Anti-choicers are on the rise, taking advantage of the growing disinformation tide to advance their own agendas.
Right now, we are ringing the alarm bells about a widespread “abortion pill reversal” campaign that is quickly picking up speed across Canada. Anti-choice groups and organizations are targeting people seeking abortion with disinformation about an experimental “abortion reversal pill” and wrongfully claiming that medication abortion can be reversed mid-procedure.
We are extremely concerned about this latest attempt by anti-choicers to disinform individuals and restrict their reproductive rights. Besides being ineffective, the “abortion reversal pill” falsely frames abortion as a regrettable decision and can have extremely harmful side effects. In fact, the only high-quality, randomized controlled trial conducted on the treatment was halted in 2019 when multiple people suffered severe hemorrhaging and had to be hospitalized.
Anti-choicers are eagerly putting people’s health and lives at risk to advance their own agendas.
We need your help to counter harmful abortion lies and stop the spread of disinformation about fake “abortion reversal pills.” Will you send an email to Health Minister Patty Hajdu asking her to publish accurate information on Health Canada’s website and publicly denounce “abortion reversal pill” disinformation?
Email to Minister Patty Hajdu
Subject: Stop abortion reversal pill disinformation in Canada
Dear Minister Hajdu,
I am deeply concerned about the spread of “abortion reversal pill” disinformation across Canada. Recently, I learned about the existence of the Abortion Pill Reversal Canada website, a campaign sponsored by Alliance for Life Ontario. This initiative is spreading dangerous falsehoods about medication abortion as part of a larger ideological campaign to disinform individuals and undermine their reproductive rights.
I am alarmed by the prevalence and spread of this disinformation across social media and through advertising in Canada, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides being ineffective, the “abortion reversal pill” falsely frames abortion as a regrettable decision and can have extremely harmful side effects. In fact, the only high-quality, randomized controlled trial conducted on the treatment was halted in 2019 when multiple people suffered severe hemorrhaging and had to be hospitalized.
With the significant reduction in access to reproductive health services in every community in Canada, more people are turning to self-managed abortion in their own homes and more health care providers are incorporating medication abortion, often via telemedicine, into their practice as a way to accommodate new COVID safety recommendations. While this is a positive development overall for access to abortion care in Canada, it creates new opportunities for disinformation to impact people who are not able to rely on the more substantial support from health care providers they might have received during non-pandemic times.
I am requesting your immediate action to publish a warning on Health Canada’s website to counter the disinformation on so-called “abortion reversal.” It is imperative that Health Canada regulate health information—and this is one such area where the need is urgent. This inaccurate and misleading health information is dangerous and undermines the right to health of all people in Canada.
Thank you for considering my concern. I look forward to action being taken on this urgent matter.