Editor’s note: The last name of the mother who spoke to Townhall has been omitted to protect her privacy.
Katelynn discovered she was pregnant with her daughter Aubrey on Christmas Day two years ago. At first, she was excited. But in the days that followed, she had second thoughts about bringing another child into the world.
With several other kids to care for, as well as a slew of other personal issues impacting her family’s day-to-day life, Katelynn decided to go through with an abortion and told her husband. But, after receiving the chemical abortion pill through Planned Parenthood and taking the first dose, she instantly felt regret.
“I took the pill, and they [Planned Parenthood] told me I needed to go pick four more up from the pharmacy,” Katelynn told Townhall. “The next day, when I was alone, again, I was like, ‘you know, this is not the right choice.’”
“I stopped looking at it [the baby] as a burden and started looking at it as an opportunity,” she said.
From there, Katelynn did a Google search and called Heartbeat International, who put her in touch with a pro-life pregnancy center in her area who provided her with Abortion Pill Reversal (APR).
That morning, Katelynn drove an hour away, without telling anyone, and found out her unborn baby was still alive. She took APR and saved her daughter. She is now a year-and-a-half old.
“When I went to go ask a question [at Planned Parenthood], it was like, shut down,” she said. “It wasn’t open and honest.”
Katelynn utilized the Blue Ridge Women’s Center in Roanoke, Virginia.
“As we [Katelynn and her husband] were changing our lifestyle, it helped to have that pro-life pregnancy center in the back of my pocket to help us guide us in the right direction,” she said.
Katelynn’s story is not uncommon. According to Heartbeat International, over 4,000 lives have been saved through Abortion Pill Reversal, when a woman begins a medication abortion and changes her mind after she’s taken the first dose of mifepristone. Anymore, medication abortions, also known as chemical abortions, account for the majority of abortions in the United States.
Now, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade reversal decision, organizations like Heartbeat International are working with pro-life resource centers across the country to get the message out about resources like APR, especially as states begin to pass radical pro-abortion legislation.
Recently, in Ohio, voters passed a radical pro-abortion amendment that undermines parental rights. Savannah Martin, the executive director of the pro-life Bella Vita network in Toledo, shared with Townhall how her organization is working to get across a pro-life message in the aftermath of the decision.
“We’re definitely all devastated by the reality,” Martin said of the recent vote to pass the amendment. “We have 123 pregnancy centers across the state of Ohio…while we’re sad, we’re also ready. We’re ready to serve these families as the solution to, unfortunately, what Ohio has chosen.”
Now, pro-abortion advocates are using Ohio’s blueprint to pass radical pro-abortion amendments in states like Missouri and Nebraska.
“One of the things that we [pro-lifers] learned maybe, later than we should have, is the courage and the importance of pregnancy centers telling their stories…I think our mode for so long has been, ‘keep your head down and do the good work.’ But we don’t have anything to be ashamed by…My encouragement to centers in those states [Missouri and Nebraska] is to proudly tell your story…women leave abortion facilities with the light drained from their eyes. Women leave pregnancy centers with the light in their eyes. And that’s the distinctive difference,” Martin explained.
Marsha Middleton, the CEO of Alliance for Life in Missouri, shared what her state is doing to prevent an amendment similar to Ohio’s from passing.
“I’ve talked a little bit with Ohio, and finding out some things after the fact, what they’ve learned from the loss that we need to take back to Missouri,” Middleton said. “I’m hoping to be able to really rally our troops, as well as through our Alliance with our pregnancy centers and ministries to get involved in this, especially speaking with their churches.”
In September, Townhall covered how California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, sued pro-life pregnancy resource centers for alleged false advertisement of APR. According to the The Los Angeles Times, Bonta called the centers “predatory,” alleging they “took advantage” of vulnerable pregnant patients by making false promises.
“Those who are struggling with the complex decision to get an abortion deserve support and trustworthy guidance — not lies and misinformation,” Bonta said at the time.
Christa Brown, the senior director of medical impact for Heartbeat International, pushed back against Bonta’s claims in an interview with Townhall. Heartbeat International’s abortion pill reversal hotline allows women to call anytime, day or night, to talk to a nurse about APR.
“Women have options, and they have the right to choose reversal,” Brown said. “It’s confusing to me, because I don’t know why they’d [California] want to limit choices for women. If you call yourself pro-choice, you would think that you would want women to still have that option.”
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