09/18/2026
Keep Life Safe | Abortion Pill Awareness Month
Week 3
Dear Friend of Life,
For the past two weeks, we have been talking about a rapidly changing reality in the fight for LIFE. Chemical abortion has changed where abortion happens, how women encounter it, and how those of us committed to protecting women and unborn children must respond.
In Week 1, we introduced the beginnings of a statewide public education campaign. Since then, we have continued working through the legal, creative, and practical details necessary to build something Tennessee Right to Life can confidently carry across our state for the long term.
As that work has progressed, the campaign's language has changed. The mission has not. Today, I am excited to begin introducing the message that will carry us forward:
A HARD PILL TO SWALLOW
The Abortion Pill Can Be Dangerous.
Those words represent more than a new campaign title. They give us an opportunity to begin a conversation with Tennesseans about chemical abortion, the women who may be considering it, the people who influence those decisions, and the life-affirming resources that should be available when a woman changes her mind.
And that brings us directly to the question I promised we would address this week.
Connected for Life,
Daniel Breeden, Executive Director
TN Right to Life
📌THE FOUNDATION
What if she changes her mind?
Last week, we explained that what is commonly called “the abortion pill” generally involves two drugs. The first, mifepristone, blocks progesterone activity necessary to maintain a pregnancy. Misoprostol is typically taken afterward and causes uterine contractions.
But imagine the woman between those two moments.
She has taken mifepristone, and now she is frightened. Perhaps the circumstances that led her to begin the abortion have not changed at all, but she has. Maybe she realizes she acted out of fear. Maybe someone pressured her. Maybe she simply looks down at the pills in front of her and knows she does not want to continue.
Whatever brought her to that moment, her question is now incredibly simple: “Is there anything I can do?”
That question has helped shape the work of one physician we want Tennesseans to begin knowing by name: Dr. George Delgado.
📌WHAT THIS REQUIRES OF US
Dr. Delgado is one of the pioneers of Abortion Pill Reversal and founded the Abortion Pill Reversal Network in 2012. His work has focused on the possibility of using progesterone after a woman has taken mifepristone but regrets beginning the chemical abortion process.
The concept is important to understand. Mifepristone works by blocking progesterone activity. Abortion Pill Reversal uses progesterone in an effort to counteract that process and support continuation of the pregnancy. It is not a special “reversal pill,” and it does not guarantee that a pregnancy will continue. It is a time-sensitive medical protocol that should involve qualified medical professionals.
Dr. Delgado has spent years researching, writing about, and educating people about APR. In 2025, he published Abortion Pill Reversal: A Second Chance at Choice, which tells the history of the development of APR, explains the science behind it, and shares accounts from women and medical professionals involved in reversal attempts.
I think the title of his book deserves our attention: A Second Chance at Choice.
Whatever circumstances brought a woman to the first abortion pill, if she changes her mind and wants to continue her pregnancy, should we not want her to know that she can seek immediate medical help and ask about every available option?
Tennessee Right to Life believes she deserves that information.
📌CALL TO ACTION
This is where our new A Hard Pill to Swallow campaign becomes much larger than a slogan.
We want Tennessee to understand the abortion pill before a woman ever takes it. We want women to have accurate information about chemical abortion and its risks. We want them to know where to find life-affirming help. And if a woman has already taken mifepristone and regrets that decision, we want her to know that she should seek medical assistance immediately and ask about Abortion Pill Reversal.
But, as we discussed in Week 1, reaching the woman herself is only part of the mission.
Think about the people surrounding her. A boyfriend may be the first person she calls. A mother may be the first person to hear, “I made a mistake.” A roommate may be sitting beside her when regret sets in. A pastor, teacher, Pregnancy Resource Center worker, physician, friend, or family member may suddenly find themselves in a conversation they never expected. They need to know, too.
That is why our goal is not simply to advertise. Our goal is to educate Tennessee.
📌REAL LIFE APPLICATION
Imagine what this could look like when all the pieces begin working together.
A student drives toward a Tennessee college campus and passes an A Hard Pill to Swallow billboard. Later, she encounters educational content on her phone. A church in her community has materials available for parents and families. The local Pregnancy Resource Center understands the campaign and has resources ready. A parent recognizes the phrase because she has seen it before. A pastor knows what Abortion Pill Reversal means because his church received educational materials. And when someone searches online for information, our Tennessee-specific web resources can help point her toward trustworthy information and assistance.
The billboard reinforces the digital advertisement. The digital advertisement directs people to the website. The website connects people with information and resources. Churches and Pregnancy Resource Centers carry the conversation into their communities. Our chapters reinforce it locally. Students share it with other students. Families talk about it around their tables.
One message. Many pathways. One mission: protecting women and unborn children. That is the statewide network of education we are beginning to envision.
📌WHY THIS MATTERS
Chemical abortion has moved part of the abortion battle away from visible facilities and into homes, dorm rooms, phones, websites, and mailboxes. That means the pro-life response must reach those places too.
It is also why Abortion Pill Reversal is such an important part of this conversation. APR remains medically and politically contested, and major medical organizations dispute the strength of the evidence supporting the protocol. Dr. Delgado and other physicians who support APR point to their published research, clinical experience, and pregnancies that have continued following progesterone treatment.
We are not going to hide from that disagreement. We will keep studying it, asking questions, consulting medical experts, and equipping Tennesseans with information. Because our responsibility is larger than winning an argument. Our responsibility is protecting LIFE. And sometimes protecting life begins by making sure someone knows where to turn during the most frightening few hours of her life.
📌LOOKING AHEAD
Next week, we'll begin pulling these pieces together even further.
You will hear more about A Hard Pill to Swallow - The Abortion Pill Can Be Dangerous, and we will begin showing you how Tennessee Right to Life envisions taking this message statewide through billboards, digital outreach, college-campus targeting, web resources, churches, Pregnancy Resource Centers, educational materials, grassroots chapters, and eventually public policy.
We will also continue introducing you to Dr. Delgado's work and the larger story of Abortion Pill Reversal, because I want Tennessee Right to Life supporters to become some of the best-informed pro-life advocates in our state. There is much more coming.
But this week, I want you to remember one question: What if she changes her mind?
If that woman is our daughter, granddaughter, friend, student, neighbor, church member, or someone we have never met, I want Tennessee to be prepared to answer her with compassion: There is hope. Seek medical help immediately. Let's find out what options are still available to you. That is a message worth carrying across Tennessee.
