New report: Getting abortion drugs easy as 'purchasing something off Amazon''

A new report from the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) backs up what Live Action News has been reporting: abortion businesses have been violating Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) safety rules, as well as state and federal laws, when selling abortion drugs.

Key Takeaways:

• A new report from CLI found that 81% of online abortion pill businesses that report their data ship abortion drugs to women whose pregnancies exceed the FDA's 70 days’ gestation safety protocol.

• None of the 18 foreign-based companies require identification from customers before ordering the abortion pills. Of those, 17 send unapproved or mislabeled drugs into the U.S.

• There are eight "online-only organizations" that are shipping abortion drugs into pro-life states and, in doing so, are violating pro-life state laws.

• None of the five community networks that give free abortion drugs to American women have gestational age limits at which they stop sending abortion drugs.

The Details:

According to the report, companies selling abortion drugs through virtual-only, hybrid brick-and-mortar facilities, international online organizations, e-commerce websites, and community networks are breaking safety rules, along with state and federal laws. Most are dispensing the abortion pill to women who are beyond the FDA's 70 day, or 10 week, gestation requirement; others are shipping the abortion drugs against federal law, and into pro-life states in violation of those state laws.

In all, the report from CLI found that 81% of online abortion pill businesses that report their data ship abortion drugs to women whose pregnancies exceed the FDA's 70 days' gestation safety protocol. Of online abortion pill sellers in the United States health care system, the report notes that only 19% complied with the FDA's safety requirement that the drugs can't be shipped after 70 days' gestation (10 weeks). "This means 64 sellers violated the FDA's safety limit," the report stated.

In addition, of 42 total online-only abortion organizations, 34 publicly report stopping the prescribing and shipping of abortion drugs after 77 days and longer. Additionally, 16 do not require a video call before prescribing the drugs. 17 of these virtual-only facilities allowed the abortion drugs to be sent to women and girls who were not pregnant at the time that they requested the drugs.

Of the 38 hybrid brick-and-mortar facilities, 28 reported prescribing and shipping the abortion pill after the 70 day gestational limit. At least 11 do not require a video call before prescribing the drugs. Furthermore, at least nine of the businesses allowed the dispensing of the abortion pill to women who were not pregnant. Ten of the businesses ship abortion drugs to states in which they do not operate.

There are three international online abortion businesses, according to the report, and two ship abortion drugs into the United States. Only Telefem Mexico does not ship the drugs; rather, it requires women to travel to the United States-Mexico border. Two of the three international online businesses prescribe and ship the abortion drugs after the 70 day limit, and none require a video call. Two of them allow the drugs to be sent to women who are not pregnant and the third does not report if it allows such advanced provision or not. Two do not require any form of identification for obtaining the drugs.

All of the 18 e-commerce abortion pill websites allow women of any gestational age to buy abortion drugs, meaning that none of them comply with the FDA safety limit of 70 days' gestation. "Some e-commerce websites, such as Pill Pulse, include phrases on the pages for certain abortion drugs such as 'for the non-surgical termination of intrauterine pregnancy up to 63 days (9 weeks) of gestation.' However, the websites do nothing to confirm or formally require that a woman prove she is under a certain gestational age," the report said. Five of the e-commerce sites require a prescription, and six claim they require one. Sixteen do not require women to consult with a healthcare professional and none require an ID.

In all, 18 foreign-based companies do not require any identification from women or any customers before they order the abortion pills. Of those, 17 send unapproved or mislabeled drugs into the U.S.

There are five abortion community networks included in the report, none of which require that the woman have a prescription from a certified prescriber, consult a health care professional, or submit an ID. None of them have a stated gestational limit at which they stop mailing the drugs to women, and all get their abortion drugs from overseas, despite being based in the United States.

The Big Picture:

While United States-based online abortion sellers, as well as brick-and-mortar abortion facilities also committing telehealth abortions, operate within the rules of the American health care system, international online organizations, e-commerce pharmacies, and networks operating outside of the United States health care system, often don't use doctors, and they ship abortion drugs that have been produced by companies other than those on the FDA's approved supply chain.

The report noted,

Under federal law, it is illegal for international organizations, e-commerce websites, and community networks to import abortion drugs into the United States without FDA approval. Federal law (21 U.S.C. § §331(a), 331(d), 355(a)) prohibits the importation into the U.S. and distribution in interstate commerce of misbranded and unapproved drugs. Furthermore, because these abortion drugs are unapproved they also cannot comply with FDA’s REMS requirements. However, these laws are routinely violated by sellers that ship into the U.S. and distribute unapproved and misbranded drugs, with some advertising the abortion drugs on their websites as FDA-approved.

In addition, under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), it is illegal to import foreign-made versions of FDA-approved drugs that have not been through the FDA approval process. Further, the Comstock Act prohibits the mailing of abortion drugs within the United States. Any organization or business that ships abortion pills is, therefore, violating the Comstock Act.

Further, in its review, CLI found that there are eight "online-only organizations" that are shipping abortion drugs into pro-life states and, in doing so, are violating pro-life state laws. In addition, there were 28 abortion pill websites that received abuse letters from the FDA in 2019, yet ten still actively sell the abortion pill in violation of federal law.

The Bottom Line:

Mia Steupert, institute research associate and author of the report, said:

“The abortion industry loves to claim ‘abortion is healthcare,’ but their actions and advocacy have shown they don’t want abortion to be treated with the same level of regulatory scrutiny as legitimate medical procedures. No one should be able to obtain abortion drugs as easily as purchasing something off Amazon. The egregious findings of this paper should serve as a wake-up call to policymakers that a wild west of online abortion drug access only serves to end unborn life at all costs, even at the expense of women’s safety.”