When a client came into Life Choices of Memphis with a package of chemical abortion pills she had obtained via mail, staff at the pregnancy medical clinic saw several red flags. They then took the opportunity to educate others about the dangers of mail-order chemical abortion drugs based upon what they had witnessed firsthand.
Life Choices personnel created a video highlighting the many concerns, including the pills coming from an abortion state into a life state, no tamper-resistant packaging or identification of the drugs, absence of directions and dosage information, and issues with issues with the sender address and mailing materials used to send the drugs.
“I noticed right away that it wasn't secure, safe packaging,” said Rachel Davis, Life Choices of Memphis’s director of community relations.
The return address and the postmark on the envelope were from two different areas in California, and there was no discernable medical or pharmaceutical entity named anywhere in the packaging.
“It was not from a lab, it was not a corporation or anything like that – it just had a random name on it,” Davis told Pregnancy Help News. “With as large of a population as California has, we know there is no possible way that this return address originated at this postmark. It's a different zip code.”
The return address turned out to be a branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. Life Choices of Memphis staff kept digging.
“I know for a fact the sender does not live at or have a business that operates through the Los Angeles Public Library,” Davis said. “We spoke to one of the employees, and the answer immediately was, ‘No,’ they do not allow people to mail things from their address.”
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Additional red flags surfaced when staff looked inside the package. Black envelopes contained drugs that were not labeled, Davis said. Therefore, the recipient had no idea what she would actually be taking.
“There were no identifying labels on any of the packages. The only thing that was identifiable easily was a travel size of Tylenol that was stuck in the package as well,” she said. “And there were no marks or labels on the pills, and there were no instructions included.”
From potential harm comes opportunity to raise awareness
The client who brought the package in had taken what she thought was the first of two abortion pills and experienced immediate regret. She was also afraid as she realized she really didn’t know what she had taken.
She contacted the Abortion Pill Rescue Network and was immediately connected to Life Choices of Memphis.
When she came in for her appointment at the pregnancy help center, she brought the package of pills with her. There were no directions included for how to take any of the drugs.
According to Davis, the client told staff, “When I purchased these online, I was told to just go online and find instructions.”
“She went to their website and downloaded a pamphlet that she said had some very vague instructions on it,” Davis said.
Nurses at the pregnancy help clinic examined the drugs and made more concerning discoveries.
“What they told me that was the actual number of pills that are inside these packages is more than one dose, more than she even needed to take,” Davis said.
This incident prompted the idea to raise awareness by making the video, titled, Mail Order Abortion is not healthcare, which was picked up and reported on by the local outlet Tennessee Conservative.
“We consider it our job to educate our community, our clients, their families on the dangers of the abortion pill,” Davis told Pregnancy Help News. “I think that so many people in Tennessee and even other life states across the nation, think that when Roe was overturned and sent back to the states that their laws and their states prevent stuff like this from happening, and it's just simply not true.”
The Director of Medical Impact for Heartbeat International, the largest network of pregnancy help organizations domestically and internationally, and the manager of the Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN), confirmed based on contacts into the APRN that chemical abortion drug access is dangerously unregulated.
“In blue states and red states alike, a quick search on your phone and less than five clicks can start an order for an abortion pill kit,” said Christa Brown, a registered nurse. “Often the order requires no medical assessment or human contact.”
“It should come as a shock to Americans that you don't have to be pregnant or female to order an abortion delivered directly to your doorstep,” Brown said. “You could be in any gestation of pregnancy or have a complication such as an ectopic pregnancy. For those who traffic or abuse women, some websites offer a discount for bulk orders.”
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Chemical abortion increasing and so is APR
Chemical abortion accounted for more than 60 percent of abortions three years ago and that number is estimated to be much higher now because the drugs are being covertly sent through the mail, as in this case.
Chemical abortion is made up of two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol. The mifepristone blocks progesterone in the mother’s system, starving her unborn child of necessary nutrients. Misoprostol, taken a day or so after the mifepristone, then prompts the mother to go into labor and deliver her deceased child.
Longstanding safety standards for chemical abortion drugs, such as requiring an in-person doctor visit to assess gestational age and screen for possible complications, were removed between 2016 and 2021, and the drugs have been available with essentially no oversight, including mail-order availability, opening the door to more risk for women and exploitation by abusers. Pro-life and pregnancy help advocates continue to call for more regulation of the drugs, particularly with research showing the complication rate is much higher than previously detemined by the FDA.
However, if a woman has taken mifepristone and wishes to try and save her child, if she acts soon enough it may be possible to save her baby with Abortion Pill Reversal (APR). The APR protocol involves administering bioidentical progesterone to counter the effects of mifepristone. It is an updated application of a treatment used since the 1950s to prevent miscarriage.
APR is known to have saved more than 7,000 unborn lives to date. The APRN, a network of nearly 1,500 healthcare professionals, pregnancy centers and clinics, and hospitals worldwide that administer the APR protocol, has served women from all 50 U.S. states and 98 countries around the world.
Life Choices of Memphis is one of the many U.S. pregnancy help clinics that administer the APR protocol. Life Choices has seen a 160 percent increase in the number of APR inquiries in the past year, Davis said. She believes that having placed billboards and establishing a local 24/7 hotline has fed the increase.
“We are a facility that can have the capability to answer 24 hours a day, and we’re saturating our Memphis market here in collaboration with the Abortion Pill Rescue Network,” Davis said.
The increase in APR traffic in Memphis is part of an overall trend, as the APRN saw a record number of reversal starts last year, a 30 percent increase over the year before.
“Abortion Pill Reversal is the cutting edge of the pro-life movement, saving lives every day,” Brown said. “The APR Network is a 24/7 hotline staffed with knowledgeable, compassionate nurses with immediate connections to physicians, midwives, clinics, pharmacies and hospitals who are on standby ready to help.”
The APRN receives almost 200 calls inquiring about reversal each month.
“Ninety percent of our mission critical callers start the APR protocol and attempt to continue their pregnancies,” Brown said. “This supplementation of progesterone is safe for moms and safe for babies. These 7,000 miracles walk among us and there are many more on the way!”
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and Pregnancy Help News. Heartbeat is currently the subject of two lawsuits brought by state AGs concerning sharing infromation about Abortion Pill Reversal.
