Editor's note: Dr. George Delgado, medical advisor for the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and director of Culture of Life Family Health Care, served as the speaker for the All in Christ for Pro-Life banquet that benefits the LIFE Runners organization’s mission work. The event was held at the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum in Ashland March 22.
Dr. Delgado is a founder of abortion pill reversal, a process that works to reverse the effects of the abortion pill after it is taken, in order to save the life of the unborn baby. He is also one of the physicians involved in a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over access to the abortion pill mifepristone. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case March 26.
Dennis Kellogg, director of communications for the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln, interviewed Dr. Delgado before his speech March 22 in Ashland. Dr. Delgado talked about the abortion pill reversal process, as well as the case before the U.S. Supreme Court and its possible impact on the pro-life movement.
What follows is an edited version of that interview. This article was published by the Southern Nebraska Register and is reprinted with permission. Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue Network and Pregnancy Help News.
(Southern Nebraska Register) Dennis Kellogg, Southern Nebraska Register: Tell us what the abortion pill does and what your abortion pill reversal does as part of that process.
Dr. George Delgado, Abortion Pill Reversal Founder: First, it’s important to know what progesterone does. Progesterone is a natural hormone.... It’s absolutely essential for a healthy pregnancy. What the abortion pill does is it blocks progesterone’s actions. Think about a key fitting into a lock. It turns the lock and opens the door. That’s the good thing that progesterone does, while the mifepristone is a false key that goes into the lock, it doesn’t turn the lock, so the door never opens. By blocking progesterone’s effects, what happens is the placenta separates from the wall of the uterus, killing the preborn baby.
SNR: How effective is the reversal?
Dr. Delgado: The reversal in our studies, with our high-dose oral protocols, was 68-percent effective in reversing chemical abortions.
SNR: How did you develop this process?
Dr. Delgado: I got a phone call one day from a sidewalk counselor who was in communication with a woman in El Paso, Texas, who had taken mifepristone and changed her mind and was wondering if she could stop her chemical abortion. The sidewalk counselor was in contact with her; she called me and I said, “Well, I’ve never heard of anybody reversing a chemical abortion, but let me think about it.” And I had a lot of knowledge about using progesterone in pregnancy, in women who have low progesterone levels and are appearing to be miscarrying. Sometimes you can treat them with progesterone and save the baby.
So, I thought, perhaps this was an analogous situation. Although the progesterone levels may not be depressed, they are certainly being blocked as if they had low progesterone levels. So I thought if we gave supplemental progesterone, perhaps we could out-compete the mifepristone and save the baby. It worked in that case. That’s how I got started.
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SNR: You must have other cases as well – women whose lives have been impacted by this reversal.
Dr. Delgado: Yes, I’ve had many women that I’ve treated now, already into the hundreds. Our estimates are that there are documented over 5,000 babies who are alive today because of the abortion pill reversal.
SNR: On Tuesday, March 26, the U.S. Supreme Court (heard arguments in) a case involving chemical abortion. Talk about the impact of this case – what it involves generally and the impact it could have on the pro-life movement.
Dr. Delgado: The case really is making sure that the FDA follows its own rules and follows the laws when approving drugs. In this case, they approved mifepristone for chemical abortion without following their own rules. They approved it for children without testing it in children. They approved it without a randomized controlled trial. These are all things that are very important and we really need to hold the FDA’s feet to the fire, because they shouldn’t be giving special breaks to drugs that kill babies.
SNR: Obviously we had a major decision with the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Does this case have the potential to have the same kind of impact?
Dr. Delgado: I don’t think it will have the same impact as the Dobbs case, but I think it will still be very important and very monumental. I’m confident that the Supreme Court will rule in our favor. They’re just ruling on one part, one aspect of the case, and then the rest of it is probably going to go back to the lower courts. So it’s still going to be a couple of years in the system, but I think good things will come of this, so that the truth will ring loud and clear.
SNR: Pharmaceutical companies have said mifepristone is safe, regarding the mother. How would you answer that?
Dr. Delgado: A good study out of Finland showed that chemical abortion using mifepristone; the complication rate was five times higher compared to surgical abortions. So if they’re saying it’s safe, I don’t understand what they’re meaning by that.
Additionally, now that they’re promoting mail order and telemedicine use of mifepristone for abortion, we know that womens’ lives will be impacted because women will be getting these chemical abortifacients without having an ultrasound. They won’t know if they have ectopic pregnancies. We know that about one percent of pregnancies may be ectopic. So women will have bleeding, won’t realize if it’s actually her tube rupturing and won’t seek medical attention, thinking it’s a normal thing for a chemical abortion. She could die on her bathroom floor.
Tweet This: Our estimates are that there are documented over 5,000 babies who are alive today because of abortion pill reversal.
SNR: How has your work with the abortion pill reversal impacted your life, both professionally and personally?
Dr. Delgado: It’s been extremely gratifying and I would say that my work with abortion pill reversal has really been the highlight of my career. Just to be able to save babies’ physical lives and help mothers save their spiritual lives, it’s just been a wonderful blessing to be a part of it.
SNR: Since the Dobbs decision reversing Roe v. Wade, we’ve seen some losses when it comes to the individual states, in what they’re doing regarding abortion. Are you optimistic about the future of the pro-life movement?
Dr. Delgado: I am optimistic because we have God on our side, so I’m always optimistic in that sense. However, we do have our work cut out for us because we see their strategy now. The pro-abortion forces are going to go state to state, they’re going to misinform the voters just like they did in Ohio. Ohio is a relatively pro-life state. That initiative should have never passed there. The way they carried it out politically was extremely shrewd, so we have to learn from that and we need to be as shrewd as them, as sly as wolves, so we can defeat them on the political battlefield because we know we’re going to win the spiritual battle. That battle has already been won for us by Jesus Christ.
Watch the interview with Dr. George Delgado on the abortion pill reversal on the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln YouTube channel.