What Are the Consequences of Abortion-by-Pill?
In late 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifted restrictions on mifepristone, a drug commonly used in chemical abortions. The FDA reversed a longstanding requirement, now allowing abortion drugs to be sent by mail.
Radical abortion advocates have garnered headlines for publicly taking the abortion pill on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and on camera during a local news broadcast. The activists claim that their demonstrations prove the “harmless” nature of the abortion pill and serve as an encouragement to other women to exercise their “right” to kill their unwanted child.
But do women taking the abortion pill suffer any aftereffects, or is the result as uneventful as advertised?
Alliance Defending Freedom spoke with Serena Dyksen, founder of She Found His Grace, an Indiana-based abortion recovery ministry, about what she’s experienced, working directly with women suffering from post-abortion regret and pain.
“Women are reaching out much sooner than those who have had surgical abortion—many within just a few days of taking the abortion pill,” said Dyksen. “Unfortunately, far too many women don’t know about options to reverse the effects of the abortion pill.”
While abortion businesses such as Planned Parenthood may tell expectant mothers that taking abortion drugs is no big deal—some are told that they will simply “pass the pregnancy” or will only see some “tissue”—Dyksen is hearing a different story from the women contacting her organization. Many women have to go through the trauma of unexpectedly seeing their babies after the abortion pills have done their deadly work, and not knowing what to do next. In their panic and horror, some women have even put their dead babies in their freezers. Sadly, these women realized all too late that their unborn children were far more than simply masses of tissue: they were babies. Although Dyksen described such scenarios as “a gut punch” to even veteran pro-life advocates, “we can’t put our heads in the sand and pretend this isn’t happening.”
When asked about the further toll that abortion-by-drug is having, Dyksen related that many women who had reached out to She Found His Grace were suffering from severe grief, shame, and guilt. Many have struggled with suicidal thoughts. The pain reaches to entire families, as countless women are, according to Dyksen, “simply not functioning. Many have stopped parenting, are quitting their jobs, not sleeping, and not eating. Entire families are falling apart.”
Clearly, the abortion pill is not a “non-event” for the many women who have taken it. The emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual pain so many have suffered has been systematically obscured, downplayed, or simply ignored by abortion activists—to the detriment of those they claim to represent.
Although many women report immediate, physical symptoms that clearly indicate the distress their bodies are enduring—indeed, cramping and heavy bleeding are known side effects—according to Dyksen, the abortion facilities that dispensed the abortion drugs minimize their pain and suggest they take an over-the-counter pain medication.
She Found His Grace takes a different, more honest approach. By encouraging women in distress to go to local emergency rooms and tell the attending physician what medication they took, Dyksen and She Found His Grace help facilitate the immediate treatment the women need, as well as build a solid record of adverse reactions that are reported to the FDA. In years to come, this may help lead to more restrictions on the abortion pill, saving countless unborn lives and potentially sparing hundreds of thousands of women from physical and emotional trauma.
To put it into perspective, recent estimates show that nearly 40% of all abortions in the U.S. are carried out through the abortion pill—representing nearly 340,000 unborn children.
When asked what role She Found His Grace is playing in the fight to protect life, Dyksen simply said, “We help women choose life, find healing and redemption. Our goal is to get them plugged into local resource. Bottom line: we want to help them find their healed voice.”
Regardless of the outcome of the highly anticipated decision in Dobbs (likely to be released late this spring or early summer), Dyksen and She Found His Grace will continue to advocate for women, work to educate expectant mothers considering abortion, and heal those who have had an abortion and now seek healing and forgiveness.
Click below to find out how Alliance Defending Freedom is working to protect the sanctity of human life.
