In response to questions from openDemocracy, the organization said: “Every woman deserves to know the whole truth about abortion; that includes the facts about her unborn child, and the choices she can make every step of the way.”
“Abortion pill reversal is a cutting-edge application of a time-tested, FDA-approved treatment used for decades to prevent miscarriage and preterm birth. It involves emergency, ongoing doses of progesterone to counteract the effects of the first abortion pill.”
Asked to comment on a U.S. study of abortion pill reversal treatment that was stopped in 2019 after some participants were admitted to emergency rooms, HBI said that the principal investigator on the study, Mitchell D. Creinin, M.D., of the University of California, Davis, was affiliated with Physicians for Reproductive Health. Creinin is listed among “Physician Members” on the organization’s website.
A 2018 article for The New England Journal of Medicine noted that Creinin “reports receiving consulting fees from Danco Laboratories.” Danco Laboratories distributes the abortifacient drug mifepristone under the brand name Mifeprex.
HBI argued that the 2019 Creinin study “actually showed that the abortion pill carries major health risks to a mother.” It pointed to an earlier study that the physician took part in which, it suggested, “showed that the abortion pill regimen resulted in the very type of hemorrhaging reported in Creinin’s latest study, confirming that the bleeding is attributable to mifepristone and not progesterone.”
Questioned about the ethics of abortion pill reversal, the pro-life group said: “Statistics show that more than 2,000 women have successfully stopped an abortion and saved their children through the life-saving intervention of abortion pill reversal.”
“The reversal protocol involves emergency, ongoing doses of progesterone -- a hormone used with pregnant women safely every day by doctors to prevent miscarriage, preterm birth, and support ongoing pregnancy.”
The U.K.-based website ran a previous investigative report about HBI on Feb. 17, 2020. According to its report, openDemocracy sent undercover reporters to clinics supported by HBI in 18 countries, who said that they uncovered the spreading of misinformation at some of the clinics and in training materials.
HBI suggested at the time that the report was fueled by pro-choice bias.
In a statement, it said that HBI’s affiliates “must adhere to basic principles that affirm alternatives to abortion and ensure non-discrimination, but all other matters of policy and management remain under the direction of the centers’ local leadership, allowing for autonomy.”
In response, openDemocracy told CNA that it is “a global news outlet that produces responsible, fact-based reporting on a wide range of issues, including the economy, environment, democracy, politics and human rights. It is not part of any pro-abortion lobby and we have not ‘misreported’ any of our findings.”
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The website, founded in 2001, describes itself as an independent global media organization that seeks “to educate citizens to challenge power and encourage democratic debate across the world.”
The site is published by openDemocracy Limited, a U.K.-registered company. According to its website, its supporters in 2020 included “Open Trust/Ford Foundation” and “Foundation Open Society Institute,” which it listed under contributors of “£100,000+” (more than $137,000).
Open Society Foundations is a grant-making network founded by the American-Hungarian billionaire George Soros.
The website, which has the tagline “free thinking for the world” highlights in its 2020-22 strategic plan how an investigation into “anti-abortion misinformation ... impacted lawmakers, health authorities and media.”
Disclaimer: CNA’s Executive Director, Alejandro Bermúdez, is a board member of HBI.
The Catholic News Agency (CNA) Staff are a team of journalists dedicated to reporting news concerning the Catholic Church around the world. Our bureaus are located in Denver, Washington, and Rome. We have sister language agencies in Kenya, Germany, Peru, Brazil, and Italy. CNA is a service of EWTN News. You can contact us at news@catholicna.com with questions.