By Sarah Neely
Olympia, Washington — Earlier this week, pro-abortion group Uplift International announced a dangerous abortion pilot program recently launched in Washington state: the Pharmacist Abortion Access Program (PAAP). The pilot is described on UI’s website as “the first model for pharmacists to directly prescribe medication abortion to individuals.”
“Washington state has taken another step to further distance chemical abortion from legitimate medical care,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “Pharmacists have no training in obstetrics – in fact, they have no clinical training at all. Allowing them to evaluate pregnant women for dangerous chemical abortions is a money-making racket, not healthcare.”
According to the New York Times (NYT), the PAAP ran from October 31 to November 26. Ten pharmacists, who wished to remain anonymous, were trained to offer chemical abortions via telehealth. Similar to other purveyors in the virtual back-alley of abortion pill suppliers, this pilot only required women to complete a brief questionnaire, pay $40, and offer a Washington state address for mailing the pills. Verification of state residency was reportedly not required, just an address.
Once approved, the pharmacists involved did not actually prescribe the abortion-inducing drugs from Washington pharmacies. The pills came from Honeybee Health, an online pharmacy used by several online abortion suppliers, including The Satanic Temple.
The NYT reports that Jessica Nouhavandi, president of Honeybee Health, is also a co-director of PAAP. The organizations are interconnected in a manner that certainly raises concerns about profit-driven motives and disregard for the health of mothers who fall prey to this reckless scheme.
In just 27 days during which the pilot program ran, the lives of 43 unborn children were destroyed by it.
“The FDA has all but gutted common sense safety regulations for the abortion drug, mifepristone,” Newman states, “shamelessly paving the way for these virtual back-alley abortion suppliers to exploit women, destroy babies, and make easy cash.”
In January 2023, the FDA permanently removed the requirement for an in-person doctor’s visit to obtain mifepristone. That same month, the agency changed the label of mifepristone to allow retail pharmacies to distribute the drug. Both decisions opened the door wider than ever for virtual suppliers – a group Operation Rescue saw triple in number from 2023 to 2024 during its 2024 Annual Survey.
Though this pilot program was designed for telehealth, Dr. Beth Riven, President of UI, told the New York Times, “the project intends for full-fledged pharmacist prescribing to start sometime this year and to eventually allow in-person prescribing in Washington.” In-person prescribing would mean a woman could walk into a pharmacy and get a prescription and the abortion pills all at once.
“If this program goes forward,” Newman adds, “pharmacies will become abortion clinics, only no doctors, no ultrasounds, no real medical care – just pills for cash.”
UI has made it clear that it also aims to bring this model to other states. According to a Forbes article published last summer, The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) confirmed “about 34 states pharmacists can [prescribe] independently without a collaborative agreement or prescription.” Whether or not abortion is legal within those states will matter a great deal.
“There is a way to stop these pharmacies from joining the wild, wild west of radicalized abortion,” Newman said. “Trump’s new appointees within the FDA could easily reinstate the common sense protocols surrounding mifepristone, including a required in-person visit with a medical doctor. That, alone, would shut down this growing virtual back-alley and save the lives of thousands of babies these online predators are targeting.”
“Operation Rescue is ready to work with the Trump administration in whatever way we can to effectively save more preborn lives and expose the endless schemes and scandals of the abortion industry.”
This report may be republished with inclusion of the following acknowledgement: “This article was originally published by Operation Rescue, a leading pro-life, Christian activist organization dedicated to exposing abortion abuses, demanding enforcement, saving innocent lives, and building an abortion-free America. The author, Sarah Neely, is Project Coordinator for Operation Rescue.”
