The Heritage Foundation notes at least 17 high-profile incidents, since 2015, where men used mail-ordered, FDA approved abortion drugs to coerce or poison their significant other to abort their babies.
Heritage and other Pro-life groups argue that by allowing Mifeprex or abortion pills to be dispensed via mail without any in-person medical evaluation and allowing pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens to dispense these drugs, the FDA aids in this trend of men abusing pregnant women with abortion drugs.
Catherine Herring and Rosalie Markezich are two examples provided by Alliance Defending Freedom of women coerced and even deceived by their male partners to consume abortion pills the men ordered through the mail.
In October 2023, Markezich told her boyfriend that she was pregnant with their baby. In a sudden switch, the once supportive partner demanded she take the Mifeprex to abort their baby. Rosalie refused, explaining, “I kept standing my ground, I want to keep it.”
The boyfriend’s continued urging, however, succeeded and Rosalie fearfully took the pills. “He snapped, raised his voice, I was scared, and I felt pressured to take the pills. So, I did.”
To desperately save her baby, she tried to throw up the drugs although bleeding had already begun.
Rosalie, a childcare provider, soon returned to work where she cares for other women’s children, she reflected on being forced to give up her own. “I work with Kids; I love my job and all my babies. But I would think about how I would never be able to hold the hand of my baby,” Rosalie tearfully confessed.
While Rosalie eventually decided to take the abortion drug; not all women get that chance.
On March 17, 2022, Mason Herring brought his pregnant wife, Catherine Herring, breakfast in bed and a cup of water. After being pressured to “chug” the water, Catherine realized it was murky.
Her husband had secretly poisoned the water with abortion drugs, and the effects sent her to the hospital. This would be the first of seven attempts to abort his baby.
Somehow Baby Josephine survived all seven attempts. “Josephine is the one known abortion pill poisoning survivor I can find, and I don’t take that lightly. She’s such a miracle,” Catherine reflected joyfully.
Pro-life advocacy groups use personal horror stories, like Catherine Herring and Rosalie Markezichs’, to show the abusive and life-threatening risks that the FDA’s relaxed restrictions on abortion drugs can cause.
Last October, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the state of Louisiana and Rosalie, sued the FDA for enabling doctors to mail abortion drugs into states restricting or banning abortion.
In May of this year, the 5th Circuit ruled in the State’s and Rosalie’s favor, stopping the FDA’s regulation allowing mifepristone to be prescribed online and mailed. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, issued an order allowing the abortion drugs to be mailed into pro-life states while the lawsuit is litigated at the 5th Circuit.
