Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill on Thursday that will require those who perform medication-based abortions to inform their patients 72 hours prior to the procedure that their abortion might be reversible.

As a result of the new law, which goes into effect Nov. 1, doctors who prescribe the two-medicine abortion-inducing regimen must also explain to their patients about a possible abortion reversal option.

By substituting the second drug, Misoprostol, which causes the uterus to contract, with the hormone called Progesterone, abortions have been averted often.

The key, doctors say, is administering Progesterone within 24 hours of taking the first abortion-inducing drug, called Mifepristone.

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecology, Mifepristone is not known to cause birth defects, and as many as half of the women who only take Mifepristone continue their pregnancies.

In addition to felony charges for failing to notify patients of their abortion reversal option, providers in Oklahoma could face fines up to $10,000 a day for not posting signage in their office that includes a phone number for a 24-hour abortion pill reversal hotline and websites about fetal development.

In California, San Diego family medicine physician George Delgado has been administering the hormone Progesterone to counteract the Progesterone-blocker Mifepristone and halt abortions.

In 2012, Delgado co-authored a report in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy that details the experiences of six pregnant women who received Mifepristone followed by Progesterone injections. Four of the women carried their pregnancies to term.

In 2018, Delgado published findings in the journal Issues in Law and Medicine involving 754 patients and concluded that the reversal of Mifepristone’s effects with Progesterone “is safe and effective.”

Critics say Delgado’s research methods are flawed without a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

“There’s no alternative treatment,” Delgado responds. “You can’t always wait for the (randomized, controlled trials). “If it is lifesaving, there is no alternative.”

Senate Bill 614, introduced by state Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, passed in the Senate by a margin of 39-8, followed by the House passage 74-24.

Oklahoma joins Arizona, Arkansas, South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, North Dakota and Kentucky in approving legislation that mandates abortion providers inform their patients of abortion pill reversal options.

 

Header Image: Dr. George Delgado, a family medicine physician and founder of Culture of Life Family Services in San Diego, California.

Photo Cred.: Newscom