Rosalie Markezich had long envisioned motherhood, though she hadn’t expected it to come so quickly. Yet when she took a pregnancy test in October 2023, she learned that her dream was close to being a reality.
Her surprise swiftly gave way to delight.
“So when I took [the pregnancy test] and I immediately saw the line, the first thing I did was just smile,” Rosalie said.
Tragically, Rosalie’s joy soon turned to sorrow.
Who is Rosalie Markezich?
Rosalie is a young woman who lives in Louisiana. She works at a daycare with young children, a job she absolutely adores.
“I work with kids, and I love working with kids,” Rosalie explained. “And I love my job, and I love all of my babies.”
Despite being young, Rosalie’s work had been preparing her for motherhood. It was October 2023 when she first suspected that she was pregnant.
“So naturally, I went and took a pregnancy test,” Rosalie said. “And 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.”
Her then-boyfriend was initially supportive of bringing a new life into this world.
But when her boyfriend suddenly changed his mind about wanting a child, the Biden FDA enabled him to order abortion drugs in the mail from a doctor in California without her consent and then coerce her to take them.
Mail-order abortions harm women like Rosalie
“I decided to tell my boyfriend at the time,” Rosalie recounted. “And at first it seemed like we were on the same page.”
Not only was Rosalie’s then-boyfriend seemingly excited about the prospect of fatherhood, but he also called the situation “legendary” and wanted to move in with Rosalie. Until he didn’t.
“We would text about it and talk about it, and then all of a sudden it was just like 180—flip of a switch,” Rosalie said.
“He told me that he actually did not want to keep the child. And so I told him that I do. I don’t want to get rid of my baby.”
At the click of a few buttons and using Rosalie’s information, her boyfriend ordered abortion drugs from a California doctor and had them sent directly to her home in Louisiana.
Now, keep in mind that Louisiana adopted a pro-life law that prohibits abortion with narrow exceptions. The law went into effect immediately following the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overruled Roe v. Wade and returned the issue of abortion to the states.
Despite the regulation of abortion being kicked back to states, Rosalie’s boyfriend was able to obtain the abortion drugs he pressured her to take by simply having the drugs mailed directly to her home. The California doctor who prescribed the drugs never spoke with Rosalie.
How is this possible? Because the Biden FDA made abortion drugs available by mail.
Later, Rosalie and her boyfriend were in his car together when he asked her if she had taken the drugs. She said she did in hopes that he would believe her, but by Rosalie’s own admission, she is not a good liar.
That’s when things took a horrific turn.
Rosalie was coerced to take abortion drugs
Still trapped in the car, Rosalie’s boyfriend grew livid. He raised his voice and began acting unpredictably, and that “terrified” Rosalie.
Rosalie had suffered domestic abuse before, and she knew the signs of a dangerous man. Her boyfriend also had a criminal record—making the ease with which he acquired mail-order abortion drugs all the more infuriating. Rosalie also knew that her friends weren’t aware of her whereabouts, making the entire situation even scarier.
“Don’t make me do this,” Rosalie pleaded.
Her pleas fell on deaf ears. To escape the unpredictable and potentially dangerous situation she found herself in, Rosalie felt that she had no choice but to take the drugs her boyfriend had acquired from California
“Using my personal email address and mailing address, my boyfriend filled out an online form and ordered the drugs (mifepristone and misoprostol) from an online provider that his sister had used multiple times before,” Rosalie recounted.
“We took a drive to discuss the matter further,” she recounted. “My boyfriend said that his life would be ruined if I kept the baby. I stood my ground. I repeated that I wanted to keep the baby and would raise the baby with my mother in Michigan. But he did not like that plan either. He did not want a child, let alone a child he would have to support in another state.
“I told him that if I aborted this child, I would never be the same. I pleaded with him: ‘Don’t make me do this.’”
That’s when Rosalie’s boyfriend got angry, and abruptly pulled the car into a hospital parking lot.
Rosalie felt cornered and did the only thing she felt she could do: “I was scared, and I felt pressured to take the pills. So I did.”
Rosalie tried to induce vomiting to get rid of the drugs. With only her boyfriend’s house available, she darted inside.
“I got out the car and booked it for the bathroom, and I tried to puke,” Rosalie said. “Did not really get much, if anything, out. The blood started coming, and at that moment, I knew my chances were not in my favor.
“And so I just laid there bleeding, crying.”
A despondent Rosalie stayed at her boyfriend’s house, and things did not get any better.
“I lay in the bathroom for approximately an hour, bleeding and crying for the loss of my child. I could not look at my boyfriend. To avoid him, I went to the garage and lay there on a blood-soaked towel for the rest of the night,” Rosalie said.
“In the morning, my boyfriend was still mad. After his mother brought me a stuffed animal and I refused it, he threw the stuffed animal across the room. I climbed into bed and stared into space for the rest of the weekend. I continued to bleed heavily for about a week.
“I did not want to have an abortion.”
Women like Rosalie deserve better
Sadly, more stories like Rosalie’s are coming to light. As The Heritage Foundation chronicled, there are countless cases of bad actors taking advantage of abortion drugs to harm women and their babies. And the Biden FDA has made reproductive coercion and assault even easier.
Take, for instance, another horror story in pro-life Louisiana. A pregnant teen allegedly wanted to keep her baby and was even planning a “gender reveal” party. Sadly, legal documents show that teen’s mother obtained abortion drugs from Dr. Margaret Carpenter in New York and forced her daughter to take them under threat of being kicked out of the house. The daughter suffered an adverse event and was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
Whether these women are being coerced, like Rosalie, or outright tricked (i.e. someone spiking a pregnant woman’s beverage with abortion drugs), these nightmarish scenarios are made all the easier due to the Biden FDA’s mail-order abortion-drug scheme. When the FDA allows abortion-by-mail, it means more women face taking high-risk drugs alone—or even under pressure—without the safeguard of a doctor who could recognize that danger or abuse.
Because of the Biden FDA’s recklessness, the State of Louisiana and Rosalie, with help from Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys, filed a lawsuit challenging the scheme.
“Out-of-state abortion drug peddlers are violating the criminal laws of Louisiana and other states across the country that choose life. They aren’t providing healthcare, they’re drug dealers,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said. “Louisiana’s new lawsuit seeks to hold the FDA accountable for unlawfully removing its original safeguard that ensured women receive an in-person office visit to check for life-threatening conditions, such as ectopic pregnancy, before taking high-risk abortion drugs.”
“If the Biden FDA had not removed in-person dispensing, my then-boyfriend would not have been able to obtain abortion drugs and pressure me to take them against my will,” Rosalie added.
Stories like Rosalie’s are simply unacceptable. Will you stand with ADF to help protect the rights of women and unborn children?
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