The Devastating Reality of Chemical Abortion and the Need for Compassionate Alternatives to Abortion

A heartbreaking story out of Lancaster County highlights the devastating consequences of chemical abortion and the dangerous abandonment of women by the abortion industry. 

Court documents reveal that a teenage girl from East Donegal Township in Lancaster County, after being turned away by an abortion clinic because her pregnancy was too far along, resorted to taking abortion-inducing drugs obtained online. The tragic aftermath left her alone to deliver a fully formed baby, whom she later buried in her backyard.

“Women deserve better,” states Jill Hartman, executive director of A Woman’s Concern Pregnancy Center in Lancaster, Pa. “Women’s health is put at risk, as well as the lives of unborn babies, when purchasing abortion pills online.”

The horror of this situation was compounded by the teenager’s texts to a friend, revealing the shocking reality of what took place after taking the abortion pill:

“It just came out now and it’s like a full baby and it’s still moving.”

“It has fingernails, and lips, and a nose.”

“I’m scared to touch it cause it moves sometimes.”

Media reports described ‘it’ as a baby, fetus, or child; one news report used all three terms in their story. ‘It’ is a human being that this mother felt she should keep in a box and bury in her backyard.

This case underscores the grim reality of abortion pills—marketed under the guise of “women’s healthcare”—that leave women at risk of complications without medical supervision or emotional support, all while an unborn baby’s life is targeted.

The Danger of Abortion Pills

The abortion pill industry and its providers push a narrative that chemical abortion is “safe and easy.” However, cases like this demonstrate the callous disregard for the well-being of women.

The abortion lobby, in its pursuit of expanding access to these harmful pills, actively supports policies allowing abortion drugs to be mailed with no requirement for in-person medical evaluation. This means women can be left to face severe complications and harm alone. This too often includes severe bleeding, incomplete abortions, or, as in this case, the harrowing experience of delivering a baby without medical care.

Until 2019, the FDA had safety protocols to mitigate the risks from these abortion drugs, when the Biden administration abandoned long-standing safety measures by legalizing mail-order abortion, Combine this with former Gov. Wolf’s veto of telemedicine legislation that excluded its use for abortion and the free reign then given to abortion clinics during the COVID-19 epidemic that continues to this day.

In 2020, the PA General Assembly passed a bill that PA Family Institute helped to draft and worked to pass that would have stopped abortion pills from being mailed legally through telemedicine. Former PA Governor and Planned Parenthood escort Tom Wolf vetoed it.

This is not healthcare. This is the real war on women.

The Political and Financial Interests Behind Abortion Pills

This tragedy in East Donegal reveals how abortion is not about women’s healthcare—it’s about politics, profit, and the ending of human life. The abortion industry, led by groups like Planned Parenthood, aggressively markets abortion pills while dismissing the emotional and physical toll they take on women. 

The narrative of “choice” crumbles when women, left to fend for themselves, must resort to burying their own child because they were misled into believing a chemical abortion was an easy, private solution.

One leading site promoted by the abortion industry offers “next-day shipping as an option and can also ship your medications to a PO Box, UPS or FedEx pick-up locations, dorm or campus mail center—all sent in a plain padded envelope.” (source intentionally omitted)

In other words, young women can abort their baby alone in their dorm room and be left to deal with the bleeding, the medical complications and the trauma of ending the baby’s life.

The rise in chemical abortions is resulting in more women being harmed. Complications from abortions have doubled in Pennsylvania over the last three years, according to the PA Department of Health. Abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood that are choosing to forgo in-person consultations and mailing chemical abortion pills means not only are women on their own with this harmful procedure but they risk a delayed diagnosis of a possible ectopic pregnancy; a delay which could prove fatal. 

“Complications from taking abortion pills are increasing as women may not have confirmed viability and gestation age before obtaining pills online. Less medical oversight does not result in caring more,” added Hartman.

The Truth Must Be Told

The East Donegal case is a tragic and avoidable example of what happens when abortion advocates prioritize politics and revenue over real care for women. Chemical abortion pills are not empowering—they are dangerous and isolating. Women deserve better than to be abandoned in their darkest moments.

PA Family continues to lead in advocating for the protection of life and the dignity of women. Our policy and communications team has consistently worked to push back against the deception of the abortion industry and to promote laws that truly support women and families. We remain steadfast in our commitment to defending life and ensuring that women receive real care, not abandonment.

It is time to expose the deception of the abortion industry and advocate for policies that truly support women and families. 

Take Action: Stay informed and involved in efforts to promote compassionate care for women and their unborn children. Sign up for our email alerts to make sure you stay up to date on current legislation and initiatives that seek to uphold human dignity and protect life.

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Photo: Allen G. Breed Credit: AP Copyright: Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/