North Dakota AG issues cease-and-desist order against abortion website

The attorney general of North Dakota has issued a cease-and-desist order against an organization that he said is unlawfully promoting the sale of the abortion pill in the state.

Key Takeaways:

• North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley has issued a cease-and-desist order against the Prairie Abortion Fund.

• Wrigley has accused the Prairie Abortion Fund of violating the state's Consumer Fraud Law by promoting the unlawful sales of abortion drugs on its website.

• The AG explained in a press release, "Prairie Abortion Fund lends credibility and trustworthiness to unlawful websites that otherwise would look much more suspicious.”

• The abortion pill carries significant risk to women, especially when taken without the supervision of a doctor.

The Details:

Attorney General Drew Wrigley has accused the Prairie Abortion Fund of Fargo of allegedly violating the North Dakota Consumer Fraud Law by promoting the sale of abortion drugs. He has ordered the organization to stop. The state's consumer fraud law prohibits the promotion and facilitation of the unlawful sales of unapproved, untested, or misrepresented products, as well as the sale of products without the required prescription and the unlawful sale of products that are required to be administered under the supervision of a doctor.

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Wrigley's order alleges that the Prairie Abortion Fund's website links to other organizations that sell unapproved and misbranded abortion pills that are not FDA-approved. Anyone can allegedly visit the site and purchase abortion drugs without giving any health information or verifying their identity or age. In addition, the state's Abortion Control Act prohibits the sale of abortion pills without a doctor's prescription and without having been tested by the FDA.

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“These actions pose a significant health risk to pregnant women and facilitate the violation of North Dakota’s healthcare requirements, in part, by taking doctors out of the equation," said Wrigley in a press release.  “As a North Dakota nonprofit corporation, by referring and actively linking to websites that unlawfully sell products, Prairie Abortion Fund lends credibility and trustworthiness to unlawful websites that otherwise would look much more suspicious.”

Why It Matters:

The abortion pill carries significant risks for women, including hemorrhage, incomplete abortion, and life-threatening infection. The risks increase with gestational age. Because of this, ordering the abortion pill online without the supervision of a doctor puts women's health in danger because a medical professional has not verified the gestational age of her child or ensured she is not experiencing a dangerous ectopic pregnancy.

In addition, allowing the abortion pill to be sold online permits individuals with bad intentions to purchase the drug and trick unsuspecting women into taking it, causing them to lose their baby.