False: Pills can be used to "reverse" an abortion.

A number of posts on Facebook are advertising “abortion reversal pills,” which organizations claim can help someone to successfully give birth if they do not choose to continue with the termination of a pregnancy. The Facebook post uses the case study of a young woman who is reported to have bought the pills after she had changed her mind about medical abortion. In the post, she claims that the decision “saved mine and my baby’s life.” It provides a link to purchase the pills. However, medical experts have agreed that these drugs are not safe or tested, and have advised against using them. The University of California’s ANSIRH group (Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health) noted that there is no evidence that “abortion reversal pills” work. Medical abortions are induced through the use of two pills, the first of which is Mifepristone, which blocks the hormone progesterone. Reverse abortion pills supposedly work by counteracting the drug with progesterone, thus stopping the process in its tracks. However, as noted by ANSIRH, this hypothesis has no basis in science. It is not biologically possible to “reverse” an abortion. If someone decides not to continue with a medical abortion, they can choose not to take the second pill. There is then a 25 percent chance of a healthy pregnancy. Studies and reviews of these medications have consistently found that there is not enough evidence that the pills are effective. A review of a study by the pill’s creator, Dr. George Delgado, noted that the drug is “experimental.” It added that the study’s sample size was too small and that the research was “of poor quality and lacked clear information.” Between 2015 and 2019, a number of U.S. senators attempted to introduce bills that would require doctors to provide women with advice on how to “reverse” an abortion if she chooses to. The bills repeatedly failed on account of a lack of reliable evidence. However, this has not prevented advertising on abortion reversal. A CrowdTangle search by Logically found that these promotions saw a spike in activity between May 2, and May 5, 2022. These dates coincide with news of a leaked document from the Supreme Court voting to overturn Roe v Wade, a landmark case making abortion legal across the U.S. Research has shown that the vast majority of women do not regret their decision to have an abortion. The New Scientist reports that a 2022 study found that while approximately half of the 667 women interviewed said that it was a difficult decision at the time, 99 percent felt they had made the right decision five years later. There's no evidence that these medications are effective, and they have not been approved for public use. As such, we have marked the claim as misleading.