For Immediate Release: May 7, 2026
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New Brief: FDA Made Informed Consent Impossible With Inherently Dangerous Abortion Drugs by Mail

Washington, D.C. – In a new brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, SBA Pro-Life America stands with the State of Louisiana and abortion drug survivors in their case against the Food and Drug Administration for allowing mail-order dispensing of dangerous abortion drugs. Informed consent cannot be obtained, the brief asserts, without in-person care to adequately screen for coercion and potential severe health risks to individual women. The group asks the Court to reject abortion drug manufacturers’ bid to block in-person medical evaluations from being reinstated pending appeal.

While the abortion industry continues to push the debunked claim that abortion drugs are “safe and effective” even by mail, peer-reviewed research found three quarters of ER visits within 30 days after abortion drug use were coded as severe or critical. Two separate, independent studies also found more than 1 in 10 women experience at least one severe adverse event, such as hemorrhaging, infection or sepsis. Women have died after taking abortion drugs.

SBA Pro-Life America has called for FDA Commissioner Marty Makary to be fired.

The group’s brief cites the story of plaintiff Rosalie Markezich, whose then-boyfriend was able to order abortion drugs online, despite Louisiana’s pro-life laws, and pushed her to take them against her will – killing her baby and leaving her bleeding on the floor:

Voluntariness is essential to genuine informed consent. Coerced consent is no consent at all, and there is an increased risk of coercion in the context of abortion drugs and procedures if the prescribing physician does not thoroughly screen for abuse or coercion. Abortion-inducing drugs are thus inherently different from other prescribed drugs. This risk is greatly increased by FDA’s removal of the in-person dispensing requirement…That risk is vividly demonstrated by the evidence in this case of the coercion experienced by Plaintiff Rosalie Markezich.

Lower courts previously found that the harms suffered by Markezich and Louisiana are direct consequences of federal policy, that they have standing, and that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their case.

Peer-reviewed U.S. research shows nearly 70% of women with a history of abortion describe their abortions as inconsistent with their own values and preferences, with 1 in 4 describing their abortions as unwanted or coerced. SBA Pro-Life America has identified numerous documented cases of alleged abortion drug poisoning across the country, including many with criminal charges and convictions.

The brief continues:

Tragically, while Rosalie Markezich was brave enough to share her heartbreaking story of coercion in this case, most instances of coerced abortion are never publicly known, and there is no justice for the victims. In-person dispensing requirements for mifepristone provided a line of defense—albeit an imperfect one—against coerced abortion. By failing to require in-person contact between prescribers and their patients, FDA’s 2023 REMS cannot ensure that vulnerable women and adolescents are protected from coercive partners and predators—further eroding the ability of women to make independent, voluntary decisions to use mifepristone.

Public opinion is firmly on the side of commonsense health and safety standards. Diverse polls consistently find Americans strongly oppose mail-order abortion drugs and want to reinstate in-person medical evaluations, including majorities of Independents, Democrats and liberal voters, and are less likely to support elected representatives who back them.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is a network of more than one million pro-life Americans nationwide, dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders.

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