As Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said, the Chemical Abortion Pill operation is a drug cartel like any other, selling a deadly product in states where it is not permitted.   

“These are not doctors providing health care,” Murrill told lawmakers. “They are drug dealers. They are violating our laws.”  

While all drug cartels are evil and should be prosecuted, the mission of the Chemical Abortion Pill Cartel is crystal clear: every time the pills are used, an innocent life dies.   

Like any cartel, it operates through a structured chain of command. Bosses, lieutenants, foot soldiers, lookouts, and yes, alleged officials in their pockets, keep their deep web operation alive and thriving. 

How the Cartel Formed  

Before we can unmask these bad actors, we need to understand how the Chemical Abortion Pill Cartel emerged – driven by those eager to profit from death.  

In 1980, Étienne-Émile Baulieu, the father of the Chemical Abortion Pill, concocted RU-486, Mifepristone, for the French pharmaceutical company Roussel Uclaf, in France. Mifepristone is the first of a two-drug cocktail of Chemical Abortion Pills, which starves the baby to death in utero. The second pill, misoprostol, forces the child from their mother’s womb to be disposed of through the toilet or other unsanitary setting.  

Despite strong opposition from French and American citizens throughout the 1980s and 1990s, former President Bill Clinton partnered with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to push Chemical Abortion Pills towards approval. In 1994, his administration pressured Roussel Uclaf to hand over patent rights to Population Council to seek approval from the FDA. 

Their effort paid off. On September 28th, 2000, the FDA approved the death drugs, passing the baton to Danco Laboratories, the company responsible for helping pollute America with these pills.   

The same day, Danco got exclusive rights to sell Chemical Abortion Pills in the U.S. from the FDA, which finally approved mifepristone. The pills invaded the market, and two decades later, the former Biden Administration opened the floodgates, removing safety standards like in-person appointments due to “COVID safety” concerns. Through former President Joe Biden’s No Test, Online Distribution of Chemical Abortion Pills, more women and children were put at risk, ironically, in the name of healthcare accessibility.   

Just recently, a new study from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) titled “The Abortion Pill Harms Women” finds that the side effects are much worse than the FDA admits, noting: “Serious adverse events from mifepristone are approximately 22 times more frequent” than the FDA reports, which means that more than 1 in 10 patients will “experience at least one serious adverse event.” 

The usage of the pills is higher than ever before. In 2001, Planned Parenthood’s Guttmacher Institute reported the usage at 6%. If Planned Parenthood’s numbers are to be believed, as of 2023, over 60% of abortions now take place through pills. And, since there’s no National Abortion Reporting Law, the number is likely much higher.   

The Cartel’s Inner Circle: Names, Faces, and the Fortune Behind the Pills 

Like it or not, this cartel is a well-oiled money-making machine, each player having their marching orders.   

The Masterminds  

The previously mentioned “masterminds” of the cartel are the Population Council, the FDA, and, historically, Roussel Uclaf, all eager to make a buck.   

While it’s unclear how much money Population Council made in royalties, we know from their financial records that in 2022 they made nearly $4.8 million from mifepristone, Norplant, contraceptives, and licensing deals. In 2018, they made a record-breaking $22.72 million from royalties. Their business model allowed investors to cash in with complete anonymity. What for? What else could they be hiding? 

“But the small group of investors who backed the Population Council’s drive to manufacture and distribute the drug since its earliest days have made a lot of money on the mifepristone business—tens of millions of dollars, according to court filings,” Mother Jones, a pro-abortion publication, admits. “Their windfall has come through a byzantine corporate structure set up in the 1990s by a private equity fund, now called MedApproach Holdings, to allow investors to pour money into Danco Labs—until 2019 the only U.S. retailer of Mifepristone—without disclosing their identities. As states have imposed ever-stricter limits on abortion access, their investments have generated hefty returns.”    

The Producers  

Danco plays a central role in keeping the death toll rising—fueling profits across the entire cartel. 

Danco is identified as the leading U.S. business tied to the pills, manufacturing the brand name version of mifepristone, Mifeprex. To the surprise of no one, the company is currently a party in the legal action that went to the Supreme Court.   

In 2019, GenBioPro followed Danco’s lead, getting FDA permission to produce a generic version. And now, AmerisourceBergen/Cencora is reportedly a distributor in the U.S. market of the U.S.-based operation (not to be confused with international operations).   

In short, Danco and GenBioPro manufactures mifepristone, but AmerisourceBergen (renamed Cencora) is the exclusive national wholesaler and distributor.   

HONORABLE MENTION: GynuityHealthProjects has conducted research to expand the range of drug formulations available—another reason why our legislation must explicitly name the drugs or devices it targets, as new ones continue to emerge.  

The Middlemen/Distributors  

None of it would be possible without the middlemen, the mail-order pharmacies that help pill pushers disregard the laws of pro-life states like Texas and Louisiana, in turn violating the Comstock Act.   

READ: The Abortion Lobby’s Desperate Attempt to Kill: Pilot Program Could Force Pharmacists to Prescribe Chemical Abortion Pills  

And, of course, someone must run the “businesses” that distribute these pills to the masses. Meet the “telehealth” providers with pill-pushing operations, the distributors of the distributors, including the following:   

• Aid Access: (the most infamous)  

• Hey Jane  

• Just the Pill  

• Women on Web  

• Plan C  

• Carafem/and Choix  

• Individual operations  

Through websites like AidAccess, Hey Jane, and Plan C, abusers and women can get a hold of the pills online with no proof of identity or pregnancy, making it  easier for the Chemical Abortion Pill Cartel to move pills quickly across the country.  

The Enforcers  

There are state officials who are on the side of pill pushers, providing the muscle. Officials like New York Governor Kathy Hochul are unwilling to hold a New York abortionist accountable for sending pills over state lines. Or California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is aiming to expand death via pill in his state.  

Just recently, The Los Angeles Times reported that Democratic attorney generals (AG) in “California, New York and Massachusetts are pressuring medical professional groups” to protect abortion and abortion travel, especially states with pro-life laws.  

It Was Always a Secret Dirty Money Operation  

Despite the copious claims that the pills are “safe and effective,” being sent to women with healthcare in mind, the Pro-Life Generation (PLG) knows better than to believe that- but abortionist propaganda continues to flood the public sphere.  

With loosening regulations and the growing popularity of Chemical Abortion Pills, the market is ready to run red with more bloody money. According to the Verified Market Reports, “Mifepristone Market recorded a market value of $800 million USD in 2024 and is projected to rise significantly to $1.5 billion USD by 2033 at a CAGR of 7.5% from 2026 to 2033.”   

What Students for Life Continues to Do to Expose the Cartel

Students for Life of America (SFLA) has been one of the voices of reason on this issue – as long as restrictions remain nonexistent, more women will suffer while the abortion industry cashes in big.   

We have raised the alarm bells with amicus briefs, letters, op-eds, and articles calling on the FDA to consider the harms of Chemical Abortion Pills not just to women but also to the environment. In fact, we have been raising the issue of environmental justice and abortion for more than six years, with five citizen petitions filed at the FDA demanding that the harms of abortion to the preborn, women, endangered species, and water be addressed.    

In February 2024, SFLA filed a SCOTUS amicus brief in Food and Drug Administration et al. v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. Our 32-page brief discusses how potential harm to endangered species was ignored during approval.  

In 2024, 40 pro-life leaders signed onto a letter drafted by Students for Life Action (SFLAction), along with Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, that calls on Congress to demand that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) track the forever chemicals in Chemical Abortion Pills as part of their new initiative.    

Fast forward to 2025, and SFLA got 25 U.S. House and U.S. Senate members to sign a letter to the EPA Administrator, Lee Zeldin, calling on him to address the potential harm to those drinking water in America.    

The Chemical Abortion Pill Cartel may have grown into a powerful force, but that does not mean it is untouchable. The Pro-Life Generation took on Planned Parenthood and other abortion vendors and won real victories, through budget cuts, facility closures, and defunding them for one year through the recently passed reconciliation bill. We have a chance to dismantle this cartel. One player at a time, one operation at a time—until the deep web network collapses for good. 

READ NEXT: BREAKING: New Report from Students for Life notes MORE THAN 50 TONS OF HUMAN TISSUE & REMAINS DUMPED EACH YEAR as a Result of Abortion Water Pollution