Woman forced into abortion speaks out: 'No woman should fear being drugged'

Jona Affholder, who was forced into a chemical abortion by an Ohio doctor, is speaking publicly about the experience for the first time.

Key Takeaways:

• Hassan-James Abbas was indicted on six felonies after he ordered abortion drugs and forced the pills into his girlfriend's mouth, causing her to lose her preborn baby.

• He pled no contest to four of the six felony charges against him.

• Originally remaining anonymous, Affholder is now speaking out in the hopes that what happened to her will not happen to anyone else.

The Backstory:

Last month, Abbas pled no contest to four of the six felony charges he was facing. Abbas, a doctor in Ohio, began a relationship with Affholder in 2024, despite still being married. At the time, he was a surgical resident at the University of Toledo Medical Center, and told Affholder he and his wife were separated.

When Affholder found out she was pregnant, she wanted to keep the baby, but Abbas insisted she have an abortion. When she refused, he was initially angry, but then became calm, and offered her repeated drinks. He then physically forced the abortion pills into her mouth. In a previous, anonymous interview, Affholder said she feared for her own life. Once she was able to escape, she went to the emergency room, but her baby did not survive.

Abbas was charged with abduction, unlawful distribution of an abortion-inducing drug, disrupting public services, deception to obtain a dangerous drug, identity fraud, and tampering with evidence. He allegedly ordered the pills online using his wife's name.

Under the plea deal he agreed to, the third-degree felony charges of abduction and tampering with evidence were both dropped. He faces up to five years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

The Details:

In an op-ed for the Daily Wire, Affholder told her story publicly for the first time.

Affholder said she and Abbas originally bonded over their careers in health care, and that their relationship went well until she got pregnant. "The moment I told him, everything changed. His calm demeanor disappeared," she said. "That was when his secrets spilled. He revealed he was still legally married. Then he commanded I abort our child. He spoke obsessively about appearances, his family, and his future career. He repeatedly pushed for an abortion."

When she refused, Affholder said he got angry, even as she reassured him that he did not have to be involved, saying she was financially stable and could raise a child on her own. To her surprise, he stopped being angry after several days.

"I was shocked; he had completely changed," she recalled. "He was saying he would be the man I needed him to be, and he wouldn’t fight against our baby. He offered acts of kindness. He even started getting me hot chocolates daily. Little did I know that he was slowly poisoning our baby and me with the abortion drugs he’d bought online using his ex-wife’s information."

But it would get worse very quickly. Affholder recalled that she woke up at about four in the morning feeling as though she was being watched. He was "hovering over" her, pinned her down, and forced crushed pills in her mouth. She explained:

I fought him off and ran to call 911. He took my cell and my keys, blocking me from leaving. I rushed to the kitchen, trying to rinse the powder from my mouth. But he continued to restrain me, buying each minute for the drugs to do their intended purpose of killing our kid.

He kept yelling the same things at me: 'My father will cut me off. My family will be ashamed. My career will be ruined.'

At no point did he show concern for our child or for me.

When he decided enough time had passed to kill the baby, he left, and Affholde went to the hospital. While there, she began hemorrhaging. She said:

"Blood was everywhere. The ER staff had to clean me and change the sheets because it was so severe. And the trauma didn’t end there. The medical staff had to support me through the tragedy of miscarrying my child in front of them.

Then the police came. Detectives found crushed drugs and recovered evidence that corroborated my account."

Though Abbas has since lost his medical license and will be held accountable for his crimes, Affholder said she still feels like she needs to speak out. "I had no idea that these abortion drugs could be obtained online with no oversight, no in-person exam, no safeguards, no follow-ups," she said. "Just a man on a computer in the comfort of his home using his ex-wife’s information to order these drugs and have them arrive at his doorstep two days later." She added:

"People can argue endlessly about abortion, but no woman should fear being drugged against her will. No woman should wake up to someone forcing abortion drugs down her throat. What happened to me violated every principle of health care."

READ: Her boyfriend got the abortion pill online and made her take it. She's not alone.

The Bottom Line:

Affholder said the FDA should reinstate safeguards surrounding the abortion pill, and return to requiring in-person visits.

"Our leaders need to take women’s safety seriously, not just for me, but for anyone who could end up in this situation," she said. "I hope Rosalie’s [Markezich] lawsuit will be resolved to restore important safeguards so abusers can’t get abortion drugs in the mail. No one should suffer. If the drugs are powerful enough to end human life and cause massive hemorrhaging, then they shouldn’t be treated casually."