An Indiana Senate committee approved an expansive pro-life bill Wednesday that will ensure mothers receive information about their unborn baby’s development and the abortion pill reversal procedure before going through with an abortion.
The committee voted 7-4 to advance House Bill 1577 to the full state Senate, WBAA reports.
“If we truly care about women being able to make informed choices, this should include knowing there’s an option if they change their mind,” Dr. Christina Francis, an Indiana OB-GYN, told the committee. “Why would we want women to live with the regret of an abortion if they don’t have to?”
Sponsored by state Rep. Peggy Mayfield, R-Martinsville, the bill would require abortion facilities to inform mothers about the abortion pill reversal procedure, which can reverse the effects of a drug-induced abortion and may save her unborn baby’s life. It also would require abortion facilities to give women a photo of her unborn baby’s ultrasound image at least 18 hours before the abortion.
The pro-life bill passed the state House in February.
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Local news reports about the bill parroted pro-abortion groups’ claims that the abortion pill reversal procedure is “anti-science” and medical groups do not support it. But research and medical experts indicate that the abortion pill reversal procedure is safe and effective. The American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists supports it, and even a prestigious Yale School of Medicine doctor told the New York Times that the treatment “makes biological sense,” and he would recommend it to his own daughter.
It has been credited with saving more than 2,000 babies’ lives.
Francis, a Fort Wayne physician and chair of the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said there are studies that show the abortion pill reversal procedure is safe and effective, the AP reports. She said women deserve to know about it as part of the informed consent process.
However, another Indiana OB-GYN, Dr. Caroline Rouse, argued that the bill would force doctors to provide “false and misleading information,” according to the report.
“So-called abortion reversal does not have science behind it,” Rouse said.
Nine other states have similar informed consent laws that include abortion pill reversal information, but three are blocked by legal challenges. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana hinted that it may sue Indiana if the bill passes, according to WLFI.
Along with the abortion pill reversal information, the bill also would require that women receiving state-required informed consent counseling at least 18 hours prior to an abortion must be given a photo of their baby’s ultrasound. In addition, a copy of the photo must be attached to her file so that state inspectors can verify that the ultrasound was performed.
Additionally, the bill would require that a parent’s signature consenting to an underage daughter’s abortion must be notarized, and it would extend conscience protections to mental health workers to protect them from being forced to help facilitate or counsel for an abortion. It also would increase accountability for abortion facilities by making sure that facilities with violations are not just rubber stamped for re-approval for their licenses.
The abortion pill reversal procedure works by counteracting the abortion drug mifepristone, one of two typically taken together to abort and then expel the unborn baby. Mifepristone makes the uterus inhospitable to new life by blocking the hormone progesterone. The reversal procedure involves giving the mother doses of progesterone to counteract the abortion drug. The abortion pill reversal procedure does not work after the mother takes the second drug, misoprostol, one or two days later.
Anyone who has taken the first abortion pill and wishes to stop the abortion is urged to immediately visit www.abortionpillreversal.com or call the Abortion Pill Reversal hotline at 877-558-0333.
