In the fall of 2014, 25-year-old Autumn Barnes found herself in an unexpected pregnancy. Worried about finances and the future ahead, she and her boyfriend, who already had a little girl, were concerned they would not be able to care for another child. She had never considered having an abortion before, but Autumn was scared and felt she had no choice. Eight weeks pregnant, she went to the doctor without telling anyone and took the abortion pill.
According to Fox 46 WJZY who covered the story, Autumn said,
“When I got into the truck it just kept running through my mind, ‘I just killed my baby.’ I have a little girl at home – how is it fair that I just took an innocent child’s life?”
When she got home, Autumn began searching the internet for anything she could do to reverse the chemical abortion. It was then that she came across a link to abortionpillreversal.com. The website informed her that if she acted quickly, her baby could be saved. Although feeling it was too good to be true, she desperately picked up the phone and called the hotline number.
Autumn was quickly connected to a local doctor who provided an abortion pill reversal kit, and she began the treatment immediately. Two days later, she went in for an ultrasound. She describes the moment:
“I looked to the right and I saw the screen and the nurse said there’s your baby’s heartbeat. I was so happy, I think my smile was contagious. Seeing his heartbeat was like oh my goodness that’s my baby, and he’s safe, and he’s alive and hopefully he’s healthy.”
The treatment had successfully reversed the chemical abortion. On May 18th, 2015, Autumn gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Walker. Now, Walker is five months old, healthy, and “growing like a weed.”
“I was definitely given a second chance, and [Walker] was too,” Autumn said. “Who knows what he’ll be when he grows up. Being able to hold him and count his toes and tickle his feet – it’s just special because of what happened and my decision I almost made. I want to try to share our story just to let people know this is available. I did almost make a mistake.”
So what is the abortion pill reversal kit and how does it work?
Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) is a groundbreaking new program fostered by Culture of Life Family Services in San Diego, California to reverse chemical abortions induced by the abortion pill. Dr. Matthew Harrison of Novant Health’s Rowan County Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, North Carolina, pioneered the new process and performed the first successful abortion reversal in 2006.
According to their website, the reversal treatment is a sequence of progesterone injections that should take place within 72 hours after the woman has taken the first abortion pill – RU486 or mifepristone – and before she has taken the second abortion pill – Cytotec.
“The way the abortion pill works is it essentially starves the baby by blocking the natural hormone that’s in the woman’s body, which is progesterone, thereby breaking the connection between the placenta and the uterus disrupting nutrients to the baby, causing death.” Dr. Harrison told Fox 46. “This is followed 48-72 hours later with Cytotec which induces labor. What progesterone does, the treatment we give her, is it puts extra hormones into her system, the natural hormone that’s already in her system, and it floods her system with progesterone so the abortion pill doesn’t work.”
Fox 46 reports that 137 babies have been born safely and 76 mothers remain pregnant in the United States due to Abortion Pill Reversal. As stated on the APR website, 60% of women who have chosen reversal have continued with their pregnancies and successfully delivered their babies.
There are 270 physicians in the APR program network that assist women worldwide, and over 300 medical providers offer APR in the U.S.
In Illinois specifically, there happen to be a number of physicians in the APR program. Their locations include Downers Grove/Chicagoland area, Moline, Peoria, and Urbana. There are also medical professionals at nearby locations in Iowa, Indiana, and Missouri.
Regardless of her location, any woman who changes her mind and wants to save her baby’s life is encouraged to call the 24 hour/7 days a week hotline as soon as she can. Hotline nurses will be able to answer any immediate questions and help connect her with the closest medical professional as soon as possible.
The hotline number is (877)-558-0333.
For more information on the APR program, you can visit their website abortionpillreversal.com.