APR is a procedure that involves attempting to counter the effects of the first pill in a medication abortion, also known as a chemical abortion. This first pill, mifepristone, blocks the hormone progesterone, which is necessary for maintaining a pregnancy. The second pill, misoprostol, is taken 24 to 48 hours later and causes the uterus to contract and expel the pregnancy.
In some cases, women who have taken the first pill regret their decision and want to continue their pregnancy. This is where the countering process comes in.
The process begins by calling the hotline to be connected to an on-call healthcare professional who will ask some basic questions to see if the procedure is possible. If so, they will be directed to a doctor or medical provider in the area to start treatment.
An ultrasound will be done as soon as possible to confirm heart rate, placement, and dating of the pregnancy. The doctor or medical provider will prescribe progesterone to counteract the effects of mifepristone and help support the pregnancy, given as a pill to be taken orally or vaginally or possibly by intramuscular injection. The treatment will usually continue through the first trimester of pregnancy.
Progesterone is the natural hormone in a woman’s body that is necessary to nurture and sustain a pregnancy. The first pill in the abortion pill regimen blocks progesterone’s actions. By giving extra progesterone, we hope to outnumber and outcompete the first abortion pill in order to counter the effects and provide an opportunity to save the pregnancy.
For some women progesterone may cause sleepiness, lack of energy, lightheadedness, dizziness, gastrointestinal discomfort, and headaches. Increased fluid intake might help relieve these symptoms.
“The abortion pill is not safe, and it will never be medicine. Medicine is meant to heal - not to kill.”
Lila Rose
"Babies do not kill dreams; only abortion does that."
Leah Darrow
"Place your intelligence, your talents, your enthusiasm, your compassion and your fortitude at the service of life!"
—St. John Paul II
“I wish more people could know what a baby really looks like at 9 weeks, only 9 weeks.”
Christina – Live Action
“There is no better social justice cause to get involved in than saving the lives of Innocent children,”
Bishop David O’Connell
“As a mother of a 23-year-old daughter who has Down Syndrome, I see every day the unique value she brings to our family and the positive impact she has on others around her.”
Lynn Murray
“We have to be willing to have hard conversations about an injustice, to demand better, even to take peaceful but forceful action to make society better, even at the cost of our own standing in the community, and possibly even at the risk of our own freedom and safety.”
Lila Rose
“Chemical abortion is an abortion, and it is an incredibly terrifying, isolating, and painful experience, It was a violent, unnatural pain.”
Leslie, told to Live Action
“As a Church, our responsibility is to surround with love those that might be in a difficult pregnancy and help them choose life.”
Archbishop Joseph Naumann
“The idea of abortion as ‘the right to choose’, the choice they’re talking about is that — something so barbaric. They choose this barbarity. There’s a lot of reasons why, and they’re all horrible.”
Rosanna Barr
