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A standard medication abortion consists of two pills. The first pill, mifepristone, inhibits a hormone essential for the growth and development of the embryo or fetus. The second pill, misoprostol, induces the uterus to expel its contents. However, there is a rising political push encouraging individuals who have taken the first pill to undergo an 'abortion reversal' process.
Last year, the head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement postponed a teenager in their care from taking the second pill, reportedly to assess the fetus’s 'health status' and explore the possibility of reversing the abortion.
Rewire reports that the concept of abortion reversal originated from a case study involving six women who took the first pill and then claimed they changed their minds about proceeding with the abortion. Two doctors administered progesterone injections to these women, and four of them successfully carried their pregnancies to term.
This method has not been subjected to rigorous scientific study, making it experimental. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists states that there is no evidence supporting the effectiveness of a 'reversal' procedure. The two-pill regimen exists for a reason: skipping the second pill results in a 30 to 50 percent chance that the pregnancy will continue.
This issue would remain a mundane medical discussion if not for the subsequent events following the publication of the case study. As Rewire highlights, several states began enacting laws mandating doctors to inform abortion patients that abortions can be reversed—despite the lack of evidence supporting this claim. For instance, a bill introduced in North Carolina aimed to prohibit patients from taking the second pill if the first one did not completely end the pregnancy.
Now, anti-abortion 'crisis pregnancy centers' are advertising abortion reversal as a service. A spokesperson for one such network explains their reasoning:
Although her center does not currently provide the abortion-reversal protocol, she mentions that once they do, the strategy will involve standing outside nearby abortion clinics and engaging with women about reversing their abortions. Griffin, in a phone interview with Rewire, stated that the ultimate objective is to make abortion-reversal kits available in emergency rooms.
Regret following an abortion is uncommon; a 2015 study revealed that more than 99 percent of individuals who underwent an abortion were satisfied with their decision at every stage of the study, even three years later. For the rare instances where someone reconsiders midway, ACOG advises: 'Existing research suggests that in the uncommon scenario where a woman takes mifepristone and then changes her mind, taking no action and observing the outcome is equally effective as administering progesterone.'
