Pro-life advocates are sounding the alarm over a new campaign by pro-abortion groups targeting women in Michigan’s remote Upper Peninsula, urging them to stockpile chemical abortion pills before they even know if they’re pregnant.
The initiative, set to launch in the coming weeks, aims to promote the availability of mailed abortion drugs like mifepristone and misoprostol amid fears that access could be restricted under the Trump administration. Organizers say the effort will educate women on how to obtain the dangerous pills through the mail from sketchy companies which ship nationwide without requiring an in-person visit.
But critics, including CatholicVote, argue the push amounts to reckless marketing that could lead women to purchase and store the drugs preemptively — even if they’re not pregnant — exposing them to unnecessary risks without medical oversight.
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“This is not about access; it’s about pressuring women to treat abortion drugs like emergency contraception, keeping them on hand just in case,” said CatholicVote in a statement announcing its opposition to the campaign. The group described the effort as part of a broader “radical agenda” to normalize chemical abortions, which they say endanger women’s health.
CatholicVote Vice President Joshua Mercer, a resident of Michigan, denounced the pro-abortion push,emphasizing the danger the drugs pose to both women and their unborn children.
“Four abortion facilities in Michigan closed their doors this year, including in my hometown of Petoskey. So it’s no surprise that the abortion industry has shifted its resources away from surgical abortions to chemical abortions, but this just shows how little the abortion industry cares about women.”
The campaign is spearheaded by pro-abortion organizations including Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, the ACLU of Michigan, and the Upper Peninsula Progressive Women’s Coalition. It includes bilingual ads in newspapers, radio spots, and social media outreach in areas like Marquette and Sault Ste. Marie, where travel to abortion centers in lower Michigan can take hours.
A recent reassessment of mifepristone’s safety, announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, was prompted by “new data on abortion pill complications,” according to federal statements.
That data stems from a late April 2025 study by the Ethics & Public Policy Center, which analyzed more than 865,000 insurance claims from women who took abortion pills.
Researchers found that 10.93% — or 94,605 women — reported serious adverse events or complications, nearly 22 times higher than the less than 0.5% rate cited by the abortion industry in FDA-approved studies.
The complications included emergency room visits for excessive bleeding, infections, incomplete abortions, and severe pain.
“These claims were processed by insurance adjusters, indicating legitimacy,” the study noted, adding that issues ranged from hemorrhage to the need for surgical interventions like uterine aspirations.
Independent research bolsters these findings. A 2009 Finnish national study of over 42,000 patients reported that 20% experienced adverse events, with 15.6% suffering hemorrhage. Similarly, a 2023 Canadian study in Ontario involving nearly 40,000 patients found 10.3% sought emergency care for concerns related to the pills. Even a 2015 California study funded by abortion advocates documented over 5% of mifepristone users facing incomplete abortions, infections, or surgical injuries such as uterine perforations.
These statistics reveal a “disinformation campaign” by the abortion industry to downplay risks and expand access through regulatory changes in 2016, 2021, and 2023. Those updates extended use up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, allowed non-doctors to prescribe the drugs, and eliminated requirements for in-person exams or follow-up visits.
“The high volume of real insurance claims cannot be dismissed,” wrote Randall O’Bannon, Ph.D., director of education and research for the National Right to Life Committee. “The women’s pain and suffering are undeniable and not ‘minor.'”
Advocates like O’Bannon call for reinstating safeguards, including mandatory in-person distribution to prevent unsafe home use, and full reporting of adverse events beyond just deaths. They argue the drugs were approved not to save lives but “to take the life of innocent human beings,” and that encouraging preemptive stockpiling only heightens the dangers.
