Abby Johnson is one of the most prominent pro-life voices in the movement right now. And she’s right about a lot of things. But her view, as expressed in a recent op-ed, that the “pro-life movement should never have championed” a lawsuit that resulted in a ruling halting the mailing of high-risk, life-ending abortion drugs nationwide is, regrettably, not one of those things.
My team at Alliance Defending Freedom is litigating that case alongside Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill. The case, The State of Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued an order prohibiting the mailing of abortion drugs nationwide.
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The notion that the abortion industry will simply pivot to higher-risk misoprostol-only abortions if mail-order mifepristone is curtailed doesn’t mean that mail-order mifepristone should continue. If the pro-life movement begins to argue that ending abortion-by-mail is a lost cause because alternatives to mifepristone-induced abortions exist, then indeed we have lost.
ABBY JOHNSON: ABORTION PILL CASE ISN’T THE WIN PRO-LIFERS THINK IT IS
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning the 50-year Roe v. Wade regime returned to the people and their elected representatives in the states the right to enact laws prohibiting abortion and protecting life. And many states did just that. So why are there now more abortions in the U.S. than before Dobbs?
The answer is mail-order abortion drugs.
In 2023, the Biden administration’s U.S. Food and Drug Administration lifted the in-person dispensing protection for mifepristone, making it available by mail to anyone with internet access and three minutes to spare. That decision signaled open season to abusers and bad actors alike, who could now get their hands on these drugs with impunity to poison or force women to take them.
By June 2025, the abortion industry reports that the number of unlawful FDA-approved, mail-order abortions in pro-life states reached at least 14,770 per month. In states like Louisiana, these unlawful abortions account for 100% of the total abortions in that state, at a rate of nearly 1,000 unborn babies every month. That number should be zero. Mail-order abortion drugs have effectively nullified state pro-life laws. And that was the whole point.
This federal workaround is what our lawsuit addresses.
The 5th Circuit’s decision to halt the mail-order regime while we litigate our appeal stops that deluge. Mary Ziegler, a pro-abortion professor at UC Davis, summarized the ruling best: “We’re now going to see, I think in a way we haven’t before, what the nation will look like when abortion bans are actually in effect.”
Exactly.
Will mifepristone and misoprostol continue to exist even if mail-order mifepristone ceases? Yes. But they won’t be FDA-approved. And that means a lot to most people who are wary of taking drugs of unknown origins and ingredients.
Do we still have more work to do in this country to make abortion unthinkable? Certainly. But is eradicating mail-order abortion drugs a win for the pro-life movement? Absolutely.
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If even one woman in a pro-life state foregoes a chemical abortion because of this ruling, that is one life saved. But this ruling will have far greater impact than that. And isn’t that what we’re all fighting for?
Abby Johnson is a soldier for life, and her lived experiences shine a crucial spotlight on the evils of the abortion industry. It’s precisely because we share a passion for the same cause that my colleagues and I will continue our work on this lawsuit. God willing, the results will speak for themselves.
Gabriella McIntyre is legal counsel at the Center for Life with Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal).