Submitted Photo Rebekah Hagan is in North Dakota to talk about abortion reversal, a process that saved her son after she had attempted a medication abortion.

A change of heart in 2013 took Rebekah Hagan down a different path – a path that brought her to North Dakota to share her story this week.

The 26-year-old California woman will tell of her experience with chemical abortion reversal tonight at the Dakota Hope Clinic annual fundraising banquet at the Mountrail County South Complex at 6 p.m. She spoke Monday at the Dakota Hope banquet in Minot.

Hagan, who works with Heartbeat International, also travels to assist pregnancy help centers with fundraising and to testify before lawmakers about abortion reversal.

Hagan, who works with Heartbeat International, said many in the pro-life community are familiar with abortion reversal, but the public is unaware or confuses abortion drugs with the morning-after pill.

About 40% of abortions now are chemical abortions rather than surgical abortions, and that percentage is increasing, she said. The timeframe in which to reach women is getting narrower because they’re doing these abortions so early on, Hagan said.

Hagan never considered abortion when she became pregnant as a high school senior with her oldest son.

“I chose life for him,” she said. “I really did consider myself pro-life.”

However, when she became pregnant again shortly after starting college and ending an abusive relationship with the father, she panicked.

“With my first child I was shocked that I was pregnant, but with my second child, I was just devastated. Now I wasn’t naive. Now I knew how hard it was to take care of a baby,” she said. “It was scary, and everything just seemed so hopeless.”

Hagan said she reacted out of fear when she sought an abortion. Chemical abortion, which involves two medications, seemed the easiest route to go. She said went to a Planned Parenthood clinic and received a pill that she took in the clinic. She was given a second pill to take about 24 hours later at home.

Upon returning to her car, she looked into the bag containing the second pill, pain medication and antibiotic.

“It was like looking through that bag made it real. All of a sudden, that kind of hit me, and I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, what did I just do?'” she said. “Fear had enabled me to really compromise all of my morals, everything I believed in.”

Sad and frantic, she prayed and looked online for a way out.

Hagan found a website that had launched in early 2013, promising a possibility of reversing a chemical abortion. She called and was referred to a nurse with a pregnancy help center who explained how the chemical abortion and the reversal process worked.

The first abortion drug, mifepristone, binds with receptors for progesterone, a hormone necessary to maintain pregnancy. The second drug, misoprostol, causes the uterus to contract and empty. The reversal procedure introduces progesterone with the goal of preserving the pregnancy.

Hagan was referred to a physician, and 16 hours after taking the first abortion pill, she was receiving progesterone. She continued on progesterone for almost five weeks. It was the first time that particular doctor had prescribed progesterone to counteract mifepristone.

“We had no idea if it was going to work,” Hagan said.

However, in October 2013, Hagan gave birth to a healthy son.

“I’m so grateful for abortion reversal. And since then, about a little over 1,000 babies have been born because of abortion pill reversal,” Hagan said. “It’s always interesting when I hear people call abortion reversal junk science because it’s literally exactly what they’ve given to women that have a tendency to miscarry. We know this helps sustain pregnancy.”

Hagan said women can find a nationwide network of physicians willing to provide progesterone for abortion reversal, including in Minot.

Progesterone should be administered within 72 hours of taking the first drug, mifepristone. Heartbeat International reports 64-68% of reversal processes are successful, with no increase in birth defects or higher incidence of preterm labor.

The process remains controversial.

The North Dakota Legislature approved legislation requiring doctors to inform abortion patients of the option if they changed their minds, but a federal judge blocked the law, stating lawmakers shouldn’t mandate unproven medical treatments.

Planned Parenthood has taken the position that “there is no medical evidence to support the assertion that a medication abortion can be ‘reversed’ if someone is given a high dose of progesterone after taking mifepristone.”

The University of California-Davis sought to study the ability of progesterone to reverse a medication abortion last year. Of the first 12 women enrolled and given the first abortion drug but not the second abortion drug, three participants experienced severe bleeding requiring ambulance transport to an emergency department. One of the women had received progesterone and two had received placebo. Because of these safety issues, investigators stopped the study early.

Hagan completed college and married in 2018. She and her husband have two additional children.

Hagan tells her story and help raise money for pregnancy centers across the country. After her abortion reversal, she discovered a pregnancy center existed in her neighborhood and she began volunteering.

“I thought that’s incredible, amazing, that these centers are almost in every state, but so few people know about them,” she said. “I was connected with my local center and started interning there and volunteering. Then about two years later came on staff, and I did specifically community outreach.”

She added her particular message is less an argument over abortion and more about ensuring women know all their choices.

“We’re talking about women who change their minds – who want a second chance or a different choice,” she said.