the matter is one for provincial regulators to tackle, said federal officials this week after deciding to take no action on the advertising grievances .
the treatment involves prescribing women the drug progesterone after they’ve had the first of two medications used to bring about non-surgical abortions. the society of obstetricians and gynecologists of canada (sogc) and other medical groups have condemned it as unproven and potentially unsafe.
the complaints concerned online promotion of the process by alliance for life ontario .
last week, the anti-abortion group took its campaign a step further, launching a petition asking health minister patty hajdu to mandate that women obtaining a medical abortion be told about the reversal process .
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supporters point to an observational, “case-series” study that concluded 48 per cent of 547 women who took progesterone and finished the research ended up having successful pregnancies. rates were higher in certain sub-groups based on how the hormone was administered, according to a 2018 paper published in a journal with ties to the anti-abortion movement . but critics say the study had questionable methodology, citing the 27 per cent of women excluded from the final results, possibly making those numbers more positive. an analysis published in the new england journal of medicine concluded there is no evidence that offering progesterone is more effective than “doing nothing” after the first medical-abortion drug.
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