In 2022, nurse Jessica Williams was planning to divorce her husband. While she and her husband were separated, Williams had a relationship with another man until she and her husband decided to reconcile. There was just one problem: she was now 9 weeks pregnant with the other man’s child. In order to reconcile, her husband demanded she abort the baby. “In my moments of fear, confusion, and pressure from my husband, I ordered the abortion pills online. No doctor, no ultrasound, no medical oversight,” Williams said during a press call with the Charlotte Lozier Instituted (CLI). The call was to highlight the growing need for pregnancy resource centers (PRCs), which offer alternatives to abortion. A recent report for CLI showed that PRCs served over 1 million new clients for the first time in 2024, with the need for services growing since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

Williams received both mifepristone and misoprostol through the mail. Her husband watched her to make sure she took the mifepristone. “Almost immediately, I felt a warm sensation over my womb that would come and go. A sensation that no medical provider has ever been able to explain. It felt like my baby was being protected,” she recalled. As a nurse, Williams couldn’t overcome her guilt of knowing what the mifepristone was doing to her baby by blocking progesterone, which is needed to support a pregnancy. She knew if she took the second pill, misoprostol, it would expel her baby from her body, killing her. “I realized that if my baby was still alive, taking the second pill, the misoprostol, would cause me to push out my living baby, who would experience its last breaths and heartbeat outside of the womb in the toilet.”

That thought made Williams realize that she couldn’t do it. She scoured the internet for help, which led her to First Choice Pregnancy Services in Las Vegas. The agency confirmed that Williams’s baby was still alive through a free ultrasound and set her up with an abortion pill reversal treatment. According to CLI, 29% of PRC’s offer abortion pill reversal services. The treatment worked, and three years later, Williams’s daughter Kaylee is a thriving 3-year-old without any side effects. The PRC also supported Williams afterwards with things like diapers, support groups, and community connections.

The abortion reversal treatments have received pushback from abortion supporters. In 2023, a Colorado law attempted to block such treatments. The law was later blocked by a Colorado district court. The Alliance Defending Freedom celebrated the decision to block the law. “Government officials can’t silence medical professionals and prevent them from saving lives. Many women regret their chemical abortions, and some choose to reverse the effects of the first abortion drug, which can save their baby’s life,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “But Colorado’s law wrongly attempted to deny women the freedom to make that choice. The court is right to rule that the state can’t force women to follow through with a chemical abortion when a safe alternative is available…”