Doctor known for 'abortion pill reversal' faces angry campus mob

(Pregnancy Help News) As the Abortion Pill Rescue Network is seeing a record year for Abortion Pill Reversal inquiries, pro-abortion opposition to the life-affirming protocol persists. The opposition has come in the form of smearing of the treatment's efficacy and safety, lawsuits brought by elected officials, and also outright mob intimidation.

Dr. Dermot Kearney faced an aggressive pro-abortion mob chanting obscenities earlier this year when he was invited to speak about Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) in the UK on campus by the University of Manchester pro-life students’ group.

The University of Manchester had a reputation for not being welcoming to pro-life voices, Kearney said, with “fierce and actually violent opposition” to the University of Manchester Pro-Life Society even being formed at the university. Still, Kearney was prepared for respectful debate at the University of Manchester, if necessary, after facing a similar situation a couple of years ago at the University of Birmingham, where he was able to have productive discourse.

Kearney was threatened by his government’s medical council with the loss of his medical credentials in 2021 for assisting women in reversing their chemical abortions. He ultimately prevailed and regularly speaks about APR.

APR is a newer application of a treatment used for decades to combat miscarriage and consists of prescribing bioidentical progesterone to counter the effects of the first drug in the two-drug chemical abortion regimen. A 2018 peer-reviewed study showed positive results, including that 64%-68% of the pregnancies were saved through APR, there was no increase in birth defects, and there was a lower preterm delivery rate than the general population. The Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN), managed by Heartbeat International, reports that to date more than 7,000 lives have been saved thanks to the APRN. 

The APRN has assisted women in 98 other countries and all 50 states in U.S. and has seen a 30% increase in reversal starts in the latest fiscal year.

Heartbeat is the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the U.S. and globally, and is, along with other pregnancy help organizations, the subject of lawsuits brought by abortion supportive state attorney’s general in California and New York concerning sharing information about APR.

Kearney found out the day before he was going to Manchester there was a possibility of opposition because posters had been made with his picture and they'd turned his picture into what he called “a deep red, like a devil.”

“And they said some nasty things about this misogynist, dangerous person who puts women's lives at risk was coming to talk about so-called Abortion Pill Reversal,” said Kearney.

The Pro-Life Society’s leader Inga did warn him, offering to reschedule or cancel if he had second thoughts.

“And I said, absolutely no,” he said. “No, I've been invited, I'm going to come, I'm going to speak.”

“I'm not going to let people intimidate me from speaking the truth,” Kearney said. “Because otherwise if you back down, then they've won. They've achieved what they wanted to achieve.”

Kearney told Inga he was happy to hear what anyone who opposed the event had to say and address any concerns that they might wish to raise.

When he arrived in Manchester he was met by Inga and a couple of her colleagues from the pro-life group, and they drove him to the venue. When they walked around the corner to where the building was, they could hear the chants.

“I don’t know what the initial chants were, but they weren't welcoming me with open arms to the University of Manchester,” Kearney said.

When he got closer, a male approached and started shouting, “Dermot! Dermot!” and Kearney wondered if the guy knew him, reaching out for a handshake. But the guy shouted an obscenity back at him.

“So, they knew my name,” Kearney said.

There were roughly 75 people demonstrating, he said, blocking the entrance so Kearney and the others couldn't get into the building. Three of the pro-life students were already in the building and wanted to bring Kearney and the others with him in, but those inside could not get out. There were two uniformed police officers there who told them they were waiting for backup before they could try to get them into the building.

“They obviously didn't want to have any sort of violence break out,” Kearney said.

There were two other plainclothes officers further back who later made themselves known to Kearney’s group, two men from campus security, and another man who kept somewhat close to Kearney, telling him he was there to protect him.

“But we waited and waited and waited and still no backup police force arrived,” he said....

Read the entire article at Pregnancy Help News.