CV NEWS FEED // The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) notes that progesterone, used in abortion pill reversals, may “increase risk of ongoing pregnancy,” Pregnancy Help News reported on August 29.
Both the CDC and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) “often deny the reality of Abortion Pill Reversal and refuse to advocate for this option for those who have regret after taking the abortion pill,” wrote Christa Brown, a registered nurse and Senior Director of Medical Impact for Heartbeat International.
However, Brown continued, “both organizations ironically warn abortion providers not to administer progestin birth control immediately after starting an abortion, because they might inadvertently cause a reversal.”
Brown explained that the CDC admitted this when they warned that in a first trimester pregnancy, administering progesterone on the same day as taking an abortion pill “might slightly decrease medication abortion effectiveness and increase risk of ongoing pregnancy.”
Similarly, Brown pointed out that ACOG warns that administering progesterone on the same day of taking an abortion pill “may increase risk of ongoing pregnancy.”
The abortion pill Mifepristone is an “anti-progesterone steroid that works by blocking progesterone receptors,” Brown explained.
Reversing processes like this “is a foundational concept in drug development,” Brown wrote. The progesterone in the abortion pill reversal process can save the pregnancy because, “With an increased concentration of progesterone, such as the progestin in DepoProvera, the mifepristone is quickly displaced from those receptors.”
Progesterone has been used to support pregnancies since the 1950s, according to Brown, who added that it has saved thousands of pregnancies when used to reverse the abortion pill.