Krystle had come to a crossroads in her abortion pill process. She had two paper bags in her car as she drove to a pregnancy resource center. The one bag had misoprostol, the second and final drug in the abortion pill series. In the additional paper bag was progesterone which could stop the process started by the first abortion pill she had already taken.
Krystle’s story is very familiar to many women. She had a positive pregnancy test and an uncertain father of the baby. She made the call many young women make. She called Planned Parenthood.
Krystle shared her story as a testimonial for Heartbeat International, which manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN). In her testimony she describes the scene at the abortion facility.
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An ultrasound was performed.
“The technician was in front of me,” Krystle said. “Her position was blocking the ultrasound machine, and I wasn't sure if that was on purpose or not, but I couldn't see anything, and I wasn't really asked any questions at that point.”
Krystle said the technician informed her she was six weeks pregnant but did not offer any comfort or empathy.
“There wasn't much empathy in the room,” she said. “So, I took the first pill and she asked to look under my tongue to make sure that I swallowed it.”
Krystle then said she left the room frantically wondering if she did the right thing. She drove away crying with the little paper bag of misoprostol on her passenger seat. Krystle managed to pull over and search Google for any information on stopping the chemical abortion process.
“I'm typing in, ‘What happens if I don't take the second pill?’ ‘What are the odds that this is going to work?’” she said.
Krystle found the website for Heartbeat International and a link to Abortion Pill Reversal (APR).
She decided to call the number, and discovered the person on the other line was not cold or uncaring. The person wanted to listen, Krystle recalled. Since she had only taken the pill a few minutes prior to making the call, Krystle was in a good position to get progesterone at a local pharmacy in hopes of reversing her chemical abortion.
Progesterone is the natural hormone in a woman’s body that sustains her pregnancy. If a woman takes the first abortion pill, experiences regret and acts soon enough, it may be possible to save her unborn child through Abortion Pill Reversal. APR is an updated application of a decades-old treatment using progesterone to combat miscarriage.
Krystle picked up the progesterone. The APR hotline referred her to a pregnancy resource center. Krystle took both paper bags into the center and explained her situation:
“So, I just walked in with my two little brown paper bags, and I met this woman named Kathy, and I walked her through my day and what I was feeling. And then I whipped out these bags and I'm like, I have this, what do I do? And I remember asking her, somebody make this decision for me because I don't know what to do.”
Kathy at the pregnancy help center told Krystle that whatever decision she made; the center would be there for her. She told Krystle if she took the second abortion pill, they would offer her grief support. If she took the progesterone, they would offer her all their other resources.
Tweet This: The pregnancy help center told her that whatever decision she made; the center would be there for her.
Krystle left the center with both paper bags. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the women from the center waving from the front window.
Krystle did not drive very far before she made her decision.
“I pulled over on the side of the road and I took the brown paper bag with the abortion pill, and I just threw them down a storm drain,” she said, “and I made the decision right there to start taking the progesterone.”
Leo was born in April 2022.
Krystle gave credit to pregnancy help centers for being there for women like herself. She noted such centers are not as well known, but she encouraged other women to really research their resources. Krystle made her decision, she said, because of the support she knew she would have at the center.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and Pregnancy Help News.
