OBGYN group leader says she posed as teen, ordered abortion drug via mail

An organization of pro-life OBGYNs is calling on Congress to end the mail-order abortion system after the group's CEO said she posed as a 13-year-old girl and was allowed to order the drug with no proof of pregnancy or identity. The American Association of Pro-life OBGYNs (AAPLOG) CEO Dr. Christina Francis told The Center Square: "Our investigation shows the [mail-order abortion] system accepts extreme and contradictory medical information, makes no effort to verify age or ID, and offers no medical review or individualized counseling." "Congress should demand that the FDA do the job that Congress tasked it to do and protect women and girls by immediately re-instating the in-person dispensing requirement, strengthening the safeguards around these dangerous drugs, and also provide full transparency surrounding their safety review of mifepristone," Francis said. "As an OB-GYN, I'm deeply concerned about how mail-order abortions remove the medical support for vulnerable women and preborn children," Francis said. "The lack of safety standards and medical review in online ordering and mail distribution of abortion drugs exposes women and young girls to life-threatening risks," Francis said. Francis told The Center Square that the mail-order abortion system "deprives women of appropriate medical follow up, denying patients the thorough evaluation, counseling, and informed consent they need and deserve." As stated in AAPLOG's report, Francis said posed as a 13-year-old girl to an online abortion pill provider. She said she pretended she was "on blood thinners, with an intrauterine device (IUD) in place, and [had] a history of three prior cesarean sections and ectopic pregnancy," which are all factors that increase the risk of "severe complications" when taking the abortion pill. Through her experiment, Francis said she found that because Biden did away with an in-person doctors' visit to obtain abortion drugs, "any individual, male or female, of any age can order abortion drugs…online and receive them through the mail without identity verification, confirmed pregnancy, or direct medical consultation and despite medical contraindications to the drugs." Francis told The Center Square that "the inherent dangers of abortion drugs, which send at least 1 in 25 women to the emergency room (but possibly as many as 1 in 9), are exacerbated by this negligent mail-order scheme." Francis said mail-order abortion "removes medical professionals and in-person medical evaluation, leaving women vulnerable to medical malpractice and abuse." "This is 100% because of the negligence of the FDA in removing the in-person dispensing requirement," Francis said. "This has also led to what essentially amounts to a federal mandate of unregulated abortion that supersedes every state abortion law," Francis said. Francis also said there can be harmful effects of the abortion drug on women. "In addition to ending the lives of hundreds of thousands of preborn children every year, these drugs carry serious risks for women - even with, but especially without, medical evaluation," Francis said. "Hemorrhage, serious infection, and even death have been documented in women taking these drugs," Francis said. "We also know men have ordered these pills online and forced their wives and girlfriends to take them," Francis said. AAPLOG's report said that Francis' mail-order abortion testimony "may not represent all user experiences across diﬀerent providers or scenarios."