California scraps abortion pill reversal class for nurses

Nurses don’t need to learn about a procedure used to counteract the effects of an abortion-inducing drug, according to the California Board of Registered Nursing.

Just over a month after approving an “abortion pill reversal” class offered by the pro-life nonprofit organization Heartbeat International, the board issued a demand letter claiming the class isn’t “relevant to the practice of nursing” and calling for the group to “immediately cease and desist” offering the class.

Jay Hobbs, communications director at Heartbeat, told me the board didn’t question the science behind the abortion pill reversal process. “They are questioning the relevance,” he said, “and that to us is extremely telling.”

Hobbs said the legal code cited in the letter mandates continued education units for nurses be about patient care and not self-help.

“So for them to cite that code in this is basically to tell us that this is a feel-good, kumbaya treatment,” he said. “It tells those women who have actually chosen life after taking that first pill, that they’re meaningless, that their children aren’t real. They are silencing not only us but those women who have made a courageous choice for life.”

Chemically induced abortions work with a duo of drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol. The first drug blocks the effects of progesterone, which sustains the uterine lining during pregnancy, and thus ends the baby’s life. The second drug initiates contractions and expels the baby.

In 2006, family physician Dr. Matthew Harrison used progesterone injections to impede the effects of the mifepristone pill taken by a young woman. He said the idea came as “an answer to prayer,” and the woman’s baby lived. Since then, he and fellow physican Dr. George Delgado formed the organization Abortion Pill Reversal, which includes 350 doctors across the nation in its network. About 300 mothers have successfully sought progesterone treatment after taking the first abortion pill, saving their babies, according to Heartbeat.

The Ohio-based network of pregnancy care centers trains nurses on the abortion pill reversal process and in 2012 became a licensed provider of continuing education units for California nurses. It currently offers 33 courses in addition to the now-suspended abortion pill reversal class.

The about-face from California followed pressure from Rewire, pro-abortion online publication. Rewire called the abortion pill reversal class “medically questionable” in 2016, and the state launched a 17-month audit of every class Heartbeat offered. On July 28, the state gave Heartbeat permission to continue offering its courses, including its abortion pill reversal class.

But on Sept. 8, Rewire broke the news that California would demand that the organization stop offering the class or lose its license. Heartbeat received a letter from the state three days later.

Heartbeat has filed a public records request with the state to find out why it wants the class canceled, and is “fully prepared to go to court over this,” Hobbs said. “For us within the pro-life movement, I think this is a major strategic hill for us to take.”

Pro-lifers arrested inside abortion centers

In a coordinated effort Friday morning, pro-life activists in three states entered abortion centers to deliver red roses and talk to women scheduled to abort their babies. Police subsequently arrested 10 of the 13 “Red Rose Rescue” participants.

The activists, including movement veterans Joan Andrews Bell and Monica Migliorino Miller, entered centers in Alexandria, Va.; Sterling Heights, Mich.; and Albuquerque, N.M. They did not block access to entryways or procedure rooms, as some pro-life advocates did in the years before the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act set substantial penalties for such blocking, largely eliminating the practice.

In Alexandria, six activists—four women and two men, including Bell and Priests for Life priest associate Stephen Imbarrato—entered an abortion center located on the second floor of an apartment building at 8:30 a.m. They talked with the women inside and gave them roses attached to cards with phone numbers of local pregnancy resource centers.

Police arrived 30 minutes later and placed all six—who went limp—under arrest, charging them with trespassing and obstruction of justice. In removing them from the abortion center, police strapped the four women to wheelchairs or stretchers but dragged the two men out of the building. Late Friday afternoon, authorities released all six, but they are scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 21.

Miller, arrested at the Sterling Heights abortion center, said most of her associates “will not leave on our own power because we want to act in solidarity with the babies who will be killed.” She noted that one of the participants at the Sterling Heights center left when police told her to, and the two activists in New Mexico entered and left the abortion center in Albuquerque before police could arrest them.

Pro-life advocates who try to counsel within abortion centers risk fines, legal fees, and jail time. Abby McIntyre, a 20-year-old student from Indianapolis who was arrested at the Sterling Heights center, acknowledged the dilemma: “Not everyone is in a position in life in which they can get arrested.” She urged pro-life advocates to pray and take part in sidewalk counseling outside abortion centers.

Imbarrato believes two women at the Alexandria center did not go through with their abortions after the incident. Miller said the possibility of saving lives made any future legal penalties worthwhile: “We should be in the places where the most vulnerable human beings are put to death. We should be risking arrest.”

But pro-life advocates still debate whether frequent incursions into abortion centers during the late 1980s and early 1990s were productive or counterproductive. —Bob Brown

Belgian Catholic order bucks papal euthanasia ban

A Catholic order in Belgium will disobey a papal order on euthanasia after issuing a statement last week defending the ethics of killing psychiatric patients.

Pope Francis last month demanded the Brothers of Charity, an order that operates 15 psychiatric hospitals in Belgium, stop offering euthanasia and sign a letter affirming the Catholic Church’s teaching on the value of human life.

That demand followed an investigation by the Vatican after the group changed its policy to allow doctors to perform euthanasia under the idea that “autonomy of the patient is the fundamental value in contemporary society.” The Catholic Bishops of Belgium denounced the practice.

Despite opposition and the threat of excommunication, the Brothers of Charity continues to claim its rule “came from the Christian mindset.”

“We always take into account the shifts and evolutions within society,” the order added. —S.G.

California bill bans pro-life employment policies

The California legislature passed a bill Tuesday that will bar employers from “taking any adverse action” against women for any “reproductive health decisions” that can include pregnancy outside of marriage, any form of birth control, or abortion. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk.

St. Louis, Mo., had a similar city ordinance that forbade employers, lending agencies, or landlords from taking adverse action against women for having abortions. Pro-life groups fought the ordinance in court, saying it violated their freedom of religion and speech.

Missouri lawmakers passed a bill during a special legislative session overturning the ordinance, and Gov. Eric Greitens signed it in July. —S.G.

Hospital sued for not euthanizing ill woman

Two women are suing the University of California San Francisco Medical Center for not giving life-ending pills to their cancer-stricken mother. The hospital isn’t one of several in California opting out of the state’s new euthanasia law, but it allows individual physicians to refuse euthanasia requests. —S.G.

Texas dismemberment abortion law on hold

Texas officials have agreed not to enforce a new law banning abortions by dismemberment until November, when a judge will rule on its constitutionality. The decision follows a judge’s earlier injunction against the legislation. Abortion groups filed suit over the law in July. —S.G.

Baby born at 22 weeks goes home

Shortly after his due date, a California baby boy born at 22 weeks went home from the hospital this month. He was born at just over 1 pound and went home weighing more than 6 pounds. —S.G.