.- A 20-year-old woman changed her mind after taking abortion drug RU-486 and, after progesterone treatment, gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, recounted Ashley’s story in his bi-weekly column on the order’s website.
Ashley went to see Dr. Matthew Harrison when she was seven weeks pregnant. She had taken abortion pill RU-486 two days earlier but then changed her mind about the abortion and wanted to know if the baby could be saved.
The RU-486 process requires taking the drug that causes abortion (called Mifiprex) and then taking a second drug (called Cytotec or Misoprostol) three days later which induces contractions to flush out the unborn child. Ashley had taken the Mifiprex, but had not yet taken the Cytotec.
When Dr. Harrison learned what had happened, he excused himself, went into another room, and prayed. He consulted a number of medical resources, and then decided to give Ashley a progesterone treatment.
He informed Ashley about the risks of the treatment — that the baby might die anyway, bring additional complications to her or her child, or even kill her. Ashley went ahead with the treatment, placing everything in God’s hands.
She took the first progesterone shot, and began bleeding that weekend. But then the bleeding stopped, and with continued progesterone treatment, the pregnancy continued normally.
Ashley eventually delivered a healthy baby girl, whom she named Kaylie.
“It’s easy to think it’s too late,” said Fr. Frank Pavone in his column. “But where there’s life, there’s hope!”
