(Pregnancy Help News) — Despite opposition from its national health ministry, New Zealand’s right to life organization is not backing down on its campaign for women there to have access to information on the life-saving Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) protocol.
The New Zealand Ministry of Health released a statement earlier this year warning against the use of progesterone to reverse chemical abortions, stating it “does not support or recognize” APR, and calling it an “unsafe and scientifically unsupported practice.” Because progesterone has not been approved in New Zealand for Abortion Pill Reversal, the health office said, individuals promoting APR could face six months imprisonment and fines up to $20,000 and corporations could be fined up to $100,000. In a corresponding position statement, the health ministry claimed that APR “is not established by clinical research trials and could lead to severe side effects and adverse outcomes,” and said that health professionals should neither provide it nor offer it.
“In an unprecedented assault on human rights, the Ministry of Health has threatened our doctors with prosecution and possible prison sentences, if they provide the hormone progesterone to any woman, in order to reverse their early medical abortion,” Right to Life New Zealand said in a statement.
“Right to Life believes that the Ministry of Health, which should be at the forefront in defending the right to life of our precious unborn children, and the health of their mothers, has been infiltrated by the pro-abortion movement, who are advocates for the “culture of death,” the pro-life group said.
Despite the New Zealand health ministry’s claims, Abortion Pill Reversal has been proven to be a safe and effective treatment that has saved thousands of preborn lives.
Chemical abortion, also known as medical abortion, is a two-drug process that begins with the pregnant woman taking the drug mifepristone, which binds to progesterone receptors in the placenta and uterus, starving the unborn baby of necessary nutrients. The second drug, misoprostol, taken a day or so later, then causes the mother to go into labor, delivering her presumably deceased child.
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If a woman who has taken the first abortion drug has regret and she acts quickly enough, it may be possible to save her unborn child with APR.
Abortion Pill Reversal involves prescribing progesterone, a natural hormone necessary for sustaining a pregnancy, in order to reverse the mifepristone’s effects. It is an updated application of a treatment used … to combat miscarriage.
To date, more than 5,000 lives and counting have been saved thanks to the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN), a worldwide network of more than 1,400 healthcare professionals, pregnancy centers, hospitals, and pharmacists that administer the APR protocol.
Right to Life New Zealand has been campaigning for government acceptance of APR since 2022, according to Right to Life New Zealand Spokesperson Ken Orr.
In November of 2023, the group filed a complaint with the Ombudsman (an officer of the New Zealand Parliament) against the Ministry of Health for its part in depriving women of informed consent for failing to tell women seeking an abortion that the APR is available. The complaint was accepted and awaits adjudication.
“I believe that the Ministry of Health is failing in its obligations and duties as the regulatory authority to comply with the code in providing information to consumers seeking an early medical abortion,” Orr stated in the complaint. “Right to Life requests that you ensure that all women considering an early medical abortion be advised that they have a right to withdraw their consent to this procedure and to receive treatment with progesterone to reverse the medical abortion after taking mifepristone and prior to taking the prostaglandin misoprostol.”
Orr confirmed for Pregnancy Help News that there were more ….
Read more at Pregnancy Help News.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published at Pregnancy Help News and is reprinted here with permission.
