Columbus — This evening, a new study by Dr. Mitchell Creinin was published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, the journal of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The objective of the study was to estimate the efficacy and safety of using high-dose oral progesterone to stop a medication abortion. The study, however, was stopped early due to safety concerns, and therefore, the study cannot tell us anything about the effectiveness or safety of using progesterone to interrupt a medication abortion. Researchers halted the study after 25% of study participants were hospitalized with vaginal bleeding.
This proposal — telling patients that progesterone can be used to interrupt a medication abortion — is the central objective of Senate Bill 155, sponsored by Sen. Peggy Lehner. Senate Bill 155 would force doctors to advise patients that this procedure is an option for them to consider if they start a medication abortion by taking the first pill but do not complete it by taking the second. Doctors would face criminal charges if they do not tell patients about this unproven idea. The Ohio Senate approved SB 155 on November 6, 2019, despite a bipartisan vote against it. The bill is awaiting hearings in the Ohio House.
NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Executive Director Kellie Copeland said: “Medication abortion is very safe. But 23 Republican members of the Ohio Senate, led by Sen. Peggy Lehner, voted to force doctors to tell patients about an unproven practice despite our warnings that it could endanger patients. Evidence now shows we were right. Lehner’s bill, now pending in the Ohio House, is not supported by science and was designed to deceive, pressure, and shame patients. Sadly there are several other pending bills that are also based on unsound science, invent fictional medical procedures, or would give tax dollars to groups that lie to patients. Why is the Republican leadership in the Statehouse passing bills based on lies?”
The study comes three weeks after 21 members of the Ohio House signed on to House Bill 413, which requires doctors to attempt a non-existent procedure to transplant an ectopic pregnancy. That idea was met with a national outcry from medical professionals who were quick to clarify that such transplants are not medically possible. An Ohio House committee could vote next week on House Bill 297, which would give a 50% tax credit to donors of crisis pregnancy centers, despite those centers spreading lies about abortion. Also pending in the Ohio House is Senate Bill 208, which the Ohio Senate passed on the same day as Senate Bill 155, which creates a false narrative about abortions later in pregnancy. All of these bills are based on an anti-abortion agenda that disregards medical science.
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