Women harmed by abortion pills urge acting US AG to settle case, regulate mifepristone

Fourteen women who suffered from the chemical abortion pill urged acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche to settle a case regarding the drugs “for women and girls across the country.”

The women made their request in a letter sent July 8 – a week before Blanche will face the Senate Judiciary Committee on his nomination to become attorney general.

“The federal government should not defend policies that make it easier for men, abusers, traffickers, or anyone else to obtain abortion drugs in a woman’s name and pressure her to take them in isolation,” the women wrote, according to the Daily Wire.

The women cited a court case between the state of Louisiana and the Food and Drug Administration, in which the state claims the unregulated mail-order distribution of mifepristone – the chemical abortion pill – violates the state’s laws against abortion and harms women. They also cite the example of Rosalie Markezich, whose boyfriend forced her to take mifepristone against her will.

“We grieve with Rosalie because many of us recognize parts of our own stories in hers: the pressure, the confusion, the fear, the absence of real medical care, and the feeling that the system was designed to move drugs faster than it was designed to protect women,” the 14 signers wrote. “No woman should be forced, pressured, deceived, or abandoned into taking drugs that end her child’s life and place her own health at risk.”

The case is currently before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after the U.S. Supreme Court revoked a lower court’s temporary pause on the mail distribution of mifepristone. The FDA under the Biden administration removed policies for the chemical abortion pill, including meeting with a physician who would administer the drug in person.

“Settling this case would send a clear message that women’s safety matters, that coercion is real, that state laws protecting women and unborn children deserve respect, and that the Department of Justice will not ignore the real-world consequences of weakened abortion-drug safeguards,” the women wrote.

Reportedly, 1 in 12 women who take mifepristone seek emergency room care for life-threatening events including sepsis and hemorrhaging.

“These are inherently dangerous drugs that do not belong where they can easily get into the hands of abusers,” Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. “The courage of these women, increasingly coming forward to share their very personal suffering and advocate to spare others the same terrible trauma, cannot be understated. Common sense tells us they should not have to wait months or more for justice and change from this administration.”

Haile McAnally, who signed the letter, began hemorrhaging after taking mifepristone and was rushed to the hospital. There, doctors administered a blood transfusion and saved her life, Daily Wire reports.

“For the health and safety of women, we have to do better – that starts with immediately stopping the mail shipment of these pills,” she told Daily Wire.

“Women deserve so much more than the predatory abortion industry that profits off of women’s pain, fear, and worry,” McAnally said in a post on X.

Blanche will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee July 15 and 16 for consideration to serve as AG and could face questions on the case.

Senator Josh Hawley, R-Missouri and another member of the committee previously introduced a policy to bar the use of mifepristone for chemical abortion.