Abortion advocates within the medical community have criticized the use of progesterone to reverse the effects of the abortion drug, mifepristone. But many physicians, including Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) pioneer Dr. George Delgado, have witnessed its life-saving effects. An estimated 8,000 children are alive today because of APR—one piece of evidence of the efficacy of this treatment.
A new retrospective cohort study by Delgado, et al., was recently published in Linacre Quarterly. The study looked at a total of 765 women who initiated progesterone therapy after mifepristone ingestion for induced abortion. The primary outcome evaluated was ongoing pregnancy two weeks after progesterone initiation. Secondary outcomes evaluated included adverse events and dose and route of progesterone administration.
Of the women included, 55% had ongoing viable pregnancies two weeks after progesterone administration (a statistically significant increase above the rate of 25% with no progesterone from prior studies). Ongoing pregnancy rates were significantly lower when mifepristone was taken at six weeks of pregnancy or less. Importantly, the rate of adverse events in the progesterone group was significantly lower than in the group that completed their abortions.
This paper is an important addition to the growing body of evidence that supports the safety and efficacy of mifepristone reversal with progesterone therapy, and we support the authors’ call for more research to be done, particularly prospective trials. This is an important step in giving women who regret initiating an abortion the chance to save their child’s life. Read the full paper here.
