North Carolina Group Launches Marketing campaign to Cease Mail-Order Abortions

Today, the NC Values Coalition launched a statewide grassroots campaign calling on the Trump administration and members of Congress to reinstate the in-person doctor’s visit requirement that must be met before a woman can obtain chemical abortion drugs — a safeguard that was in place from the drug’s original FDA approval under the Clinton Administration until the Biden administration eliminated it.

NC Values Coalition Executive Director Tami Fitzgerald said, “Rogue doctors in other states and countries are shipping thousands of unsafe abortion drugs into North Carolina in violation of our state laws. These drugs harm women when they are unregulated and unaccompanied by direct care from a physician. We are calling on the Trump administration and members of Congress to end Joe Biden’s dangerous mail-order abortion scheme and restore the in-person doctor’s visit requirement that must be met before a woman can obtain chemical abortion drugs. Sending these pills through the mail with no physician oversight turns North Carolina — and the whole country — into a potential crime scene.”

North Carolina law limits abortion to the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and requires that abortion pills be dispensed in person by a licensed physician after informed consent and a 72-hour waiting period (G.S. § 90-21.83A). Physicians must also physically examine the patient, screen her for coercion or abuse, verify gestational age, and conduct a follow-up visit (G.S. § 90‑21.83B). Yet despite these protections, “shield laws” in other states have facilitated a monthly average of nearly 2,000 illegal medication abortions in North Carolina through illegal pill shipments.

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In 2023, North Carolina recorded 42,954 reported abortions — 69 percent of which were medication abortions using mifepristone, higher than the national average of 63 percent. Organizations including Aid Access and Plan C openly advertise the shipment of abortion pills into states where such shipments are illegal, openly defying both state and federal law.

Further, the Comstock Act (18 U.S.C. §§ 1461–1462) makes it a federal crime to use the U.S. Mail or any interstate carrier to ship any drug intended for producing an abortion. The statute contains no exception for FDA-approved drugs or physician supervision. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have both recently noted that companies selling abortion pills across state lines may be violating the Comstock Act and undermining the democratic decisions of states like North Carolina to protect unborn children. Justice Alito specifically observed that state efforts to regulate abortion under Dobbs are being thwarted by providers and organizations that “seek to undermine their enforcement.” Our organization has recently called on the U.S. Attorneys for North Carolina to investigate violations of the Comstock Act.

The in-person requirement is paramount for women’s safety. An in-person visit allows a physician to confirm how far along a pregnancy is, rule out an ectopic pregnancy that could kill a woman who takes mifepristone, and ensure a patient has not been coerced. Research warns these drugs put women at risk of sepsis, hemorrhaging, and rupturing — dangers that an in-person exam is designed to catch.

Recent criminal cases illustrate what can happen when abortion pills are ordered online with no medical oversight. In Texas, a man was indicted on first-degree felony charges in 2026 after prosecutors alleged he crushed an abortion drug into his pregnant girlfriend’s drink without her knowledge, causing the death of her unborn child. In a separate Texas case, a man was charged with capital murder after allegedly adding abortion-inducing pills to his pregnant girlfriend’s coffee, ending a pregnancy she had said she wanted to keep. In Ohio, a doctor was accused of forcing a mother to take an abortion pill.

This effort reflects broad national consensus. A recent Federalist poll found that 67 percent of likely voters support reinstating the in-person doctor’s visit requirement for abortion pills.

We are urging North Carolinians to contact the Trump administration and their members of Congress this week to demand federal officials reinstate medical safeguards and enforce existing federal law. Learn more at abortioncrimebymail.com.