The Same Dark Money Groups That Helped Overturn Roe Are Also Behind Attacks on Abortion Pill

(a lengthy, infuriating, disturbing, informative read)

The Same Dark Money Groups That Helped Overturn Roe Are Also Behind Attacks on Abortion Pill
2/6/2023 by Ansev Demirhan
Dark money groups are fighting to eliminate one of the easiest to access and safest forms of abortion in this country: the abortion pill.



Sen. Josh Hawley, flanked by his wife Erin Hawley, is sworn in by then-Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 3, 2019. The Hawleys have deep ties to several anti-abortion groups, who have their sights set on limiting access to abortion pills. (Alex Edelman / AFP via Getty Images)

A federal judge installed by Donald Trump could declare a nationwide ban on the abortion pill mifepristone as soon as this week. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s right-wing faction overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, abortion pills have become a vital option for millions of people, especially for those living in states with abortion bans. More than half of all abortions in the U.S., even before the Dobbs ruling reversed decades of federal law protecting abortion access, were medication abortions. The same dark money groups that helped overturn Roe—and then argued that the edict “empowered women”—are now taking aim at abortion pill access.

In November 2022, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-LGBTQ hate group, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.This lawsuit is an unprecedented challenge to mifepristone, a medication that has been used for over two decades to terminate early pregnancies and manage miscarriages. ADF has received six-figure sums from DonorTrust and Donors Capital Fund, entities designed to hide the identity of their huge right-wing donors. However, some of those underwriting ADF are known.
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One of the ADF lawyers listed in the lawsuit to try to get mifepristone banned? Anti-abortion zealot Erin Hawley, who works with ADF. She is married to insurrectionist Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and played a significant role in reversing Roe. Erin Hawley was co-counsel to the state of Mississippi where she coordinated the amicus briefs filed in support of the abortion ban in Dobbs. Despite her name not appearing on any of the amicus briefs (and ADF not publicizing which briefs submitted to the Supreme Court Erin Hawley helped coordinate), an analysis of Hawley’s commentary on Dobbs in the months leading up to the decision shows that the right-wing faction of the Supreme Court parroted many of her claims. In addition to working for ADF, Hawley also works for another Koch-funded dark money group, the so-called Independent Women’s Forum (IWF). IWF is a pay-to-play group that has a history of taking anti-woman positions and actively backed the confirmation of Trump’s far-right Supreme Court nominees who then overturned Roe.


Heather Richardson Higgins, president and CEO of Independent Women’s Voice, speaking at a Tea Party event in Phoenix, Arizona, in February 2011. The group has long opposed the Equal Rights Amendment, paid family and medical leave, and countless other pro-women and pro-family measures. (Gage Skidmore / Flickr)
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According to Reproaction, Kristan Hawkins, the head of SFLA, supports prosecuting those who provide safe and effective access to FDA-approved abortion pills. Notably, Hawkins’ national spokesperson, Autumn Higashi, was recorded stating she thinks women who have abortions should be prosecuted. These views are even more alarming given that SFLA considers birth control pills “abortifacients.” In other words, SFLA ostensibly does not make a distinction between the use of the birth control pill in order to prevent pregnancy and medication abortion. SFLA does not disclose its donors, but the group’s revenue has increased substantially in recent years. SFLA and its (c)(4) action arm took in almost $19 million in combined revenue in 2021. SFLA has received funding from Leo’s network and large, anonymous grants funneled through the “dark money ATM” DonorsTrust, as well as the Schwab Charitable Fund and the National Christian Charitable Foundation. Dark money groups are fighting to eliminate one of the easiest to access and safest forms of abortion in this country. Using rhetoric about life, such groups are fighting against individual freedom while ignoring how forced pregnancies can lead to financial ruin, mental and physical health conditions, and even death for the living and breathing humans forced to carry pregnancies to term against their will.

https://msmagazine.com/2023/02/06/fda-abortion-pills/