USA – Unproven, Unethical and Dangerous: Counseling Requirements on Stopping a Medication Abortion Threaten Patients and Providers

Unproven, Unethical and Dangerous: Counseling Requirements on Stopping a Medication Abortion Threaten Patients and Providers

Olivia Cappello, Guttmacher Institute
December 16, 2019

Patients obtaining a medication abortion from a health care provider expect to have a conversation about the pills they need to take for the procedure, a treatment that has been proven safe over 20 years of use and is more than 95% effective. Their provider will tell them about expected side effects and potential complications, which are similar to those of a miscarriage.

But in an increasing number of states, their provider is forced to tell them about medication abortion “reversal”—an unproven and medically unsupported treatment that can allegedly stop a medication abortion after the patient takes the first pill in the abortion regimen, mifepristone. This counseling is mandated under the guise of providing patients with options. In reality, it uses flawed research to undermine personal reproductive health choices.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2019/12/unproven-unethical-and-dangerous-counseling-requirements-stopping-medication


USA – State Policy Trends 2019: A Wave of Abortion Bans, But Some States Are Fighting Back

State Policy Trends 2019: A Wave of Abortion Bans, But Some States Are Fighting Back

Elizabeth Nash, Guttmacher Institute
Lizamarie Mohammed, Guttmacher Institute
Olivia Cappello, Guttmacher Institute
Sophia Naide, Guttmacher Institute
First published online: December 10, 2019

In 2019, conservative state legislators raced to enact an unprecedented wave of bans on all, most or some abortions, and by the end of the year, 25 new abortion bans had been signed into law, primarily in the South and Midwest. Along with this new strategy, legislators also continued their efforts to adopt other types of abortion restrictions, including requirements for abortion providers to give patients misleading and inaccurate information about the potential to reverse a medication abortion as part of abortion counseling.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2019/12/state-policy-trends-2019-wave-abortion-bans-some-states-are-fighting-back