Two-month-old Gabriel Caicedo is one of 78 children who have been saved by a new medical protocol being used to reverse the effects of the RU-486 abortion regimen in its early stages. The baby is "the light of our life," said his father, Chris Caicedo. He and Gabriel's mother, Andrea Minichini, told their story at a Feb. 23 news conference held by the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life to call attention to a RU-486 reversal kit available to physicians. The RU-486 medical abortion procedure is a two-day regimen used to terminate early pregnancies by blocking the hormone progesterone needed to sustain a pregnancy. It involves two types of medication -- RU-486 itself, which is mifepristone, and a prostaglandin, known as misoprostol, that stimulates uterine contractions, and taken two days later to expel the fetus. At the news conference, association officials and Father Pavone said the reversal kits work to counteract the "abortion pill" by increasing the levels of progesterone in the mother's body. The RU-486 protocol, approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000, involves three visits to a physician's office over the course of two weeks and has been known to cause complications ranging from stomach pain and bleeding to death resulting from sepsis. According to the FDA's website, despite the risks associated with it, many women go through with the protocol but end up having a surgical abortion because of medical abortion treatment failures. "It's not a 'quick and easy process,'" said Dr. Mary L. Davenport, a former president of the obstetrician association. Besides the 20 percent risk that a woman will have a serious complication such as blood loss, severe infection or ectopic pregnancy, "the woman also has the guilt of knowing that she terminated her pregnancy," she told reporters. In her comments at the news conference, Minichini, recounted her experience in a Planned Parenthood exam room last summer. Through tears of pain and uncertainty, she told the nurses that she wanted to have an abortion. After being informed of the rate of her unborn son's heartbeat, she said, she couldn't bring herself to swallow the large, white pill in her hand. But she was repeatedly chided by the supervising doctor, she said, and so gave in and took the pill. "I knew immediately after I swallowed the pill that I had made a bad decision," Minichini said. "I even tried throwing up, but nothing happened." At a hospital in New Jersey, she was told that her child would be deformed and disabled if she didn't take the second pill in the RU-486 procedure. "I was just at an end," she said. "I didn't have any hope, so I just started Googling," before finding a hotline number that put her in touch with a physician who could reverse the medical abortion. Gabriel David Caicedo was born Dec. 31, 2014, weighing 8 pounds 9 ounces and measuring 21 inches long. Despite what his mother was told back in May, Gabriel is an extremely healthy and energetic child.
I am just beginning to dive into the beautiful, ancient devotion to the Five Wounds of Jesus, and I wanted to share a bit of the journey with you. It can feel a little overwhelming at first to look at the Crucifix this closely, but I’ve found such a gentle guide in St. Bernard of Clairvaux . In his Jubilee Rhythm on the Passion, Bernard doesn't treat the wounds of Jesus as distant historical facts or sights to be avoided. Instead, he approaches them with the tenderness of a friend, speaking directly to the feet, hands, side, and face of our Lord. For someone like me who is just starting out, his rhythm teaches that prayer isn't just about reciting words; it’s a holy hide-and-seek. Bernard invites us to literally hide ourselves within these wounds, seeing them as clefts in the rock where we can find shelter when our own lives feel turbulent or heavy. As I start this process, I’ve been practicing what I call gazing and greeting. Following Bernard’s lead, I look at the Crucifix an...