A House committee altered and then approved an abortion regulation bill after the unusual step of sending the bill from the House floor back to the committee.

The bill mandates doctors tell patients their medication-induced abortions could be reversed. It also mandates doctors tell patients that no scientifically valid studies verify that practice.

After voting that bill out of the House Public Policy Committee last week, lawmakers sent it back to committee for additional changes.

Committee chair, Rep. Ben Smaltz (R-Auburn), says they made one change to the language about abortion reversal, since he argues a scientifically valid study on it is impossible.

“To have a real scientific study with a drug, you have to have a placebo. And who are you going to give that placebo to again?” Smaltz says. “Which desperate, pregnant women are you going to do that to? So what we did was we just simply put language that said time is of the essence and do it quickly.”

But Rep. Phil GiaQuinta (D-Fort Wayne) says any language about reversing a medication-induced abortion doesn’t belong in law.

“To continue to even discuss and put it in code something where there is no scientific evidence that it works I think is the wrong thing to do,” GiaQuinta says.

The committee sent the bill back to the floor by a 7-5 vote.