Coerced, Deceived, Abandoned: The Painful Toll of Mail-Order Abortion Drugs

One of the most common refrains you’ll hear from pro-abortion activists is that abortion is safer than Tylenol.

But that’s wrong. The FDA’s own label for these abortion drugs says that roughly one in 25 women who take them as directed will end up in the emergency room, and seven percent will require surgery.

Those are not insignificant numbers, especially given how prevalent mail-order abortion drugs have become since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022). Abortion drugs now account for over 60 percent of abortions in the United States.

Despite the risks, under the Biden administration, the FDA rescinded the requirement that the drugs be dispensed in person—a requirement the Agency previously admitted was “minimally burdensome” and “necessary” to preserve safety—making the drugs available by mail.

As a result, women and girls are now left to perform their own chemical abortions in their homes, turning their personal spaces into abortion clinics.

And what’s worse: without in-person dispensing, bad actors have been able to obtain FDA-approved abortion drugs at the click of a few buttons, then secretly spike women’s drinks or coerce women to take these drugs against their will.

The latter is what happened to Rosalie Markezich.

A heartbreaking loss in Louisiana

In October 2023, Rosalie suspected she was pregnant. So naturally, she took a pregnancy test to confirm.

“Deep down, I kind of knew that it was going to be positive. And deep down, I also kind of wanted it to be positive,” Rosalie explained. “So when I took it and I immediately saw the line, the first thing I did was just smile.”

Rosalie broke the news to her then-boyfriend. At first, he seemed supportive. But then, he changed his mind, claiming the baby would “ruin his life.” So he ordered abortion drugs in the mail from a doctor in California using Rosalie’s information and had them sent directly to her home in Louisiana.

Rosalie did not want to have an abortion. When she saw her boyfriend, she pretended that she had already taken the drugs, but he did not believe her. They took a drive to discuss it further.

Rosalie continued to stand her ground, wanting to keep her child. But that’s when her boyfriend became angry.

Rosalie recalls, “He abruptly pulled the car into a hospital parking lot and started shouting at me. My boyfriend had anger issues and a criminal record, so I was terrified and started crying.”

Rosalie had suffered prior domestic abuse and knew the signs of an unpredictable man.

“My roommates did not know that I was with him. Should anything happen to me, no one would know where I was.”

Trapped in that car, Rosalie’s fight-or-flight response activated. “So to pacify him, I told him I would take the drugs.” She planned to throw them up, but it didn’t work. She suffered from heavy bleeding and cramping for about a week afterward, as well as prolonged psychological and emotional trauma that persists today. She still mourns the loss of her child.

Rosalie later reflected, “If mail-order abortion wasn’t a thing, I’m one hundred percent sure I would have my child.”

The FDA’s actions enable reproductive coercion and assault

Rosalie is not the only woman to have been coerced or forced into taking abortion drugs. For example, several women have had abortion drugs crushed into their drinks or have been given abortion drugs under the guise of being given other medication. Some have even had abortion medication forced directly into their bodies.

• In March 2022, Catherine Herring’s husband brought her breakfast in bed and a cup of water. When he pressured her to chug her drink, she noticed something wasn’t right. The cup of water in her hand—that she had already consumed—was murky. It wasn’t just water. It was a vessel for chemical abortion drugs. Her now ex-husband had poisoned her drink in an attempt to kill their baby. The effects from the drugs were severe and sent Catherine to the emergency room. This was the first of seven total poisoning attempts. Miraculously, Catherine’s baby girl survived. But many women and babies around the country haven’t been so fortunate.
• In Louisiana, a pregnant teen wanted to keep her baby and was planning a “gender reveal” party. But her mother allegedly obtained abortion drugs from a doctor in New York and told her daughter that she had to have an abortion or she would be kicked out of her home. After taking the abortion drugs, the teen suffered an adverse event and was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

The Biden FDA’s decision to allow mail-order abortion drugs has only eased the path to abuse.

We must protect women

Thankfully, the state of Louisiana is working to hold the FDA accountable.

In October 2025, Louisiana and Rosalie, represented by ADF attorneys, filed a lawsuit against the FDA for enabling pro-abortion activists and doctors to mail streams of high-risk abortion drugs into states that protect the lives of unborn babies.

The pro-abortion Society of Family Planning’s 2025 #WeCount report shows that as of June 2025, mail-order abortion drugs—sent into Louisiana from out-of-state doctors—accounted for nearly 1,000 abortions in Louisiana per month. Based on Louisiana’s pro-life laws, that number should be zero. The Biden FDA’s scheme is having its intended effect.

States with permissive abortion laws, like California and New York, have predictably attempted to shield from liability the doctors and activists whom the Biden FDA has enabled to flout Louisiana’s pro-life laws—some of whom mailed abortion drugs to individuals who then coerced or pressured a pregnant woman into taking them. There is but one thing that will stop this FDA-sanctioned abuse: obliterating abortion by mail.

The notion that a government agency entrusted with safeguarding women’s well-being could create the scheme that instead endangers them is indefensible. Women deserve better. That is why Rosalie is standing up to the FDA—and why we are standing alongside her. It’s time for the FDA to be held accountable.

One story like Rosalie’s is one story too many. The Biden FDA’s recklessness has only facilitated countless more.