Columbus — Sen. Peggy Lehner and Rep. Niraj Antani will both be sponsoring legislation to support the mythical concept of “abortion pill reversal.” Just as with Rep. Becker’s House Bill 182, this newly proposed bill is making up medical procedures.
NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Executive Director Kellie Copeland said: “Abortion opponents in Ohio have accelerated their efforts to stigmatize abortion with medically-inaccurate information and unproven practices. Abortion providers rely on scientifically accurate and thoroughly researched information to support patients before, during, and after an abortion. Rep. Antani and Sen. Lehner are trying to mislead patients and discredit abortion providers. Patients need medically accurate information, not scripts dictated by politicians filled with deception and ideologically-driven claims.”
She continued: “It’s bad enough that uninformed extremists in the Ohio Statehouse are pushing these mythical medical concepts, but Mike Gonidakis, a member of Ohio’s State Medical Board (and leader of Ohio Right to Life) is also peddling this nonsense. Ohio is in serious danger of losing its reputation as a medical leader in the U.S.”
Additional background
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) does not recommend the practice, stating that “claims regarding abortion ‘reversal’ treatment are not based on science and do not meet clinical standards…and ACOG does not support prescribing progesterone to stop a medical abortion.”
A medication abortion involves the use of two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, and has been found to be an effective and safe way to end a pregnancy, as documented in the 2018 report, “The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States.” Mifepristone blocks progesterone, a crucial hormone for maintaining a pregnancy. Taken by itself, mifepristone may not be successful at ending a pregnancy, which is why the second pill, misoprostol, is given. Anti-choice groups claim that by flooding the body with progesterone they can interrupt the effect of mifepristone. However, claims of the safety and efficacy of this practice are not supported by scientific evidence.
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