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The Abortion Pill Lie: One Young Woman’s Story 


I’ve spent almost 25 years fighting for life in Arizona. I have tracked all Arizona abortion related legislation over those years, done thousands of hours of research, have been part of multiple life related coalitions,  run a prolife ministry at Dream City Church, serve on the board of Choices Pregnancy Centers and have directly helped hundreds of women in difficult situations.  I, along with many others, fought hard to defeat Prop 139 in 2024.  Many Arizona voters are just now realizing how much Prop 139 supporters lied to them and how damaging and tragic the passage of 139 is to women and children in our state.  


Because of the passage of Prop 139, a recent lawsuit filed by abortionists was able to dismantle multiple longstanding common sense Arizona laws.  One of the most egregious changes makes abortion pills much easier to access and much more dangerous for women.  To highlight these dangers, I recently helped connect a pro-life op-ed contributor for the Arizona Republic with a woman in her early twenties who had shared her story with me. She wanted to use her own story to warn other young women about the dangers of the abortion pill.  The paper’s editor refused to publish the story without sanitizing the information and without doxing her. So, with her permission, I’m sharing her story along with some other general information about the dangers of chemical abortion or abortion pills. ~ Debi Vandenboom, America’s Women Director of SALT (Strategically Advancing Love & Truth) 


Abortion-minded women often think that a pill will somehow detach them from experiencing the abortion procedure. But in reality, many report seeing their baby’s heart still beating or arms and legs moving after this traumatic delivery. (Yes, a baby has a beating heart, arms, legs, fingers, toes, and every organ has begun to develop before the end of the first trimester.) 


Chemical abortion is a series of two drugs. Mifepristone (Mifeprex) is taken first. It binds and blocks progesterone which essentially cuts off life sustaining nutrients from the growing baby. Within 72 hours she takes a second drug, Misoprostol, which triggers labor and causes the mother to deliver a tiny, often recognizable baby. 

 

Those who profit financially and politically from promoting abortion claim that abortion pills are safer than Tylenol. On its face, this is a ridiculous claim because when the abortion pills work properly, at least one life is ended. Even further, when you look at the FDA insert that accompanies Mifeprex, and look at a recent study of Medicaid patients’ records related to abortion pill usage, you can see how dangerous medication abortion truly is. Mifeprex contains a black box warning, the most serious FDA warning, which is used for drugs that have a significant risk of serious and potentially life-threatening side effects. Blood clots the size of a lemon are considered “normal”. Up to 10% of women will have to have a follow up surgical abortion to prevent sepsis.  Up to 8% will hemorrhage for more than 30 days, and one in twenty women will end up in the ER with serious complications after taking abortion pills.  My young friend “Jenna” ended up in the ER. 

  

Jenna was 18 when she found out she was pregnant.  At the time, Arizona law prohibited the mailing of abortion pills, but she was able to purchase them online. She was 13 weeks pregnant, well past the FDA recommended use of Mifeprex through 7 weeks and several weeks past the typical Planned Parenthood protocol through 10 weeks. When she purchased the pills, she was asked for very little information, given no warnings about potential risks or side effects, no medical exam was required, and she was told almost nothing about what to expect. She was young, scared, and desperate and was alone when she took them.  Once they started affecting her, she panicked so she went to the ER. They weren’t initially taking her complaints seriously until she came out of the bathroom soaked in blood.  All in all, it was a terrible, traumatic experience that she wouldn’t wish for anyone.  


Now, because of prop 139 and the recent lawsuits, women in Arizona will no longer be required to have an ultrasound, making accurate gestational dating and the detection of ectopic pregnancies impossible. A rupturing ectopic pregnancy can be masked by the abortion pills because the symptoms are the same.  An in-person visit is no longer required, which makes it easier for minors to access pills behind parents’ backs and easier for sex abusers and traffickers to force secret abortions on their victims. It also eliminates informed consent requirements, meaning that more young women like Jenna will undergo a serious procedure all alone, and without fully knowing what to expect, or what to do when things go wrong.  


Jenna is deeply troubled that our state laws have been gutted to make pills even easier to access. All of the information she received online convinced her that it was safe and easy and that it was not in fact a baby, just “products of conception”.   


This is the lie being sold to desperate young women, and it’s a lie that Prop 139 just made even easier for profit-driven abortionists to peddle. My challenge, and Jenna’s challenge to you, is to educate yourself. Share Jenna’s story. Familiarize yourself with your local pregnancy center. Keep the abortion pill reversal hotline information on hand. Follow a national bill introduced this March called the “Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act”.  And most importantly, pray. Pray for public awareness about the dangers of abortion pills and for hearts, minds and laws to change. 


If you have taken the first abortion drug, but not the second, there may be time to reverse the effects of the abortion pill. Please visit www.abortionpillreversal.com for help. 


If you are pregnant and need help, please visit Choices  www.choicesaz.com or your local pregnancy center for a free ultrasound, free parenting classes, free diapers and more.  

If you have had an abortion you regret, you are not alone. There is hope. Contact Choices Pregnancy Centers Post Abortion Support - Choices Pregnancy Centers, Dream City Church www.dreamcity.church/groups, or your local pro-life pregnancy center to find a private small group near you.  


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