Moreno Urges AG to Prevent ‘Hell-on-Earth’ Abortion Pill Tragedies
It’s well past time for the Justice Department to act.
An Ohio woman tragically lost her baby after her ex-boyfriend force-fed her abortion pills. Now, her senator is asking Attorney General Todd Blanche to act to “ensure this depravity never happens again to a woman and their unborn child.”
In a September 22 letter first published by Fox News, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) notes that his constituent, Jona Affholder, didn’t want an abortion when she learned she was pregnant in December 2024. “Unfortunately, that was not the answer her narcissistic and morally repugnant ex-boyfriend, Hassan James Abbas, wanted to hear,” he wrote.
Abbas, a doctor and surgical resident, fraudulently used his estranged wife’s identity to obtain the abortion pills by mail. He then crushed up the pills, covered his fingers with the powder, and held Affholder down while he forced his fingers into her mouth. Affholder managed to escape, but not before the drugs were absorbed into her bloodstream. She rushed to the hospital and began to hemorrhage.
This past May, Abbas pleaded no contest to four felony charges: disrupting public services, unlawful distribution of an abortion-inducing drug, identity fraud, and deception to obtain a dangerous drug. On September 11, the court sentenced him to just six months in jail and two years of probation.
“How can someone commit a crime so vile and only receive six months of jail time?” Moreno wrote. “I respectfully ask that the Department of Justice review this case and consider if there are federal charges that should be brought.”
He also urged Blanche to swiftly settle a lawsuit the state of Louisiana filed challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) deregulation of the abortion drug mifepristone, to which he attributed Affholder’s “hell-on-earth tragedy.”
How We Got Here
- In 2023, the FDA permanently lifted its in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion drug mifepristone. This removed a longtime safeguard that protected women from some of the drug’s life-threatening risks, such as ruptured ectopic pregnancy.
- That one rule change opened the floodgates to a surge of forced and coerced abortions. Patients no longer need a face-to-face consult to obtain abortion pills, so virtually anyone can order them online—including abusers like Abbas.
- Rosalie Markezich, another victim, is suing the FDA alongside her home state of Louisiana to reverse the agency’s 2023 decision. That lawsuit is currently on hold as the agency reviews mifepristone’s safety.
Why It Matters
- Women and babies are in danger. In addition to the increased risk of poisoning and forced abortion, women face a 10.9 percent risk of serious complications from mifepristone, ranging from sepsis and hemorrhage to uterine rupture and even death, according to a Restoration of America Foundation study.
- Making America safe again means upholding the rule of law. Yet while federal law prohibits the mailing of abortion drugs, the Justice Department is not holding those who break that law to account. Meanwhile, blue states actively defend the perpetrators by passing shield laws that hinder investigations of abortion crimes.
Take Action
Silence in the face of injustice is itself an injustice. Join Moreno’s call for accountability by contacting the Justice Department here.
