As the abortion pill becomes the most common way to kill preborn children in America, one group of doctors is working to ensure women know that they can seek help to potentially save their babies’ lives even after they take the first drug in the two-drug abortion pill regimen.
Known as “abortion pill reversal” (APR), the treatment is the same protocol used to help prevent miscarriages in at-risk women since the 1950s. It has been used for 15 years. APR uses progesterone to counteract or outcompete the action of mifepristone (the first drug in the abortion pill regimen), which blocks progesterone, a naturally-occurring pregnancy hormone. This deprives the preborn child of nutrients. Administering progesterone may counteract the mifepristone and sustain the child’s life. Abortion advocates, however, claim that science doesn’t support the protocol and that doctors should be barred from providing it.
AAPLOG, an organization of about 7,500 pro-life medical professionals, aims to offer an evidence-based rationale for defending and protecting the lives of pregnant women and preborn babies. A $100,000 grant from the Heritage Foundation will allow AAPLOG to offer its Abortion Pill Reversal Education and Recruitment Project in support of “its efforts to utilize Continuing Medical Education (CME) alongside an extensive media campaign to reach physicians, patients, insurance providers, and everyday Americans nationwide with the truth about abortion pill reversals…”
AAPLOG is introducing an online course on APR for hospitals and doctors beginning this fall.
The pro-abortion American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) called APR “unproven and unethical.” And, according to NBC News, nine states have seen legislative efforts and court cases regarding the protocol. Both New York and California have sued to block the prescribing of the progesterone treatment, claiming that APR is fake and that anyone who promotes it is guilty of false advertising. Colorado has already passed a law prohibiting doctors from offering it, though the law is currently blocked.
However, 15 other states have moved to ensure that women who take the abortion pill are told that APR exists. There are currently 1,400 doctors, hospitals, and pregnancy resource centers that are a part of the APR network, and AAPLOG hopes to see that number grow.
However, abortion advocates don’t. Case in point: though there are reportedly about 5,000 lives that have been saved with the help of APR, ACOG told NBC News in a statement, “People seeking abortion care do so after making thoughtful decisions that align with their values, priorities, and their family’s unique needs. Questioning those thoughtful decisions and promoting myths about abortion regret associated with abortion only perpetuate abortion stigma.”
This is deceitful, since Heartbeat International receives 170 calls per month inquiring about the treatment. That number is expected to climb as access to the abortion pill expands and many women take the drug at home.
“Abortion pill rescue (APR) is an evidence-based therapy that has saved the lives of thousands of children whose mothers began a chemical abortion but changed their minds,” said Christina Francis, MD, Chief Executive Officer of AAPLOG. “Unfortunately, APR is under attack by political actors who wish to ban this lifesaving treatment. As an organization representing more than 7000 medical professionals, AAPLOG understands the importance of more physicians providing this option for women. Thanks to the Heritage Foundation’s Innovation prize, we will be able to launch an online medical course that will empower physicians with the profound scientific support for APR they need to feel confident in providing it — providing women with a second chance at choice and their children a second chance at life.”
