Lafayette, LA - Thomas More Society filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana on behalf of Heartbeat International, presenting new data that shows the consequences of declining safeguards for women since the FDA removed its in-person dispensing requirement for abortion drugs in 2023. 

The brief was submitted ahead of today’s hearing in State of Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, supporting Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and Rosalie Markezich, a Louisiana woman who alleges her boyfriend ordered abortion drugs by mail from California and pressured her to take them. 

Heartbeat operates the Abortion Pill Rescue Network (APRN), which fields more than 200 calls each month from women seeking to reverse a chemical abortion. According to APRN records, ultrasounds prior to taking abortion drugs dropped from nearly 100% in 2018 to 62% in 2023 leaving four in ten women without screening to detect ectopic pregnancy or confirm gestational age. During the same period, the share of women obtaining abortion drugs outside the medical system—through the internet, friends, or family—rose from 1% in 2020 to 46% in 2025.

“The FDA didn’t just update prior policy. It dismantled safeguards designed to protect women,” said Tyler Brooks, Senior Counsel at Thomas More Society. “When ultrasounds are no longer standard and abortion drugs are distributed through the mail with minimal oversight, women are left exposed to coercion and preventable harm. That is not sound public policy, and it disregards the right of states like Louisiana to protect the health and safety of its citizens.”

Additionally, the brief presents medical research that shows chemical abortions carry a complication rate four times higher than surgical abortions and a significantly higher risk of hemorrhage. Emotionally, 34% of women who used abortion drugs reported lasting negative effects, while 60% said they would have preferred to give birth with more support. Although 32 deaths and more than 4,200 adverse events were reported to the FDA between 2000 and 2022, the agency stopped requiring reporting of non-fatal complications in 2016. 

“Behind every one of these statistics is a woman calling our helpline in crisis,” said Danielle White, General Counsel for Heartbeat International. “We see firsthand the physical and emotional toll when safeguards are removed, and women are left to navigate serious medical and personal consequences on their own. Women deserve compassionate medical care, informed consent, and genuine support—not a system that isolates them at one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.” 

Thomas More Society and Heartbeat International’s filing joins briefs from 21 state attorneys general, 60 members of Congress, and dozens of pro-life organizations and is becoming one of the most consequential post-Dobbs challenges to federal abortion policy.