Could increased abortion numbers be the result of abortion pill stockpiling?

The stockpiling of abortion pills “just in case” is on the rise. Could this be the “elephant in the room” that explains, at least in part, why abortion numbers are increasing?

In 2023, abortions reached the highest reported number in over a decade, as abortion pill use climbed to 63% of the “estimated 1,026,690 abortions [which] occurred in the formal health care system in 2023,” according to data recently released by the Guttmacher Institute, a former research arm and “special affiliate” of Planned Parenthood.

And while Guttmacher claimed its abortion pill counts don’t include those that “take place outside of the formal health care system” or abortion pills that are “mailed to people in states with total abortion bans” it is clear abortion pill stockpiles in states that allow killing preborn children could play a role in skewing the data.

In April of 2023, Danco Laboratories, the manufacturer of mifepristone, claimed abortion pill orders had, according to a CNN report about stockpiling, “increased substantially in recent months and are significantly higher than they were at this time last year.” Demand for mifepristone was up among all types of customers, including clinics, pharmacies and individual providers, Danco’s director of public affairs claimed at that time.

States Stockpile Abortion Pills

Live Action News has previously documented abortion pill stockpiles in multiple states. While mifepristone is the only drug approved by the FDA for the termination of pregnancy, some states are also stockpiling misoprostol, the companion drug used in the abortion pill regimen.

Below is a list of states that announced plans to stockpile abortion pills:

California – On April 10, 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state had purchased an “emergency stockpile of up to 2 million pills of Misoprostol.”

More recent reports indicate that the state has already dispensed all those drugs through its CalRx program. According to the LAist, the state distributed their abortion pill stockpiles primarily to abortion providers because they were due to expire soon.

“Some may go to California’s 33 public university health clinics, which are required by state law to provide medication abortions to students. A recent LAist investigation found that over the past year, many of the state’s public universities had failed to let students know the service was available,” the LAist claimed in February. “The state estimates the stockpile is enough for about 12,000 doses.”

Conversations about buying more drugs “remain ongoing,” Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for the Newsom administration recently told CalMatters.org.

“California spent about $107,000 on the first 250,000 pills for a price of about 43 cents per pill, according to state purchasing records. The state’s agreement with ANI Pharmaceuticals allows the state to purchase an additional 1.75 million pills at the same price, Richards said,” according to a recent San Francisco Chronicle report.

Illinois – Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois told TIME that “we have offered providers Medicaid advances for both mifepristone and misoprostol to ensure they have abortion medication available… as long as possible.”

Maine – In April, Gov. Janet Mills said she was considering whether Maine would follow the example of states like Massachusetts and Washington, and stock up on an abortion pill, claimed the Press Herald.

Maryland – On April 17, 2023, Gov. Wes Moore announced that the state of Maryland had begun the process of stockpiling the drug mifepristone by partnering with the University of Maryland Medical System. Using state funds from the Board of Public Works, the state later decided to purchase both mifepristone and misoprostol.

In April, the state purchased 25,000 mifepristone doses for almost $1.1 million. The largest of the agreements was with Pennsylvania-based Amerisource Bergen (recently renamed Cencora, one of the largest pharmaceutical distribution companies in the world), claimed Maryland.org.

“The state purchased additional doses of mifepristone along with doses of misoprostol through the University of Maryland Medical System. Under that emergency contract issued in April, the state will pay wholesaler R&S Pharmaceutical more than $212,500 for 5,000 doses of mifepristone,” the outlet reported.

Massachusetts – On April 10, 2023, Governor Maura T. Healey announced that the state had “purchased approximately 15,000 doses of mifepristone.” And a CNN report indicated that “the University of Massachusetts and health care providers have also taken action to stockpile doses of mifepristone.”

New Mexico – Bloomberg claimed New Mexico has 4,383 units of misoprostol set aside — enough to cover a statewide demand for nearly six months.

New York – On April 14, 2023, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that New York would be “stockpiling 150,000 doses of Misoprostol.”

Oregon – Gov. Tina Kotek’s office said in an email to CNN that she has directed the Oregon Health Authority to “explore all available avenues for ensuring Oregon is prepared should Mifepristone become less available. That includes evaluating the supply of Mifepristone and Misoprostol and consulting with providers to better understand the potential impact on the provision of abortion and reproductive health care and what additional support might be necessary.”

Washington state – On April 4, 2023, Governor Jay Inslee announced that the state had “taken unprecedented action to purchase a three-year supply of mifepristone…” and that Inslee had “directed the state Department of Corrections (DOC), using its existing pharmacy license, to purchase the medication last month. The full shipment was delivered on March 31,” the state claimed.

NPR reported that the DOC was “ordered… to use its pharmacy license to buy 30,000 doses of mifepristone, an estimated three-year supply for patients in Washington state….” and added that the University of Washington “has obtained an additional 10,000 doses, or about enough for a fourth year.”

The question remains: are abortion pill stockpiles counted in overall abortion totals when they are purchased by a state or when/if they are dispensed to a provider?

Counties Stockpile

There is little information on how many counties are considering abortion pill stockpiles, but just days ago the Times of San Diego reported that the San Diego county Board of Supervisors “failed to pass a measure that would allow the county to secure its emergency stockpile of medication-based abortion treatments Misoprostol and Mifepristone.”

Women Stockpile Abortion Pills

Big Abortion and their friendly media propagandists are ignoring the dangers of abortion pill stockpiles even as abortion trafficking and illegal abortion pill syndicates continue to smuggle or disperse abortion drugs across the U.S. border. Recently, warnings from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration even indicated that fake prescription pills from that region could “contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl.”

A woman in Texas ordered pills from Aid Access, telling The Insider she did it in the event that “she or a friend needed an abortion in the future.” Another Texas woman, who wanted abortion pills for her “arsenal,” told KVUE she was not pregnant but was stockpiling abortion pills “[f]or a woman, a friend, a family member, a neighbor who is in need and needs these pills.”

Millionaire abortionist Merle Hoffman told Business Insider that abortion pill stockpiles are more common than you would think. “Individuals may have to stockpile, and I’ve heard of people starting to do that, but not everybody can,” Hoffman said.

In Texas, retired gynecologist Debbie McNabb also told Business Insider that Aid Access would give abortion drugs to women who are not pregnant. “You can get it ahead of time. You can stockpile. It is expensive,” McNabb said.

“Aid Access received about 48,400 requests from across the U.S. for so-called ‘advance provision’ from September 2021 through April 2023,” PBS previously reported.

McNabb added, “The only other option I’m seeing, there are women who have set up self-help groups that are bringing in Mifepristone. They’re basically trafficking it under the radar, and they go to great lengths to keep their operation a secret. They acquire the pills at pharmacies in Mexico where you don’t have to say that you’re pregnant.”

Abortion pill stockpiles from so-called legitimate sources have been known to be “shoddy”.

Is Abortion Pill Stockpiling Legal or Safe?

Live Action News has documented multiple times how Big Abortion is more than willing to market abortion drugs as “missed period” pills or to ship “advance provision” of the abortion pill in violation of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) REMS safety standards, which require prescribers of the drug to be able to properly date an actual pregnancy.

This suggests that those who obtain the drugs need to actually be pregnant — something that is clearly not the case where abortion pill stockpiles are concerned.

But they get away with it, because the FDA has granted policing power to those who profit from the drug — namely to Danco or GenBioPro (GBP). And allowing abortion pill stockpiles to continue seems to violate the REMS, as Live Action News’ “Bad Actors” series previously documented.

In 2022, Politico reported a stern warning from the FDA about the dangers of prescribing the drug to women who are not pregnant, writing, “The FDA said health providers prescribing abortion medication to people who aren’t pregnant are acting without its authorization and that the practice is potentially dangerous for patients.”

Now that Roe is gone, it seems all bets and warnings are off… and access to drugs that intentionally kill is all that matters, regardless of risk.

The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30-seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.