Idaho Senate panel advances bill aimed at informing women how drug abortions can be reversed

An Idaho Senate panel has approved a legislation that would require doctors to inform women seeking abortions that chemically induced abortions can be reversed.

State Senate Bill 1243, sponsored by Sen. Lori Den Hartog, would require physicians to inform women seeking abortions about the possibility that drug-induced abortions may be reversed, and it also requires them to provide information where they may seek reversal treatment, according to Life News.

"This bill is all about giving women information about a very momentous decision. We want women to have information, options and choices," Hartog said.

The measure was approved by the Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday with two Democratic members opposing.

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has criticized the reversal treatment, saying claims of reversing chemically induced abortions are not backed by science.

Chemically induced abortion involves taking two drugs. The first pill — mifepristone — thins the lining of the uterus and loosens the connection between the embryo and uterine lining, while the second — misoprostol — induces contractions.

Proponents of abortion reversal treatment have said that an injection of the hormone progesterone given after the first pill, but before the second, can halt an abortion.

Life News reported that doctors who have developed the reversal have said that more than 400 abortions have been reversed as a result of the treatment. Dr. Harvey Kliman of Yale School of Medicine has stated that the treatment "makes biological sense," and he would recommend it to his own daughter.

Rebekah Buell, who decided undergo reversal treatment after starting the abortion process, said that it worked for her and she now has a healthy son.

"It was absolutely my choice, but it was a choice I made out of fear panic and in crisis. Immediately after taking that very first abortion pill....I changed my mind. And I felt regret and grief and guilt and I just wanted this baby more than anything," she recounted.

According to Idaho Statesman, SB1243 is similar to a 2016 Arkansas law that requires women to be told that requires women to be told that "it may be possible to reverse the effects of the abortion if the pregnant woman changes her mind, but that time is of the essence."

Similar laws have been enacted in Utah, Arkansas and South Dakota. The measure that was passed in Utah and South Dakota requires women to be informed that the abortion pill mifepristone does not always end a pregnancy if taken alone. Arizona passed a similar law in 2015, but it was challenged in court and eventually dropped.