Over all three days of the long Memorial Day weekend, Mayday Health, an abortion advocacy organization, hired a plane to fly a banner reading, “Abortion pills by mail,” over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Over Memorial Day weekend, Mayday Health hired a plane to fly a banner at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
- Attendees of Carb Day, a parade, and the Indy 500 saw a banner overhead reading “Abortion pills by mail.”
- Indiana protects most preborn children from abortion and requires the abortion pill to be dispensed in person, not via the mail.
THE DETAILS:
According to the IndyStar, the plane displayed the pro-abortion banner during Carb Day Friday, May 23; over the parade Saturday, May 24; and during the Indy 500, the main racing event, May 25. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indy 500 had no affiliation with the Mayday Health banner, due to Federal Aviation Administration regulations, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.
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In an Instagram post, Mayday Health reposted media coverage of the plane and banner, saying its goal is to educate more people on abortion access. Mayday Health pushes abortion on demand and especially targets states with pro-life policies that oppose the killing of children in the womb, such as Indiana.
Olivia Raisner, executive director of Mayday Health, told WFAA, “We want as many people to know as possible about abortion pills and how to get them by mail.”
Mayday Health advises women to take the abortion pill, which includes two drugs: mifepristone and misoprostol, even after the FDA-approved gestational limit, and also tells minors where to travel for an abortion, including states in which they will not be required to have a parent’s approval. It also offers information on how to obtain abortion pills proactively in case of a future pregnancy.
Its advice is dangerous because the abortion pill has been found to cause serious adverse effects. A recent study, “The Abortion Pill Harms Women,” published by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), found that nearly 11% of women (10.93%) experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or other serious or life-threatening adverse events following a mifepristone abortion. This means one in ten women experience at least one serious complication from taking mifepristone within 45 days — 22 times higher than the “less than 0.5 percent” serious adverse events rate reported by the FDA on the mifepristone label, according to this study. The study authors state that serious adverse events in multiple categories were accounted for in the reported rate.
The physical risk is in addition to the emotional toll that taking the abortion pill can have. Women have spoken out about the trauma they have suffered upon seeing their baby’s body after taking the abortion pill.
THE BACKSTORY:
After the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, Indiana became the first state to pass pro-life legislation. Indiana protects preborn children from abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or fetal or maternal life-risk, according to the Indiana Department of Health. State law also requires the abortion pill to be administered in person, not prescribed through telehealth, the very means Mayday Health advocates.
Indiana’s Department of Health reported a total of 146 abortions in 2024, according to the most recent report, released in April. This marks a 98% decrease in abortions in the state compared to 2022, Axios Indianapolis reported.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Mayday Health chose to advertise at a major event in Indiana because of the state’s pro-life laws, and the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported that many race attendees were confused by the advertising. It was an attempt to convince abortion-vulnerable women in the state, or perhaps men, to order abortion pills online despite the risk of abusive misuse and dangerous complications.
