‘Abortion Pill Cartel’ Circumventing State Pro-Life Laws, Study Finds

Violence, crime, and drug-related deaths in the U.S. have been on the rise for some time now, thanks to Mexican drug cartels, but a new report is revealing that a different kind of cartel is flooding the U.S. with a different kind of drug—namely, abortion pills.

A new in-depth study, “Beneath the Surface: Exposing the Abortion Pill Drug Cartel,” published by the American Life League, dives into how abortion pill companies ship the deadly drugs to states with stringent pro-life laws. The American Life League observed, “To the casual observer, this pill network is modeled after the drug cartel, creating an abortion pill crisis similar to our nation’s narcotics crisis.”

The abortion pill cartel operates using “community partner networks,” groups of volunteers who help women in the U.S. order abortion pills from foreign countries and then ship those drugs. These community partner networks encourage women to request abortion pills using secure networks and unhackable email accounts, in order to evade prosecution.

One community partner network affiliate, based in Mexico, even told women, “To be on the safe side, you should erase messages and emails about your abortion from your phone.” The group even told women that if they suffer bleeding after their chemical abortion, they should visit an emergency room and claim to be experiencing a miscarriage. “Do not reveal that you took abortion medications—there is absolutely no way for them to know. The pills will not show up in blood tests or scans,” the group warned women. “This also applies to interactions or consultation with your doctor or gynecologist: There is no need to tell them that your miscarriage was self-induced.”

Community partner networks also give women instructions on how to hide their search and request for abortion pills online. Some advice offered includes using untraceable VPNs, end-to-end encryption on messaging apps, using specific browsers that don’t store or share data, and clearing out internet history frequently.

Women are even advised to wear disguises or cover their faces with sunglasses, a hat or hoodie, and a face mask when visiting abortion facilities.

Other community partner networks help underage girls circumvent state laws requiring parental consent or notification, providing a “resource guide” on how to get abortion pills without parents finding out.

The American Life League pointed out that the Food and Drug Administration’s 2023 decision to allow abortion pills to be administered via mail, instead of requiring that they be administered in-person at certified facilities, makes it all the more difficult to prevent the expansion of the abortion pill cartel.

“The FDA’s 2023 ruling to permanently allow the mailing of abortion pills has opened the floodgates for clinicians to prescribe abortion pills everywhere,” ALL noted. “In order to acquire the abortion pills via telemedicine, women must complete either a video or online form consultation with an abortionist, who will then prescribe and mail the pills to the woman.”

In addition to in-person abortion facilities, pharmacies, and tele-abortions operated by American abortion businesses, ALL noted that the abortion pill cartel thrives on the internet.

One of the community partner networks, called Plan C, explained, “Websites that sell pills are e-commerce websites that sell and ship pills to addresses in all U.S. states. They do not require a prescription for the medications, do not require you to upload your ID, and do not provide a medical consultation or any kind of support.”

ALL discovered that most of the websites recommended by Plan C and other community partner networks sell generic or off-brand abortion pills unregulated by the FDA. “This means that without identification and a prescription, anyone can order these pills from an online vendor to use themselves or on women who are pregnant,” the report explained.

ALL continued, “Because the abortion pills provided by online vendors are not inspected or approved by the FDA, no one can be certain what the pills contain, how they will affect the mother’s health, and where to even trace the origins of the abortion pills.” The FDA has done little to regulate the abortion pill market, instead simply recommending that women not order the deadly drugs from sources not approved by the FDA.

“The abortion pill drug cartel is alive and well, especially in so-called ‘abortion-free’ states. These networks aim to groom vulnerable women on how to obtain these pills secretly. These community networks work to traffic the pills across our nation’s border right under the noses of federal agencies,” ALL summarized. The group pointed out that abortion pills have been used to drug women and have also been used to cover up evidence of rape.

“Abortion regulations are useless in ending this problem. By placing arbitrary numbers and limits on when a baby can be killed in the womb, we continue to waste time in the fight to protect all preborn children from abortion,” ALL declared, adding:

The horrifying reality we are facing is that while in-person clinics may not be able to perform abortions depending on the circumstances in various states, women are able to get abortions without leaving their homes through the abortion pill, despite their state’s regulations.

The sobering report concluded:

“This report is proof that the claim of the abortion-free state, or pro-life state, is a myth. As long as the abortion pill regimen is trafficked across our nation’s borders into heavily restricted states, abortion numbers will continue to rise. And as there is no required reporting, we will continue to be left in the dark regarding how many women’s and children’s lives are claimed by the abortion pill crisis.”