--- title: Utah Gov. Signs Controversial Abortion Reversal Bill description: Find out why Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed a so-called 'abortion reversal' bill even though a prominent medical group disputes the science. canonical: https://time.com/4715376/utah-gov-medical-abortion-reversal-bill/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-28T21:11:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:06:16.952Z og:title: Utah Gov. Signs Bill That Says Medical Abortion Can Be Reversed Mid-Course og:description: While Indiana lawmakers paused similar legislation og:url: https://time.com/4715376/utah-gov-medical-abortion-reversal-bill/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf42a68014a76a1f0/6988c045cd1bba80477047b3/utah-abortion-reversal.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Key Speakers At The International Economic Forum Of The Americas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Utah Gov. Signs Bill That Says Medical Abortion Can Be Reversed Mid-Course twitter:description: While Indiana lawmakers paused similar legislation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf42a68014a76a1f0/6988c045cd1bba80477047b3/utah-abortion-reversal.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Utah Gov. Signs Bill That Says Medical Abortion Can Be Reversed Mid-Course  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Mar 28, 2017 9:11 PM UTC  Gary Herbert, governor of Utah, speaks during the International Economic Forum Of The Americas conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016\. The Toronto Global Forum is an international conference fostering dialogue on national and global issues while bringing together heads of states, central bank governors, ministers and economic decision makers. Photographer: James MacDonald/Bloomberg via Getty Images Gary Herbert, governor of Utah, speaks during the International Economic Forum Of The Americas conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016\. The Toronto Global Forum is an international conference fostering dialogue on national and global issues while bringing together heads of states, central bank governors, ministers and economic decision makers. Photographer: James MacDonald/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Mar 28, 2017 9:11 PM UTC Utah [moved](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/utahs-governor-signs-abortion-reversal-legislation-46375963) forward with a controversial ‘abortion reversal’ bill, which would require doctors to give women information that a prominent medical group disputes. The bill concerns medical[ abortions](http://motto.time.com/4551575/abortion-pill-medical-abortion-rates/), for which women take the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol to block progesterone and induce uterine contractions to expel the fetal tissue. Utah Governor Gary Herbert, a Republican, signed a [bill](https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/03/25/us/ap-us-utah-abortion-reversal-bill.html) this weekend that requires doctors to tell women that those abortions can be reversed halfway through the procedure by ingesting progesterone, the Huffington Post [reports](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/utah-bill-medication-abortions-reversible%5Fus%5F58d96c6be4b00f68a5c96c25). However, the [American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists](http://www.acog.org/) (ACOG) said in [a statement](http://www.acog.org/~/media/departments/state%20legislative%20activities/2015AZFactSheetMedicationAbortionReversalfinal.pdf) that those claims “are not supported by the body of scientific evidence, and this approach is not recommended in ACOG’s clinical guidance on medication abortion.” ACOG added that progesterone is “generally well tolerated \[but\] can cause significant cardiovascular, nervous system and endocrine adverse reactions as well as other side effects.” Republican State Rep. [Keven Stratton](http://le.utah.gov/house2/detail.jsp?i=STRATKJ), who co-sponsored the legislation, [told the Deseret _News_](http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668044/Lawmakers-consider-abortion-reversal-bill.html?pg=all) that the aim of the bill was to provide information to women. “If you’re pro-choice, I would say that it helps you be educated in making the choice,” Stratton told the Deseret _News_. “If you’re pro-life, it gives an opportunity to look at the options if a decision is made to reverse course.” Meanwhile, in Indiana, a similar bill [narrowly passed](http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/indiana/Senate-won-t-hear-abortion-reversal-bill-18465907) the state House of Representatives. But Republican State Sen. Rodric Bray [announced](http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/27/abortion-reversal-bill-wont-advance/99703046/) Monday he would not hold a hearing on the bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee. “At this point, the only certainty is confusion,” Republican State Rep. Cindy Kirchhofer said during House debate the bill, [according to the _Associated Press_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e9817f5ed6b748808a3b857f2845f152/future-abortion-reversal-bill-doubt). “I do not believe forcing medical professionals to provide medical advice on something that is not proven and incomplete is by any means the right thing to do.” Arizona, South Dakota and Arkansas have [previously passed](https://www.statnews.com/2016/04/21/abortion-reversal-laws/) similar bills. But Arizona lawmakers ultimately [repealed](http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2016/08/23/court-arizona-abortion-reversal-law-no-more/89229028/) the law after it was challenged in court. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4715376/utah-gov-medical-abortion-reversal-bill/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4715376/utah-gov-medical-abortion-reversal-bill/"},"headline":"Utah Gov. Signs Bill That Says Medical Abortion Can Be Reversed Mid-Course","datePublished":"2017-03-28T21:11:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:06:16.952Z","description":"While Indiana lawmakers paused similar legislation","url":"https://time.com/4715376/utah-gov-medical-abortion-reversal-bill/","keywords":["motto","abortion"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf42a68014a76a1f0/6988c045cd1bba80477047b3/utah-abortion-reversal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cooney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf42a68014a76a1f0/6988c045cd1bba80477047b3/utah-abortion-reversal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Key Speakers At The International Economic Forum Of The Americas","caption":"Key Speakers At The International Economic Forum Of The Americas","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4715376/utah-gov-medical-abortion-reversal-bill/","name":"Utah Gov. Signs Bill That Says Medical Abortion Can Be Reversed Mid-Course"}}]}] ```