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Lawsuits Filed Alleging Coerced Abortion Pill Use After FDA Rule Changes
Women have filed multiple lawsuits claiming they were tricked or forced into taking abortion pills since the FDA removed the in-person dispensing requirement in 2021. The cases involve allegations of covert administration by partners or family members. The FDA finalized the regulatory change in 2023.
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Lawsuits alleging that women were coerced into taking abortion pills have been filed since the FDA removed the requirement that patients receive the medication in person. The agency eliminated the in-person rule in 2021 and finalized the change in 2023, allowing prescriptions through online questionnaires without direct physician contact.
2023, Haley Raborn was charged in Florida with soliciting and attempting murder of an unborn child after she allegedly tried to have her ex-boyfriend give abortion pills to his pregnant girlfriend without her consent. In 2024, Robert Kawada was indicted in Massachusetts after he allegedly arranged for his girlfriend to receive abortion pills that he described as vitamin supplements.
Also in 2024, Hassan-James Abbas was charged in Ohio with forcing abortion pills into his girlfriend's mouth while she slept. In a separate 2024 case, Justin Anthony Banta, a U.S. Department of Justice employee, was accused in Texas of adding an abortion pill to his girlfriend's coffee and providing cookies that later tested positive for the medication.
In 2025, a mother in Texas was charged with obtaining abortion pills online and forcing her daughter to take them. A woman also filed a civil lawsuit in 2025 alleging her former partner secretly dissolved abortion pills into a beverage she consumed.
The cases were compiled by the Heritage Foundation. The FDA website states the regulatory changes were intended to expand access to the medication.
