Two of Ohio’s most anti-abortion lawmakers want doctors to tell pregnant patients about an unproven abortion reversal protocol.
A new bill from Reps. Johnathan Newman, R-Troy, and Jennifer Gross, R-West Chester, would require abortion providers to inform pregnant patients about the experimental protocol, which involves taking progesterone between abortion pills.
The proposed law includes a prescribed script with language, such as: “It may not be too late to save your pregnancy” and “This process gives your baby a second chance at life.” The bill would also require the Ohio Department of Health to share information about abortion reversal and a hotline for pregnant patients.
The protocol originated from a 2012 study, in which four of six patients who took progesterone were able to carry their pregnancies to term. Dr. George Delgado, one of the study’s authors, has touted the experiment as evidence that abortion reversal is possible. He works at the California-based Culture of Life Family Health Care and is certified in family medicine, not obstetrics. Even so, Newman said the work should receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the years since, other researchers have called “abortion reversal” protocols “experimental and unproven.” The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not support prescribing progesterone to stop a medication abortion.
“Patients need medically accurate information, not state-mandated deception, pressure or shame,” said Gabriel Mann, spokesperson for Abortion Forward, which advocated for the 2023 constitutional amendment to protect abortion access. “This is pushing an unproven notion as if it’s medical science. It’s not medical science.”
Ohio lawmakers have pitched abortion reversal bill before
That hasn’t stopped more than a dozen Republican-run states from requiring doctors to notify patients about abortion reversal. Ohio lawmakers have attempted to pass a similar bill since at least 2019. Both Ohio Right to Life and Christian lobbying group, the Center for Christian Virtue, support the newly proposed law.
Another bill, which would reinstitute a 24-hour waiting period for abortions, is expected on the House floor on March 25. It includes a requirement that doctors tell patients about abortion reversal, but Newman said the bills are not duplicative.
Both Newman and Gross have gone further than even some of their Republican colleagues in opposing abortion. Newman has introduced a bill to treat all abortions like homicides and criminally charge patients who have them − a step too far for some abortion opponents. And Gross has said: “A woman’s gift is that of producing life.”
The bill is being introduced as Republicans in Congress seek to revoke FDA approval for the abortion medication mifepristone. About 59% of abortions performed in Ohio are medication abortions, typically involving mifepristone, according to the Ohio Department of Health’s latest data.
A challenge to 2023 abortion rights amendment?
Opponents and proponents of abortion access dispute whether abortion reversal language would violate Ohio’s abortion rights amendment, which voters approved in 2023. Abortion opponents contend that providing information about abortion doesn’t block a patient from accessing one.
“It doesn’t affect a woman’s initial decision to pursue an abortion. It simply ensures accurate, supportive resources are available if she changes her mind,” Gross said.
But abortion rights advocates say any unnecessary, state-sanctioned delay can be a burden. Mann said this, and the 24-hour waiting period, are “designed at their core to obstruct people from getting an abortion.”
The bill is in the early stages of the legislative process. It would need to pass the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate before heading to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature.
State government reporter Jessie Balmert can be reached at jbalmert@usatodayco.com or @jbalmert on X.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio GOP lawmakers push experimental ‘abortion reversal’
Reporting by Jessie Balmert, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
