When Uyen became pregnant with her boyfriend, he wanted her to have an abortion.
“He came up with a lot of reasons why I should have it,” she said.
The fact she was 40 years old meant she would have a greater chance of having a baby with a birth defect was something he told her. She said he would do internet searches looking for reasons why someone her age should not have kids and they would argue.
Uyen shared her story in court in the first Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) trial in the U.S., which has implications beyond California for pregnancy help and free speech.
Uyen testified July 21 in The People of the State of California v. Heartbeat International & RealOptions, where California’s Attorney General is seeking nearly $20 million in penalties against Heartbeat International over its promotion of APR through its Abortion Pill Rescue Network(APRN).
The People v. Heartbeat International case will decide if state attorneys general can impose crushing fines against a charity over viewpoints with which those AGs disapprove.
[Click here to subscribe to Pregnancy Help News!]
The APRN is a hotline and network of nearly 1,500 healthcare professionals, pregnancy centers, and hospitals worldwide that administer the APR protocol.
APR is a newer application of a treatment used since the 1950s to prevent miscarriage.
It involves administering a bioidentical version of progesterone, the natural hormone in a woman’s body necessary to sustain pregnancy, to counter the effects of mifepristone, the first of two drugs in the chemical abortion regimen.
If a woman starts a chemical abortion by taking mifepristone and has regret, and she acts quickly enough, it may be possible to save her unborn child with APR. Statistics show to date that more than 8,000 lives have been saved through APR.
Heartbeat and RealOptions, a group of medical clinics in the San Francisco Bay area that offers APR, are represented by legal non-profit Thomas More Society.
Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Heartbeat International and RealOptions in September 2023 to bar both from “advertising Abortion Pill Reversal as safe and effective.” Bonta argues that Heartbeat and RealOptions use “false and/or misleading statements” to advertise APR.
Heartbeat, the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the U.S. and the world, argues that the state's case is an unprecedented use of consumer protection law to restrict the free flow of medical information, and contends as well that no woman should be forced to complete an abortion that she no longer wants.
The State of California has conceded that it has received no complaints from California women regarding APR.
“I'm against abortion,” Uyen testified. “I didn't want to have an abortion, and I didn't feel like I had to be the one to … put my body through that pain.”
She eventually did look into getting an abortion because of what she said was an emotional impulse in response to the pressure from her boyfriend.
“Because there was a lot of arguments between me and him, it was stressing me out,” Uyen said. “And so initially, I thought maybe if I didn't have the baby, then, it would be easier. not have to deal with him.”
She ended up visiting the abortion facility four times.
“Each time I went, and they asked me if I was sure I wanted the abortion, I told them I wasn't sure,” she said.
The fourth and final time Uyen was at the abortion center she went through with taking the abortion pill because of “the emotional stress of going back and forth, arguing with him about the baby.”
Although she still had mixed feelings about getting the abortion, Uyen took the mifepristone the abortion facility gave her, a double dose she was told, because she was 9 weeks along in her pregnancy and an extra dose may be needed.
Her boyfriend was not with her, but a friend was.
Asked what happened after she took the pills, Uyen said, “I regretted it, and I was crying a lot.”
Her regret was immediate, she said. The crying started when she returned home from the abortion facility.
Uyen discussed her feelings with her friend. Her friend spent time that night researching the possibility of reversing a chemical abortion and found the Abortion Pill Recue Network.
“So, then she gave me the phone number and I called the number,” Uyen said.
Uyen spoke to a nurse at the APRN who explained the process. The nurse called her back shortly thereafter and connected her to RealOptions.
“I was grateful and relieved that there's actually something out there that can help me save the baby,” she said.
Uyen went to RealOptions, spoke with a counselor, and took a pregnancy test, which was positive. Then she had an ultrasound with a nurse sonographer, confirming that her pregnancy was still viable. Uyen then began progesterone treatment.
Uyen had another ultrasound two weeks later which confirmed her baby was still healthy with a strong heartbeat.
She told the court she continued to return to RealOptions after that second visit “because everyone there is very kind and welcoming.”
“They made my first pregnancy experience easier,” Uyen said.
Uyen would later transfer her prenatal care to another medical office in the area but stayed in touch with the nurse practitioner from RealOptions, texting and meeting for coffee.
Her friend and the nurse practitioner were there with her when she gave birth to her son, now two years old.
Efficacy estimates for APR are 64-68%. Uyen said RealOptions had told her 60%. Asked why she decided to go ahead with the treatment with a 60% chance of success, she said, “Because 60% success is good enough for me. Any chance of survival is worth taking.”
Uyen said she has taken part in promotional videos for RealOptions because she wants to be able to help other women “to know that there is a second choice to save your baby, and that do not have to live with a regret.”
She volunteered to give testimony in the case she said because she also wanted to let people know that APR works.
“I'm really grateful for APR to be out there,” Uyen said, “that my baby was actually saved and I didn't have to finish the abortion process and have any regrets.”
Tweet This: I'm really grateful for APR to be out there, that my baby was actually saved and I didn't have to finish the abortion process - APR mom
Asked how being a mother after going through Abortion Pill Reversal has changed her life Uyen replied, “It’s been great.”
“He is very active, plays around, runs around a lot, very smart and quick,” Uyen said of her son. “And it's been awesome being a mom.”
The trial for The People of the State of California v. Heartbeat International & RealOptions was scheduled to wrap at the end of July.
Case resources are listed below.
Thomas More Society Case Details & Documents
State of California’s Complaint against Heartbeat International & RealOptions
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and Pregnancy Help News. Heartbeat is currently the subject of two lawsuits brought by state attorneys general concerning sharing information about Abortion Pill Reversal.
