(ADF Legal) Tina was 35 when she found out she was pregnant. She was working full-time and happily married, but she feared how her employer would respond to the news. So, she decided to get an abortion. But as soon as she started the chemical abortion process, she was filled with regret. She wanted another option, another opportunity to choose life.
“I hated what I had done. I stayed up all night worrying that I made the wrong choice,” she writes. “I started praying. The next morning I frantically looked online to see if I had any options to save my baby. I found the abortion pill reversal website and called the hotline.”
Thankfully, Tina was connected with a clinic who was able to administer progesterone in an attempt to stop the abortive process—and it worked.
“After receiving progesterone for a week, I came back for an ultrasound to see if the baby survived. He did. He was alive and well. He was saved… Without the option of the abortion pill reversal, he would not be here today.”
Tina’s story is a hopeful one. Because she sought out more information about all her options, she was able to choose life for her son. And she isn’t alone. Statistics show 1,000 women have successfully chosen to stop their chemical abortions, saving their pregnancies. But what would have happened if Tina hadn’t found the hotline? What if she had been unable to learn about additional options? Tina deserved to know from the start that abortion pill reversal was possible.
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Women have the right to be fully informed about their medical procedures. They should have complete disclosure of the process, the risks, and what’s at stake—especially when it’s a life.
Thankfully, the state of North Dakota agrees.
North Dakota has a crucial informed-consent law that ensures women who are considering abortion know two accurate, relevant things:
- That choosing abortion ends “the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being.”
- That if the woman chooses, a chemical abortion may be stopped early in the process with the aid of Abortion Pill Reversal.
When women are given this information, they have a better understanding of the procedure and all their options. It’s their right to know.
But the American Medical Association (AMA) wants to keep women in the dark. It doesn’t want women to know that abortion takes a life or that they might have a second chance at choosing life for their babies if a chemical abortion is treated quickly.
In fact, the AMA so desperately doesn’t want women to have this information that it’s taking North Dakota to court. In June 2019, the AMA filed a lawsuit challenging North Dakota’s informed-consent statute and trying to strike down these two provisions that give women critical medical information. AMA—which has been hijacked by pro-abortion interests--doesn’t want women to have all the scientific facts.
The AMA claims that requiring doctors to inform women of all their options surrounding an abortion violates the free speech rights of medical professionals. Apparently, the AMA doesn’t understand informed consent.
That’s why Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) client, Heartbeat International, intervened in this case to support North Dakota’s statute—and the right of women everywhere to make decisions with all the facts.
“Every woman deserves to know the whole truth about abortion, and that includes the facts about her child and the choices she can make every step of the way,” ADF Legal Counsel Denise Harle said. “The American Medical Association, which ought to support providing patients with as much information as possible, instead wants to keep vulnerable women in the dark about vital information about fetal development and their pregnancy options prior to an abortion. Women deserve to know the truth.”
How many women like Tina would jump at the chance to reverse the effects of their chemical abortions if given the option? And how many more women like Tina have wanted to make that choice in the past—but didn’t know they had it?
“I am thankful I found the information readily available online and for the caring nurse who talked to me and to the doctor,” Tina recalls. “She is my son’s angel. Thank you for giving us a second chance.”
The bottom line is that women have the right to know all the details and options available to them during any medical procedure. Why should abortions be any different?
Editor's note: This article originally appeared on adflegal.org and is reprinted with permission. Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue Network and Pregnancy Help News.
