MERRILLVILLE – Local pro-life advocates heard from a doctor whose innovative approach to prenatal care has saved the lives of thousands of babies whose mothers chose life, only after taking abortifacient drugs.
At the 53rd annual Lake County Right to Life Banquet hosted on April 24 at Avalon Manor in Merrillville, guests among a capacity crowd enthusiastically greeted Dr. George Delgado, a San Diego, California-based family medicine physician and founder of the Steno Institute.
Delgado is popularly known as the “abortion pill reversal doctor” whose approach to administering progesterone hormones to women who have recently taken abortion-inducing drugs, has resulted in the preservation of the life of more than 8,000 babies, who he calls “rescues.”
“Tonight, each and every one of you is called to be a transformative force in this area,” said Delgado. “We can make this a pro-life state for many, many, many years to come.
The Catholic doctor continued, “Abortion pill reversal really is now the tip of the spear of the pro-life movement. You need to get involved and know about it, because women are going to be asking for counsel.”
Four years after the historic Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned 1973’s Roe v. Wade, returning regulatory power of abortion to states, whether permissive or pro-choice, or protective of unborn children and pro-life, laws vary widely. In that landscape, advocates at the LCRTL gathering focused on “the new fight against mail-order abortion pills.”
Delgado continues to promote access to abortion reversal treatment while abortifacient drugs such as mifepristone, the availability of which was broadened by the Food and Drug Administration in 2023, is sold at big box stores or delivered to a person’s mailbox.
Delgado’s timely treatments reverse the action of drugs which stop the normal hormonal balance in utero, and, in steps, result in the expulsion of an unborn child. Care within a certain window after a woman has initially chosen to abort, has a high success rate, he said.
This “second chance at choice” may best be understood through the sharing of a personal story.
“I was in my office in San Diego, and I got a telephone call from a sidewalk counselor,” Delgado recalled. “On that day, she had gotten a phone call from a woman in El Paso, Texas. The woman said to the counselor, ‘Can you help me reverse my abortion?’”
The conversation spawned a scientific sprint by Delgado to find the right treatment to counter the effects of abortion pills. “It was right then that the Holy Spirit put two and two together in my mind – in the great knowledge of how to use progesterone in pregnancy,” he said.
In short order, Delgado phoned a Texas doctor who applied his medical protocol for the hopeful mother.
“About two weeks later, I got a call from the doctor … the baby was still alive, thanks be to God!” the doctor concluded to cheers from the banquet guests.
Len Reynolds, past LCRTL president and current banquet committeeman, said that despite the restriction of elective surgical abortions in Indiana, women seeking abortions often go to states like Illinois, where thousands of such procedures are performed. And the lack of regulation for at-home abortion pills makes the appearance of Delgado in the Region a blessing.
“It’s divine providence,” said Reynolds. “I met Dr. Delgado for the first time about 10 years ago, and the second time about four years ago. I finally called him up because the Lord prompted me that this was the time.”
Charlene Reynolds, Len’s wife and longtime collaborator in LCRTL efforts was recognized at the banquet with the Dr. John Kelly Founder’s Award. She became one of 48 recipients in the history of the award, named in honor of the local physician who promoted the sanctity of human life and opposed taxpayer funding of abortion.
Demure about the attention on herself, she said, “This was a surprise. I am honored.”
She added, “Ours is a great cause; all the work that we do is all worth it … we can get stressed out, but at the end of the day, we’re saving lives.”
Diocesan Director for the Office of Pro-life Activities Father Rick Holy agreed with the messages proclaimed from the banquet that there is a sense of urgency to meeting people where they are.
“We have to make this one of our primary focuses,” said the pastor of St. Edward in Lowell. “We have to increase public awareness, especially for young women to whom the abortion pill is marketed, that it can be reversed.”
State Attorney General Todd Rokita (R-Munster), a St. Thomas More School graduate, delivered a brief judicial update, apprising the audience of the efforts his office has made including upholding a first-in-the-nation post-Dobbs law prohibiting elective surgical abortions.
Rokita said that in attending the event, he got “tremendous value,” in assessing the legal issues surrounding a life-affirming medical ministry like Delgado’s and the state of the distribution of abortifacients in what the California doctor said was a “wild, wild west” era of lax regulation.
“I have some colleagues in other states and we talk about this regularly, how to stop the (unregulated distribution of abortifacients). It is very difficult,” Rokita explained.
Promoting respect for life against its challenges calls for both prayer and action, according to
the Indiana AG.
“You have to work at a culture of life, it just doesn’t happen,” Rokita explained. “You have to pray, but you have to do more than pray, you have to proclaim the Gospel … if you’re out there as a missionary proclaiming the Gospel, the culture of life will take care of itself.”
According to St. John the Evangelist parishioner Beth Mellady, who attended the banquet with her husband Terry Mellady, the annual event is a highlight and “a cause that has always been important.”
She said that the day's message was one to share.
“For women who have taken the (abortion) pill at home, there is an option for them … that the reversal option is safe and effective – I think that needs to get out there and be more well known,” Beth Mellady said.
Deacon Martin Brown closed the event with a prayer invoking the Holy Spirit’s guidance for all of those promoting a respect for human life.
For information about abortion pill reversal treatment, visit abortionpillreversal.com. For more information about the Lake County Right to Life, or related resources, visit www.lakeloveslife.org, or call (219) 838-1138.
Caption: Char Reynolds, recipient of the 2026 Dr. John Kelly Founder’s Award, carries a bouquet and plaque among guests at the Lake County Right to Life banquet hosted on April 24 at Avalon Manor in Merrillville. The 53rd annual fundraising banquet featured keynote speaker Doctor George Delgado, a San Diego, California-based physician who pioneered an abortion pill reversal treatment that has saved the lives of more than 8,000 babies. (Anthony D. Alonzo photo)
