'Cartel style' network illegally shipping abortion drugs from Mexico into the United States

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, September 26, 2024

Anti-abortion activists protest against the availability of abortion pills at neighborhood pharmacies outside of a CVS Pharmacy on January 18, 2023, in Washington, D.C., Earlier in February, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made a regulatory change that now allows retail pharmacies to offer abortion pills to people who have a prescription. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Groups modeled after drug cartels are illegally shipping abortion drugs into the United States and contributing to the nation's drug crisis, according to a new report that highlighted one of the most popular abortion pill networks based in Mexico.

Various networks and abortionists have continued to offer abortion drugs to women online and through the mail in states that have enacted abortion restrictions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, allowing states more leeway in regulating and restricting abortion and abortion drugs.

As some reports suggest, chemical abortions have increased in the United States since the Supreme Court's decision.

According to a Wednesday study by the advocacy group American Life League, "Beneath the Surface: Exposing the Abortion Pill Drug Cartel," women in all 50 states and U.S. territories can still access abortion drugs due to the FDA's 2023 removal of in-person regulations.

The Mexico-based Las Libres is one of many networks illegally shipping abortion drugs into states and U.S. territories that have restrictions on abortion.

In a Wednesday statement provided to The Christian Post, American Life League National Director Katie Brown said that women across America are accessing abortion drugs at an "astonishing rate" despite several states enacting abortion restrictions since 2022.

"It's clear that the FDA has dropped the ball on this," she said. "As the government agency charged with oversight of drugs coming into this country, they have failed."

"And where is the [U.S. Postal Service]?" she questioned. "The post office is supposed to screen packages for illegal items, yet black market abortion drugs are being mailed into every state."

Per the report, Las Libres encourages women to open a Proton Mail account to obtain abortion pills. The instructions ask women to provide their name and date of their last menstrual period, but then they also state, "No other information is needed. You will receive instructions for how to order."

One of the dangers of women ordering abortion pills online is that they could potentially be laced with other drugs, something that has proven to be an issue with other drugs like fentanyl.

Dealers will often mix fentanyl with other drugs and make it resemble other prescription opioids, endangering people's lives.

Another potential risk to women's safety that the American Life League highlighted in its report is how easily an abuser can obtain abortion drugs and provide them to their wives or girlfriends without their knowledge or consent.

In March 2022, Catherine Herring's husband did just that after she told him she was pregnant. The pair had been married for 11 years and going through a separation at the time of the pregnancy. Herring credits an abortion pill reversal hotline with saving her pregnancy, and the woman's daughter is alive today.

While many media outlets and abortion proponents insist that chemical abortions are safe, pro-life advocates have questioned the validity of such a claim due to a lack of reporting on complications.

As American Life League's report noted, Las Libres tells women how to hide their online abortion pill requests and advises them to lie to physicians if they experience complications that require medical attention. The abortion pill network explains that doctors "can provide the appropriate postmiscarriage medical care without knowing that you took pills."

"These unsupervised procedures — self-administered without continuing medical oversight — are incredibly traumatic and dangerous to women," Brown said on Wednesday. "Even legitimately distributed abortion pills come with an FDA boxed warning about potentially fatal infections."

"The Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care reports that many women who have taken these drugs report extreme stress and trauma caused by expelling their dead baby's body at home, alone, after days of nausea, severe cramping, and bleeding," she continued. "The FDA and USPS should care enough to intervene in this illegal importing of the dangerous DIY abortion drugs."

The Christian Post reached out to Las Libres for comment. A response was not immediately received.

Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman