Biden-Harris Admin Ignores Foreign ‘Abortion Pill Drug Cartel’: Report
As Kamala Harris blames maternal deaths caused by the abortion pill on “Trump abortion bans,” the Biden-Harris administration has allowed foreign-made abortion pills to flood the market without testing, regulation, or oversight, according to a new report. This includes allowing the “abortion pill drug cartel” to send the deadly drugs to pro-life states illegally.
The FDA has noted, but taken no action against, online distributors who ship abortion pills manufactured in India and China to pro-life states, noted an in-depth report released Wednesday morning. The report comes as incumbent Democratic presidential nominee Harris has highlighted the case of a 28-year-old Georgia mother who died after an incomplete abortion caused by the abortion pills, mifepristone and misoprostol.
“The irony of the Democrats attempting to exploit Amber Thurman’s death in the name of abortion access is not lost on us. Amber and her twin babies are victims of unfettered and unregulated abortion access,” Katie Brown, national director of the American Life League, told The Washington Stand exclusively. “Every American should be enraged by the death of Amber and her twins. We should be enraged that a 28-year-old mother felt she had to resort to killing her children to make ends meet. We should be enraged that our government pushes, promotes, and protects these deadly pills that end lives and destroy families.”
“How many thousands more women and children have paid the ultimate price, but their stories never made the headlines, because it made the abortion pill look bad?” she asked.
The report, “Beneath the Surface: Exposing the Abortion Pill Drug Cartel,” peers inside the mechanisms the abortion industry uses to send the abortion pills to states which protect life, sometimes using the same methods as narcotics traffickers. “ALL research uncovered an ongoing pill network that is funneling these drugs in from foreign countries to states with so-called ‘abortion bans.’ 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,” states the report.
One of the groups highlighted — Las Libres, based in Mexico — reportedly receives as many as 200 requests for abortion pills daily. Verónica Cruz, the group’s founder, claimed Los Libres distributed abortion pills to 10,000 women in five months. Another, Medside24.com, is a chemical abortion dealer based in Kazakhstan.
“These so-called ‘community networks’ currently ship abortion pills to 28 states and five U.S. territories free of charge (with a suggested donation to the specific group mailing the pills),” the report reveals. Thanks to the alliance of the abortion pill cartel and the Biden administration, “there is no such thing as an abortion-free state in the U.S.” Chemical abortions accounted for nearly two out of every three (63% of) abortions carried out in 2023 — an increase from 53% in 2020, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute.
Their efforts are organized by a website called Plan C, which admits, “Websites that sell pills are e-commerce websites that sell and ship pills to addresses in all US 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.”
The use of pills manufactured overseas — primarily from India, but also China, Vietnam, and Russia — has raised concerns about whether the pills could be deadly to mother and child. Although Plan C claims it “regularly tests these websites by buying pills from them,” it admits it “cannot guarantee they will be reliable in the future.”
Al Carter, the executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, has estimated that “96% of the online pharmacies out there are illegitimate.”
In case the abortion pill creates a medical emergency — like that of Amber Thurman — Los Libres instructs mothers to lie to medical personnel, such as EMTs and emergency room techs:
“Tell all intake and medical staff that you think you’re having 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. ER staff can provide the appropriate post-miscarriage medical care without knowing that you took pills. 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. To be on the safe side, you should erase messages and emails about your abortion from your phone.” (Emphasis added.)
Plan C tells minors how to obtain deadly abortion pills without their parents’ consent. “If you do not feel able to involve your parent(s) in your decision, there are two options you can use,” its website states. “If you are less than 13 weeks pregnant (counting from the first day of your last period), you can get abortion pills mailed to you from Aid Access. They serve minors in all states and territories.”
The FDA initially approved mifepristone for use up to seven weeks; however, the abortion industry ignored the law, and the Obama administration extended the chemical abortion deadline up to 10 weeks. Plan C’s guideline of 13 weeks, for minors likely taking the pills without adult supervision, stands well outside those parameters.
The website also teaches minors how to get a judicial bypass, in which a judicial activist allows the teen girl to have an abortion without parental notification.
“These unsupervised procedures — self-administered without continuing medical oversight — are incredibly traumatic and dangerous to women,” Brown told TWS. “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. The FDA and USPS should care enough to intervene in this illegal importing of the dangerous DIY abortion drugs.”
The illegal, international trafficking in abortion pills to pro-life states takes place because of a web of pro-abortion laws at the national and state level, and the Biden-Harris administration’s determination not to enforce laws that impede the abortion industry.
The Comstock Act (18 U.S. Code § 1461 and 1462) makes it illegal to send any item through the mail that “can be used or applied for producing abortion.” But the Biden-Harris administration’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued an opinion on December 27, 2022, that pharmacies may mail or ship abortion pills to pro-life states with legal impunity. The administration’s FDA also allowed pharmacies to dispense the abortion drug directly to women.
The FDA’s website under this administration states merely:
“The FDA does not recommend purchasing mifepristone outside of the Mifepristone REMS Program – e.g. buying it online or personally transporting it from a foreign country. If a person does so, they would be bypassing important safeguards specifically designed to protect their health. Prescription medicines that are approved for use in the United States have been reviewed for safety, effectiveness, and quality by the FDA, and are subject to FDA-regulated manufacturing controls, including inspection of manufacturing facilities. Generally, prescription medicines purchased from foreign sources are not the FDA-approved versions. The FDA does not have regulatory oversight of prescription medicines from outside the legitimate US drug supply chain; therefore, the FDA cannot ensure the safety, effectiveness, or quality of those medications.”
“Women across America are accessing these pills at an astonishing rate, despite the increased protections for preborn children that many states have implemented since the fall of Roe v. Wade,” Brown told TWS. “It’s clear that the FDA has dropped the ball on this. As the government agency charged with oversight of drugs coming into this country, they have failed. And where is the USPS? The post office is supposed to screen packages for illegal items, yet black market abortion drugs are being mailed into every state.”
Plan C boasts that its distributors “are able to serve minors without parental consent or notification because they operate from states with special laws that do not require them to do this.” Seven states have enacted lawless statutes, which the abortion industry calls “shield laws,” exempting abortionists from the legal consequences of distributing the abortion pill in pro-life states. Three Democratic senators, including a former Planned Parenthood executive, introduced a bill in June to change federal law to allow abortion pills to be mailed nationwide.
Planned Parenthood has praised Las Libres as “a leading trusted provider of safe abortion information and access all across the country.”
Despite the nature of their work, organizations promoting the use of unregulated abortion pills have won glowing coverage — and financial support — from the media and celebrities alike, for years. “Las Libres has helped thousands of women access the information they need to exercise autonomy over their bodies and their lives,” stated Laura Gottesdiener and Amy Littlefield of the Independent Women’s Media Foundation in 2018. “Meet the Mexican activist helping women in the U.S. access abortion drugs,” proclaimed a hagiographic profile from the Dallas News shortly after the Dobbs decision. Last summer, Demi Lovato’s nonprofit activist group donated proceeds from the song “Swine” to numerous pro-abortion organizations, including Plan C.
“It’s my prayer that Amber and her twins did not die in vain, and that this serves as a springboard for a generation that protects and cherishes the gift of life, both born and preborn,” Brown concluded.
Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.