Dear FDA: Abortion pill manufacturers abet unlawful mailing of drugs into pro-life states

In the fourth installment of our "Dear FDA" series, Live Action News is asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA):

Are abortion pill manufacturers aiding and abetting the unlawful mailing of mifepristone into pro-life states?

Abortion pill prescribers are certified and policed by name-brand abortion pill manufacturer Danco Laboratories and generic manufacturers GenBioPro (GBP) and Evita Solutions, but as we documented in part two of this series, prescribers who flout the FDA's labeling or safety regulations known as REMS, are not being decertified.

Key Takeaways:

• The FDA appears to be allowing abortion pill manufacturers to assist in the illegal mailing of the drug into states where it is prohibited.

• The FDA's removal of the in-person requirement for the drug resulted in the online explosion of virtual abortion pill dispensaries, with apparently no oversight from either the FDA or the abortion drug's manufacturers.

• Several lawsuits have been filed by states which claim the erosions to the abortion pill's safety regulations by the FDA in 2023, which allowed for mail-order and pharmacy dispensing, have resulted in abortion drugs flooding into their states.

The Timeline:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has eroded safety requirements on the abortion pill, allowing the drug to be dispensed by mail.

• 2000: The abortion pill (Mifeprex or mifepristone 200 mg) was approved by the FDA for the “termination of pregnancy” and required to be dispensed in-person.

• 2011: the drug was placed under FDA's REMS safety system for monitoring serious complications and deaths.

• 2016: Obama FDA eroded REMS by removing the requirement that all complications except death be reported. Even prior to this time, Big Abortion crafted a scheme to hide those reports. The move was led and funded by a coalition of abortion advocates.

• 2023: FDA removed the in-person dispensing requirement to allow for the drug to be permanently dispensed by mail or pharmacy.

As pointed out in part three of our Dear FDA series, FDA's erosion of the REMS in 2023 violated the Federal Comstock Act which (18 U.S.C. § 1461) prohibits the mailing of “any article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing [that] may, or can, be used or applied for producing abortion[.]”

The Details:

Self-managed abortion planned for years

The abortion industry’s planned move toward self-managed abortion began over a decade ago. Clinical trials on the drug, published studies, research sites, and experts who claim the drug is safe have frequently been connected to groups that received funding from abortion pill investors.

In 2017, the New York Times reported:

The F.D.A. warns against purchasing the drugs from online vendors, but women in the United States are doing it anyway. Increasingly, advocates of access to the drugs say women are turning to the internet to procure the pills for use in their homes.

The FDA did not act to halt this, despite requirements that the drug be dispensed in-person at that time. Neither did the makers of the drug.

By December of 2021, former NARAL board member Renee Bracey Sherman and abortionist Daniel Grossman penned an op-ed openly advocating for OTC abortion pills. That same year, advocates of abortion claimed that “illegal” abortion could be “safe,” and advised women to lie about any abortion pill complications when presenting to an emergency department.

The 'wild west' of abortion pills

The FDA's removal of the in-person requirement to obtain the drug resulted in the online explosion of virtual abortion pill dispensaries, with apparently no oversight from either the FDA or the abortion drug's manufacturers.

In June of 2022, the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization decision granted that "The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives"; as a result, states were free to enforce or enact pro-life protections.

Abortion facilities like Planned Parenthood began to close, flee pro-life states, and even stop committing abortions. What came next was a wave of abortion industry insiders plotting to fund or supply abortion pills across the country, including a plan to illegally sneak them across U.S. borders.

Big Abortion quickly morphed into little more than a group of abortion drug dealers pushing their deadly pills — sometimes disguised as “missed period” pills — outside brick and mortar facilities or in virtual spaces to entice women and minors to buy their dangerous products.

Dr. Christina Francis, an OBGYN who heads the Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), recently published a video demonstrating how dangerous removing in-person care can be for women due to the lack of best practices, proper review of abortion pill harms, and the potential for coercion.

The referral websites

AbortionFinder.org partners with the National Abortion Federation (NAF), Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), and the Abortion Care Network (ACN); it refers women for abortion pills even in states where they are prohibited.

"Some telehealth abortion providers only serve specific states. Other telehealth abortion providers serve all 50 U.S. states and its territories. Depending on where you live, there may be some legal risk in getting abortion pills online," the website states.

And yet, the site still referred potential abortion clients to "telehealth abortion providers that serve the U.S."

Planned Parenthood and abortion pill providers referred by the website should be approved prescribers and therefore governed by the manufacturers of the drug. In addition, both Danco and GenBioPro link to this website for abortion pill referrals. 

PlanC: In 2017, Francine Coeytaux and Victoria Nichols co-created the website PlanC to promote websites that sell abortion pills to women across the United States. The group, which encourages women to lie to emergency medical professionals about having taken the drugs, has been named in cease and desist orders by multiple state attorneys general who allege the organization's referral website is helping to ship abortion drugs into pro-life states where the abortion pill is prohibited.

Additional letters were sent to groups that utilized the website. Danco links to this website for abortion pill referrals.

"Abortion pills by mail in every state. Plan C provides information on how people in the US are accessing abortion pills online for safe home abortion," states the Plan C website.

As early as March of 2020, before mail-order dispensing had been approved by the FDA, the New York Times reported that "Plan C called on doctors across the country to take the first step for mailing mifepristone: registering with Danco Laboratories or GenBioPro, the only F.D.A.-approved manufacturers."

Under the heading, "What options do minors have if their state requires parental notification or consent for an abortion?" Plan C's website tells minors to:

Request service from a provider (like Aid Access) who offers telehealth from a state with protective “shield laws.” They can help minors without needing parental consent or notification.

Pill sellers

Aid Access: This group ships abortion pills via U.S. providers assumed to be governed by abortion pill manufacturers. The group openly advertises a willingness to ship abortion pills to every state, even pro-life states, and even to women who aren’t pregnant.

The Netherlands-based virtual abortion pill dispensary was founded in 2018 by Rebecca Gomperts, an author on the JAMA “Research Letter,” entitled, “Provision of Abortion Medications Using Online Asynchronous Telemedicine Under Shield Laws in the US,” which admitted that Aid Access would "leverage" shield law protections to thwart laws in pro-life states.

Planned Parenthood: Abortion corporation Planned Parenthood's business model has been evolving as it shutters brick-and-mortar facilities. Planned Parenthood is now driving clients to its new online services business model, which increasingly relies upon telehealth — including the mailing of abortion pills. Its “Virtual Health Centers (VHCs)” are popping up across the country as part of a larger restructuring plan put in place years ago.

Telehealth for Abortion Pills at Planned Parenthood | Planned Parenthood Video

While online, Planned Parenthood does not openly advertise abortions in prohibited states, its website encourages clients to search AbortionFinder.org, which does.

In addition, the website INeedAnA.com also refers women to where they can illegally obtain abortion pills. But this shouldn't be surprising, since manufacturers Danco and GenBioPro also link to AbortionFinder.org and INeedAnA.com. 

Choices Rising claims to "offer the FDA-approved abortion pill" which can be "prescribed by our licensed abortion providers" and be shipped "by mail to 50 US states."

 The website also tells clients:

• ... with "just a phone or computer, you can access professional abortion care at your fingertips."

• ... there is "no need to have a telehealth consultation."

• ... to be "eligible," you need to be at "least 15 years old" and "[h]ave a mailing address in any US state or territory" — including the states that protect preborn children from abortion.

WeTakeCareof.Us states online that it provides "safe and supported medication abortion for pregnancies under 13 weeks, throughout the US."

The group, which offers "advance provision" of the drug, is affiliated with NAF, Ineedana, Plan C, and others, and promises it can "arrange shipment to any U.S. state, Guam, Puerto Rico and APO addresses."

Additional websites which offer abortion pills in all 50 states, including states that prohibit them, include:

• Cambridge Reproductive Health Consultants - The MAP

• A Safe Choice

• ABuzz

• Southern Woven

And likely many more.

Wrapping Up:

• The FDA's REMS safety regulations require the manufacturer of the abortion pill to police prescribers of the drug and decertify those who flout their safety requirements.

• Several states have either outlawed abortion or prohibited abortion pills by telehealth.

• Lawmakers in pro-abortion states are granting legal cover to lawbreakers by passing shield law protections.

• Several lawsuits have been filed by states which claim the erosions to the abortion pill's safety regulations by the FDA in 2023, which allowed for mail-order and pharmacy dispensing, have resulted in abortion drugs flooding into their states.

• Abortion pill manufacturers refuse to police their prescribers and the FDA has done little to nothing to force manufacturers of the drug to reign in those who flout the REMS.

So we, again, ask:

Dear FDA, are abortion pill manufacturers aiding and abetting the unlawful mailing of mifepristone into pro-life states?