Are there downsides to hoarding pills that promise death? This is the question that every American — regardless of their opinion on abortion — needs to ask themselves as a newly released research letter from the medical journal Jama Internal Medicine shows a serious increase in the stockpiling of Chemical Abortion Pills. According to reporting from USA Today, the online abortion drug vendor Aid Access saw a boost in orders following the Dobbs v. Jackson leak in 2022 of nearly ten times the typical number…and if that doesn’t concern you, here are three reasons it should (on top of the fact that these drugs kill preborn children):  

1. Whose Hands Are These Deadly Pills Really Falling Into?  

USA Today’s report notes that this uptick in Chemical Abortion Pill orders comes from “Americans who weren’t pregnant and wanted abortion pills”— and the use of such vague language is our first clue into this troubling reality. This is different than a refusal to call those who are able to get pregnant “women;” instead, this is a hint that not only women are ordering. That brings us to the important question: who exactly is receiving these Chemical Abortion Pills?  

With such reckless access making the drugs available to anyone and their brother, the door has been opened to abusers who force these pills on pregnant mothers — often without their knowledge. Sadly, this is not a hypothetical.  Students for Life of America (SFLA) President Kristan Hawkins published an op-ed on this topic at The Federalist after one such story of a Texan lawyer secretly drugging his pregnant wife’s water came into the news. She noted: 

“Abusers in homes across the nation and worldwide have utilized Chemical Abortion Pills in the same way that Herring allegedly did. The vehicle of disguise, however, does change. Women have had deadly abortion pills slipped into their tea, Starbucks, orange juice, yogurt, pancakes, sandwiches, and cereal. In another case, an abuser lied to his partner about what the life-ending drug was, saying it was an antibiotic. If it’s something a woman can ingest without suspicion, it can be used as a cover-up. Abusers aren’t picky — just as long as it kills their inconvenience.”  

With this in mind, it’s alarming that we don’t know who is receiving these pills and why as their distribution clearly affects domestic abuse and sex trafficking.  

2. Are Women Being Informed About the Risks — Like Death?  

If these Chemical Abortion Pills do end up in the hands of abortion-seeking women, it’s also worthwhile to be concerned about how well-informed they are on the risks — which are legion.  

Side effects or complications can include: blood clots, diarrhea, feeling dizzy, fever, heavy and/or prolonged bleeding for multiple weeks, hemorrhage, incomplete abortion (requiring surgical follow-up), infection, maternal death, nausea and vomiting, pain, permanent infertility, (if an Rh negative mother is not administered RhoGAM as is done with dangerous online distribution), short-lasting hot flashes, and undetected ectopic pregnancy, which is life-threatening. To learn more, click HERE to watch a licensed, practicing obstetrician-gynecologist explain the harms.  

But are women really being told all this before ingesting Chemical Abortion Pills? Unlikely.  

3. Everything Expires…Is That Considered?  

Drugs aren’t good forever; they eventually go bad at some point, and Chemical Abortion Pills are no exception. According to an article from The Cut, the shelf life of mifepristone (the first drug in the two-pill regimen, is about five years. With misoprostol (the second pill), it’s around two. That means that if any purchasers of Chemical Abortion Pills from when researchers first began documenting the surge (May 2022) are still holding onto their supply, it’s about to go bad.  

And, as mentioned previously, these pills already have a bad reputation for incomplete abortions which can negatively affect a mother — how much worse will it get if they’re expired? Will two lives be taken instead of just one?  

For all three of these reasons, you don’t have to be pro-life to think such stockpiling is a bad idea. In fact, you just have to be pro-women — and clearly, the abortion lobby is not because they continue to push Chemical Abortion Pills like these drugs are even more innocent than candy.  In reality, they are poison to both mother and baby…and if we’re to believe this report, these poisonous pills are unfortunately in many medicine cabinets today.  

The Pro-Life Generation must continue to promote Abortion Pill Reversal as an antidote — click HERE to learn more about this today.  

READ NEXT: Making My Christian College Pro-Life Again: How Our Group Spoke with More Than 1,000 Students in 2023 About Abortion