The legislation primarily addresses drug-induced abortions. In the procedure, a woman takes mifepristone, then misoprostol about two days later. This type of abortion can only be done within the first nine weeks of a pregnancy. This same legislation also bars women from healthcare plans through the federal marketplace that include coverage for abortions.
“Governor Ducey was elected by people on the basis that he supported the pro-life position,” said Cathy Herrod, President of the Center for Arizona Policy, saying Bil 1318 was a step in the right direction for the state.
“Nothing’s more tragic in my view than a woman not being given the facts about an abortion, having an abortion, and later learning the truth about abortion and her options,” she told ABC15.com.
The law requiring physicians to tell women an abortion using drugs can be reversed has raised an outcry from the medical community in the state. Doctors say the law is based on “flawed science,” and could be harmful to women. The law is also sure to open up a new avenue in anti-abortion legislation at the national level, according to those opposed to the legislation.
For whatever the reason, Arizona state lawmakers decided to base the new law on the unproven and possibly erroneous research of Dr. George Delgado, the medical director of Culture of Life Family Health Care in San Diego, California. Dr. Delgado is a pro-life physician and counsels women in crisis pregnancies.
In a 2012 journal article, Delgado presented six cases for review. Of the six pregnancies he attempted to reverse using progesterone, four were successful, ending in live births at the completion of the gestation period. The article says the success was due to an intramuscular injection of 200 mg. of progesterone.
In his conclusions, Dr, Delgado said: Healthcare professionals should be aware of the possible use of progesterone to reverse mifepristone in women who have begun the medical abortion process by taking mifepristone and then change their minds.
The chairwoman of the Arizona arm of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says there is “absolutely no science to show … this is an effective method,” adding that in 30 to 50 percent of cases where women take only the first drug, mifepristone, the pregnancies carry on to full term anyway.
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