Pro-life nonprofit organization Heartbeat International launched a new tracker last week that lists reported cases of abortion pill poisonings across the United States. So far, the organization has identified 15 states where women have reportedly been tricked into taking abortion drugs without their knowledge or consent.
Pregnancy Help News, Heartbeat International’s news website, is hosting the tracker, which “provides a centralized resource for journalists, policymakers, pregnancy help organizations, and members of the public” who want to “understand the growing number of reported incidents involving abortion drugs being used without a woman’s knowledge or consent,” according to a press release.
Heartbeat International developed the project after noticing an increased number of calls to its Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN) from women who regret taking the abortion pill. In addition, APRN staff also noticed a troubling pattern of women being drugged or forced to take abortion drugs without their consent, the press release said.
The most recent publicly available instance of this happening was in Glasgow, Kentucky, on May 25, when a woman alleged “that her boyfriend replaced her medication with abortion drugs.” Troopers with the Kentucky State Police arrested the man, Abdullah Mohmand, and he was charged with attempted fetal homicide.
In another case, a Texas man was charged with aggravated assault after allegedly secretly slipping the mother of his child an abortion pill. A majority of abortions — nearly 70 percent — are coerced or unwanted or “inconsistent with women’s preferences,” according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
Heartbeat International’s tracker only tracks publicly reported cases, which Vice President of Communications and Marketing Andrea Trudden said is likely “only a fraction of what is actually occurring.” This tracker aims to “illuminate patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed,” Trudden said.
Although the abortion pill, otherwise known as mifepristone, is the most widely used method of abortion in the United States, studies suggest the pill comes with serious side effects. A study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center found that nearly 11 percent of chemical abortions have complications. In a 7-2 decision earlier this year, the Supreme Court allowed mail-order abortions to continue while litigation in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is ongoing.
Heartbeat International, along with various pregnancy resource centers and pro-life organizations, helps provide abortion pill reversal (APR) for women who regret their decision or who were forced to take the pill. APR is a safe way for these women to improve the chances of their baby surviving. Heartbeat International statistics show that more than 8,000 babies have been saved because of this technology.
Elizabeth Barrett, a California woman who took the abortion pill, was able to reverse her decision using APR. “I chose to take the abortion pill, and immediately, I regretted it,” Barrett said in a Fox News article. After frantically searching online, Barrett found APR. Her baby daughter survived, and Elizabeth called her decision to keep the baby “the best decision of my life.”
In the vast majority of cases reported by Heartbeat International’s tracker, the babies do not end up surviving.
Those who know of a public case of abortion pill poisoning can report it to Pregnancy Help News to get the case added to the tracker, which will be updated with additional information as it becomes available.
