Are we living in an era of back-alley abortions?

Democratic leaders argue that if pro-lifers succeed in ending legalized abortion, women will again be forced into "back-alley abortions." They also say restrictive abortion laws lead to back-alley abortions. A practical definition of a back-alley abortion is an abortion process that lacks adequate safety protections and can lead to abuse, infection, hemorrhage, sepsis, other complications, and even death. To examine these two claims, consider Colorado. The state has no parental notification requirement, no in-person dispensing requirement for abortion pills, and is one of only eight states that allows abortion at any point in pregnancy. Therefore, Colorado may have the least restrictive abortion laws in the nation. But four aspects of its current abortion policies lead me to conclude that Coloradans are currently living in an environment of back-alley abortions.

1. Coercion: Mail-order abortion pills as well as Telehealth prescriptions eliminate in-person opportunities for physicians to confirm informed consent and screen for coercion. Two examples of coercion follow. Army Captain Brandon Jones-Adams pleaded guilty to secretly placing mifepristone into a pregnant soldier's drink, causing the death of their 13-week unborn child. He obtained the drug online after the Biden-administration-FDA ended the in-person dispensing requirement in 2023. In another instance, prosecutors accuse Dr. Hassan Abbas of using his former wife's identity to obtain abortion drugs and later forcing crushed pills into his then-girlfriend’s mouth as he held her down (tinyurl.com/Doctor-Abbas-coercion). Twenty additional reported coercion cases can be found at tinyurl.com/tracker-of-abortion-coercion. The absence of in-person-dispensing resulted in excessive coercion. That fits the definition of back-alley abortion abuse.

2. No in-person dispensing: Mail-order abortion-pill access bypasses face-to-face medical screening for conditions such as ectopic pregnancy, which requires an ultrasound to detect, and other complications including anemia and prior C-sections. To illustrate how easily pills can be obtained online, OB/GYN Dr. Christina Francis demonstrated that she was approved after posing as a 13-year-old with anemia and three previous C-sections (tinyurl.com/Francis-gets-pills-as-13yr-old). In my view, allowing abortion drugs to be dispensed without these in-person medical evaluations creates back-alley abortion conditions.

3. Ten-week FDA safety limit: Christina Francis saw online ads from Aid-Access openly offering the pills to women of any age and up to 14 weeks gestation (tinyurl.com/Ads4pills-at-14-weeks at timestamp 2:05). That is well over the 10-week FDA safety limit. A Charlotte Lozier Institute report concluded that 81% of online abortion-pill sellers are shipping mifepristone beyond the FDA's 10-week safety limit (tinyurl.com/Charlotte-Lozier-Report). Use beyond that gestational age is associated with higher rates of incomplete abortion, hemorrhage, and the need for surgical intervention. That situation describes the back-alley abortion landscape.

4. Safety inspections: Colorado Democrats have repeatedly defeated bills such as HB25-1252 and HB26-1243 that would have required clinics performing second- and third-trimester abortions to meet the same inspection and safety standards as other ambulatory surgical clinics. This occurred despite testimony regarding the death of an 18-year-old following an abortion at the Fort Collins Planned Parenthood on February 6, 2025. Although Colorado law requires autopsies in such cases and provides public access under the Colorado Open Records Act, Coroner Steven Hanks initially refused to release an unredacted report, saying that full disclosure might deter women from seeking abortions (tinyurl.com/Hanks-fears-deterring-abortion). A district court later ordered the unredacted report released. Dr. Keri Kasun, who spoke with the victim's family, testified that abortion providers seek legitimacy without equivalent accountability, calling this "back-alley" behavior and citing the use of "silent sirens" during the life-threatening emergency (tinyurl.com/Dr-Kasun-abortion-testimony, timestamps 12:09:30–12:12 and 12:16–12:19). After the Feb 6, 2025 death, 911 records show at least ten additional ambulance transfers from the same Fort Collins Planned Parenthood (tinyurl.com/Ten-more-ambulances-at-PP).

Call to Action: The four situations above reveal that back-alley abortions reflect the current status of abortion in Colorado. Women’s health is at risk every day because abortion access is prioritized over safety. Please remember these situations in November and vote for candidates who support protecting women's health while removing the Colorado legislative Democrats who helped create these four situations.

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