by Steven Ertelt | LifeNews.com | 3/13/15 3:09 PM

When a pregnant woman takes the dangerous abortion RU 486 abortion pill, there is a chance that the abortion drug can be reversed if she changes her mind in time about aborting her baby. Knowing that, legislators in Arizona are supporting a bill to inform women of that fact

Fr. Frank Pavone is praising an Arizona House committee for passing a first- in-the-nation amendment that would call for women to be informed that if they take the first drug of a two-step chemical abortion process, but not the second, they may be able to stop the abortion process and deliver a healthy baby.

“A woman needs to know that if she undergoes the abortion regimen, RU-486, it may not be too late to save her baby,” said Fr. Pavone.  “Priests for Life Medical Advisor Dr. Matt Harrison has pioneered a technique that has now been adopted by a whole network of physicians in which such babies have been saved. In 223 documented cases, 57 percent of the women who received the abortion reversal treatment have been able to keep their healthy babies.  The Arizona legislature, by adopting this measure, has a chance to save lives and help mothers who change their minds after taking that first pill.”

Dr. Harrison performed the first-ever reversal in 2007. At a press conference in January sponsored by Priests for Life and the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians & Gynecologists, Dr. Harrison said the baby who was saved is now a healthy and happy 8-year-old girl.

As currently administered, a chemical abortion involves taking the drug mifepristone, which makes the uterus inhospitable to new life and starves the baby. One or two days later, the second drug is taken to induce contractions and expel her child. The reversal process, which is gaining in usage as it becomes more widely known, can reverse the impact of the first drug and allow the baby to continue normal development.  Time is of the essence, though, in starting the reversal process.

Fr. Pavone said Priests for Life will push for the enactment of similar legislation in other states.

“The abortion lobby says women don’t change their minds about abortion. But most who abort are ambivalent, and when a procedure, whether early or late in pregnancy, takes a couple of days, there is a lot of opportunity for that ambivalence to assert itself,” Fr. Pavone explained. “We need to be there with the tools to help that mom and that baby. That is why we are asking counselors, medical professionals, pregnancy centers, pro-life groups, churches, and all citizens to spread the word about the abortion reversal. Moreover, we ask state legislators to introduce bills like the one in Arizona.”