Over half of all abortions in Nebraska today are “medication” or “chemical” abortions – those caused by abortion-inducing drugs.
The abortion pill, prescribed by a doctor within the first ten weeks of pregnancy, begins with mifepristone, a progesterone hormone blocker. Because the mother’s body is artificially deprived of progesterone by the abortion pill, her uterine lining breaks down, causing the baby to detach from her uterus and die for lack of nourishment.
However, thanks to new, evidence-based science, it is possible to greatly increase the chance a woman can save her baby after taking the abortion pill if she begins a standardized abortion pill reversal protocol. This is known as Abortion Pill Reversal (APR).
If, within two or three days after the mother takes the first abortion pill, she does not take the second pill in the medication abortion process, misoprostol, and instead receives doses of natural progesterone, her progesterone levels can be elevated back to normal pregnancy levels and she can save the baby.
Using the best protocols, the success rate for saving the baby and bringing him/her to term is 68%, compared to only 25% when she takes mifepristone alone and does nothing else. [1]
Research shows this is perfectly safe and healthy for the mother, and babies who are saved by APR have no increased risk of birth defects. [2]
For nearly 60 years, medical professionals have used progesterone, a natural hormone allowing pregnant women to carry and continue nourishing an unborn child, to prevent miscarriages and sustain healthy pregnancies. [3]
The APR process is not only safe for both the woman and her unborn child but offers a real chance for the woman to rescue her child when she has changed her mind about abortion, as well as spare herself the pain and regret of losing a wanted baby.
APR is already being offered successfully across the country and in Nebraska, but the information necessary to begin treatment and save babies is being withheld from women which prevents them from making a truly informed and voluntary choice.
In 2019, State Senator Joni Albrecht introduced a pro-woman, pro-information, pro-life, and pro-choice bill that will benefit all women who want a second chance at choice.
LB 209 added a new section to our existing informed consent statutory framework for abortion, simply requiring that when a woman goes in for an abortion she will be given all the information she needs to make a truly informed decision, including information about APR and how to find help if she changes her mind.
Informed consent is a staple of good medical practice in any procedure or protocol. A woman shouldn’t have to find out later that she could have reversed the process if only she had known it was possible.
Every woman deserves to be given all the information she needs to make a truly informed decision, including how to find help if she changes her mind about a medication abortion.
LB 209 is pro-life, pro-woman, pro-science, and pro-information. Nebraska Family Alliance is proud to support legislation to help better protect both women and unborn children in Nebraska.
1 Delgado, George, et al, “A Case Series Detailing the Successful Reversal of the Effects of Mifepristone Using Progesterone,” Issues in Law & Medicine, Vol. 33, No. 1, 2018.
2 Ibid.
3 See, e.g., “The Use of Isomolecular Progesterone in the Support of Pregnancy and Fetal Safety,” 30 Issues L. & Med. 159 (2015).