By Dave Andrusko
Following more than “two hours of impassioned testimony,” an Idaho Senate Committee approved SB 1243 which will require that women seeking chemical abortions be provided with information about the possibility that the abortion can be halted.
The Senate State Affairs Committee sent the bill along to the full Senate “with a recommendation that it ‘do pass,’” according to the Associated Press’s Kimberlee Kruesi.
The AP reported that Democratic critics, such as Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett, “think it’s premature to put this in statute,” that the “abortion reversal” technique is unproven.
By contrast Sen. Marv Hagedorn (R) said, “The objective here is to inform, and that’s what this allows to happen,” adding. “I see nothing wrong with informing women about the decisions that they need to make.”
Kruesi quoted Sen. Steve Vick (R), who said, “One of the concerns that was addressed earlier in the committee surprised me, that women were getting too much information. I do think that is not the case. I do think that people can make good decisions.”
Kruesi wrote the bill is expected to become law this year.
“Within the last few years, legislation providing information on the possibility of abortion pill reversal (APR) has been introduced in a number of state legislatures and is the law in four states—Arizona, Arkansas, South Dakota, and Utah,” said Ingrid Duran, director of NRLC’s Department of State Legislation.
Duran explained that the effort to halt chemical abortion was first launched by Dr. George Delgado and Dr. Matt Harrison, Medical Director and Associate Medical Director of Abortion Pill Reversal, respectively. They have found it may sometimes be possible to save the unborn baby provided the woman has not taken the second of the two drugs that make up the chemical abortion regime.
“Here’s how their technique works,” she told NRL News Today. “First, they perform an ultrasound to determine that the unborn child is still alive. When this is confirmed, they prescribe large amounts of progesterone for the duration of the first trimester to attempt to counter the impact of the mifepristone.”
Duran added that she expects other states to introduce APR legislation this legislative year which typically takes the form of amending a state’s informed consent law to provide mothers with information about the possibility of halting the chemical abortion process.