely used by women at risk of miscarriage, and the abortion industry has been aware for years that the hormone progesterone may interfere with the abortion pill’s mechanism of action.
Valerie Hill, CEO of RealOptions Obria in California, spoke to Live Action News about the RealOptions medical centers, what they do, and where things currently stand as they progress toward a trial in early November of 2025.
Making the truth known
Attorneys have been taking depositions from various employees of Heartbeat International (HBI) and RealOptions virtually, with some lasting multiple hours, Hill said. The medical director for RealOptions, Dr. Mary Davenport, is a longtime pro-life OBGYN whom Hill says “was a developer and researcher of APR along with Dr. [George] Delgado,” and was deposed this week along with Hill and others despite a trial date set more than seven months into the future.
Hill said that much of the attorneys’ questions seemed to revolve around how RealOptions raises funds — and why they choose to use stories about “abortion pill reversal” (APR) in their newsletters, emails to supporters, and fundraising events.
“Our supporters love to see when a mother who started abortion had a second chance at choice… and now has a beautiful child. This is very inspirational, educations, and exciting for our supporters,” Hill reportedly told attorneys, adding, “I’m not being apologetic about what we do, I’m speaking the truth to them about who we are and why we do what we do.”
Hill said that Judge Michael Markman of the Superior Court in Alameda County in Oakland is the judge for their case.
“Pray for Judge Markman, so that he will see the truth,” Hill urged, noting that last year, Judge Markman ruled against HBI and RealOptions in a hearing. “He preemptively ruled against us and then heard our attorney’s argument and said he would reconsider everything and he ruled against us again… it took about six weeks to get that ruling.”
Hill believes AG Bonta wants to “make an example of us because we have multiple clinics… or maybe because they figure they can make headway in a liberal county” like Alameda.
RealOptions Obria and Heartbeat International are grateful to be represented by Paul Jonna and team from the Thomas More Society. “We have lots of people praying… and our team feels privileged by God to stand in the gap for abortion pill reversal and against the Goliath of abortion in California… and make the truth known and give God the glory,” said Hill, who added that her hope in going through both persecution and prosecution by the state of California is “that out of it will come true informed consent for women who are being sold a bill of goods with the abortion pill.”
“They don’t believe in choice”
Hill said that at RealOptions, “We offer the gold standard of care…to have an ultrasound, a medical consultation to determine if you have a viable pregnancy, what’s the location [of the embryo], the dating…. Women often change their minds, but we’ve been blocked by Google… [so] if you look for abortion pill reversal, you’re probably going to read some scary lies first… and none of those things are true.”
She explained:
Abortion pill reversal is simply replacing the [pregnancy-supporting hormone] progesterone, and when you replace the progesterone, you have a 64-68% chance of carrying your pregnancy to term… It’s been used to stop repeated miscarriage since the 1950s.
We don’t understand why the state of California would want to hinder women from having this choice… other than the fact that they don’t believe in choice — they believe in abortion.
RealOptions has four medical clinics in the Bay Area which serve about 200 clients every month — one in San Jose, near the largest Planned Parenthood in Northern California; one in East San Jose, which shares a parking lot with Planned Parenthood; one in Oakland; and one in Union City. RealOptions clinics credits APR with saving 37 babies born to 34 moms (three sets of twins) since October of 2016. The progesterone treatments are administered by nurses and nurse practitioners who work at the RealOptions medical clinics.
“Registered nurses are on staff every hour we’re open,” said Hill, adding that nurse practitioners are in-clinic once weekly to provide prenatal and well woman care. RealOptions does not charge women for APR treatment, and follows HIPAA medical privacy laws; all clients sign HIPAA disclosures.
“Women continue the progesterone through the first trimester,” said Hill. “It is a treatment they continue and [our medical practitioners] follow the women with scans to make sure they still have a viable pregnancy.”
According to HBI’s Abortion Pill Rescue network, over 6,000 babies are believed to have been saved worldwide by APR treatment, Hill said.
One of those babies was the child of Gabriela. She had previously suffered a traumatic stillbirth, and when she learned she was pregnant again, she was terrified to go through the same heartbreaking loss. So she took the abortion pill — and immediately regretted it. After crying all night, she was put in touch with RealOptions, and her baby was saved:
Watch Erika and Gabriela as they discuss how they took the abortion pill and immediately regretted their decision.
But it isn’t just APR that draws women to RealOptions. “In 2024, we provided over 7,500 patient encounters and services…. We saved 920 babies and their parents from abortion last year,” said Hill.
Obeying God
RealOptions has come a long way since its founding as a “crisis pregnancy center” in the summer of 1981; it became a medical clinic in 2001, but only in one of three locations at the time. Hill has been with RealOptions for 35 years, starting out in 1989 as a volunteer and becoming Executive Director in 2007 with a vision to offer ultrasound and other life-affirming medical services in every location. She was named CEO in 2010.
RealOptions Obria CEO Valerie Hill
Hill’s life experiences — and God’s leading — brought her to pregnancy center work. She told Live Action News:
I had my daughter when I was barely 19… Right out of high school, I got pregnant having sex one time, and went to a Planned Parenthood. I didn’t know where else to go… I don’t even remember who took me. And the nurse said, “your test is positive, when do you want to schedule your abortion?” And I ran out the door.
Hill had been raised Catholic, and was already engaged to her baby’s father. After they married, her husband became abusive in multiple ways. Just as she was leaving the marriage, she learned she was pregnant again, and this time, sought an abortion from her own OBGYN.
“It was the worst decision I ever made,” Hill said. “You never stop regretting your abortion and that child you never had.” Hill added that she “shoved it into denial… to numb myself about my shame and guilt.” At the time, she wasn’t even aware that the pregnancy center she would one day lead already existed.
Three months later, someone invited her to a nondenominational church on Easter, and there, “I met Jesus,” she said. “But I felt like a big red ‘A’ was on my forehead, and still felt a tremendous amount of shame.”
About six months after her divorce, she met the man who would later become her husband, and brought him to church. She told him about her abortion on their first date, because she knew that if she didn’t, it was something that would become more difficult for her to tell him as time went on.
Eventually, Hill went to Bible college, and while there, wrote a missions paper on pregnancy centers for one of her classes. This paper led her to involvement with her local pregnancy center, where she was recruited to lead post-abortion healing classes on a volunteer basis. Her pastor paid for her to attend a training conference for the “Forgiven and Set Free” post-abortion recovery program.
It was through those classes that God began “peeling off the layers” of shame and guilt from her past abortion.
“Every time I led one, I got more out of it and more healing, and learned I needed to forgive myself,” said Hill. “We think, ‘Jesus has forgiven me,’ but as women and mothers… we don’t know how to forgive ourselves…. We have to choose to obey God and forgive ourselves.”
RealOptions Obria offers well woman care, STD testing & treatment, pregnancy testing, prenatal care, APR, Reproductive Loss Support (for anyone who’s had abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, infertility, or adoption placement that they’re grieving), ultrasound, and more. Their loss support classes are bilingual and certified by Rachel’s Vineyard, with virtual support groups available weekly for people nationwide. Find out more at RealOptions.net.
