Facebook and Google condemned over ads for ‘abortion pill reversal’

Adverts promoting ‘dangerous, unproven and unethical’ procedure shown millions of times, study finds

Alex Hern, Technology editor
Wed 15 Sep 2021

Facebook has served “abortion reversal” adverts 18.4m times since January 2020, according to a report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), promoting an “unproven, unethical” and “dangerous” procedure.

Google shows the adverts on more than four-fifths of searches related to abortion across a number of US cities, according to the CCDH research, targeted at search terms such as “unwanted pregnancy” and “abortion pill”.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/15/facebook-and-google-condemned-over-ads-for-abortion-pill-reversal

Explainer: What is ‘abortion pill reversal’?

The unproven, potentially dangerous use of progesterone to ‘reverse’ a medical abortion is spreading globally, supported by the US Christian Right

Teddy Wilson
27 May 2021

US religious conservatives have claimed for years that a medical abortion can be ‘reversed’ if high doses of the hormone progesterone are taken.

The problem is that there is no medical evidence to support this claim – and the only trial into the method’s effectiveness and safety was abruptly halted in 2019 after several participants were hospitalised with severe haemorrhaging.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/explainer-what-is-abortion-pill-reversal/

USA – Consumer Group Urges FDA to Crack Down on Unapproved ‘Abortion Reversal’ Procedure

Consumer Group Urges FDA to Crack Down on Unapproved ‘Abortion Reversal’ Procedure

By Stephanie Russell-Kraft
on June 17, 2020

A consumer watchdog group is asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to shut down a group of websites advertising a so-called abortion pill reversal, a potentially dangerous treatment that is not FDA-approved.

One of the sites, called Abortion Pill Rescue, markets what it calls “an effective process called abortion pill reversal that can reverse the effects of the abortion pill.” The site, run by Heartbeat International, a Christian anti-abortion organization, directs visitors to a hotline that can guide them through the procedure. “If you have taken the first dose of the abortion pill and regret it, you are not alone,” the website reads. “We can help you!”

Continued: https://www.fairwarning.org/2020/06/consumer-group-urges-fda-to-crack-down-on-unapproved-abortion-reversal-procedure/

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 – Research on claims of “abortion pill reversal” stopped early

USA – Research on claims of “abortion pill reversal” stopped early

International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Dec 10, 2019
by Marge Berer

Amongst the seemingly endless anti-abortion efforts to destroy the provision of safe, legal abortion in the USA, has been an unproven claim that it is possible to reverse the abortifacient effects of mifepristone by taking progesterone. As the editor of this newsletter, I decided against reporting this up to now because the only “evidence” put forward (by a handful of anti-abortion doctors in the USA) was and has remained too thin to draw any conclusions from it, based literally on a handful of cases and without a control group. Unfortunately, the European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care published the study in December 2017, giving it a veneer of scientific respectability that it did not deserve. Some anti-abortion politicians in the USA, who weren’t apparently concerned about the lack of evidence, put laws through the national legislatures of eight US states requiring doctors to offer “abortion pill reversal” to any woman who had taken mifepristone, but not yet taken the misoprostol 24 hours later (if she changed her mind). I wrote a comment criticising the article, which was published in April 2018: Response to “Progesterone for preventing pregnancy termination after initiation of medical abortion with mifepristone”: what’s the real point here? Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care 2018 Apr;23 (2):169. The original article was not removed but “corrected”.

Continued: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/usa-research-on-claims-of-abortion-pill-reversal-stopped-early/

‘Abortion Reversal’ Is Not Only B.S. but Is Dangerous Too

‘Abortion Reversal’ Is Not Only B.S. but Is Dangerous Too
UC Davis Health ended a study early after researchers found a risk of “serious blood loss” when patients stopped in the middle of the medication abortion protocol.

Dec 6, 2019
Hayley Farless

The first-ever randomized clinical study on the medically unproven “abortion reversal” treatment being pushed by anti-choice advocates has ended early as a result of safety concerns for participants, according to UC Davis Health, the academic health center where the research was being conducted.

The study sought to enroll 40 pregnant people who were planning to have a medication abortion and test the effectiveness of progesterone as a way to “reverse” an abortion. At the time of its conclusion, only 12 participants had enrolled. Of those, one participant who had received progesterone and two who had received a placebo experienced severe bleeding that required ambulance transport.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/12/06/abortion-reversal-is-not-only-b-s-but-is-dangerous-too/

USA – Safety Problems Lead To Early End For Study Of ‘Abortion Pill Reversal’

Safety Problems Lead To Early End For Study Of 'Abortion Pill Reversal'

December 5, 2019
Mara Gordon

A study designed to test the effectiveness of a controversial practice known as "abortion pill reversal" has been stopped early because of safety concerns.

Researchers from the University of California, Davis, were investigating claims that the hormone progesterone can stop a medication-based abortion after a patient has completed the first part of the two-step process.

continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/12/05/785262221/safety-problems-lead-to-early-end-for-study-of-abortion-pill-reversal

05.12.2019

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USA – Pregnant people are being offered an unproven treatment to “reverse” abortions

Pregnant people are being offered an unproven treatment to “reverse” abortions
There’s no real evidence that it works — and no data on the side effects.

By Anna North
Nov 11, 2019

“Even if you’ve taken the abortion pill, you can still change your mind,” proclaims the website of a group called Alternatives Pregnancy Center.

The center offers what it calls “abortion pill reversal,” a treatment it claims can stop a medication abortion that’s already been started. Many organizations around the country are beginning to offer the procedure, and a growing number of states require that patients seeking abortions be told about it.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/11/11/20953337/abortion-pill-reversal-ohio-bill-law-pregnancy

Medication abortion reversal is “devoid of scientific support,” judge rules in North Dakota

Medication abortion reversal is "devoid of scientific support," judge rules in North Dakota

By Kate Smith
September 10, 2019

A judge in North Dakota ruled against the state's recent law requiring physicians to tell patients that their medication abortions may reversed, a claim he called "devoid of scientific support, misleading, and untrue."

In a 24-page decision issued Tuesday morning, Judge Daniel Hovland granted the American Medical Association and Red River Women's Clinic — North Dakota's only abortion provider — a preliminary injunction against North Dakota House Bill 1336, which would have required physicians to tell patients "that it may be possible to reverse the effects of an abortion-inducing drug if she changes her mind, but time is of the essence," according to the law's text.

Continued: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/medication-abortion-reversal-is-devoid-of-scientific-support-judge-rules-in-north-dakota-today-2019-09-10/

USA – Inside The Dangerous Rise Of ‘Abortion Reversal’ Bills

Inside The Dangerous Rise Of ‘Abortion Reversal’ Bills
This year, five states have passed laws mandating that physicians tell patients their abortions can be reversed — even though evidence says otherwise.

By Melissa Jeltsen, HuffPost US
June 29, 2019

The number of states that require doctors to tell patients their abortions can be reversed with an experimental treatment doubled this year.

The rise of so-called “abortion reversal” bills has alarmed leading medical groups that say such legislation forces physicians to give misleading, unscientific and potentially dangerous advice to women, undermining the trusted doctor-patient relationship.

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/abortion-reversal-bills_n_5d164c6ee4b07f6ca57cc6fc