Jona Affholder said she woke up in December 2024 to find her boyfriend staring at her. She alleged that he forced her to ingest crushed-up abortion medication, pinning her down while it took effect.
“I honestly thought he was going to kill me because I didn’t want to have an abortion,” Affholder, who lived in Ohio at the time, told The Epoch Times.
Affholder said her ex, a former medical resident named Hassan-James Abbas, later told her that he had used his wife’s driver’s license to order the abortion pills. Affholder said she did not know Abbas was married.
She said Abbas took her phone and blocked her from leaving the house for around 30 minutes. She said he then told her he was married and that he had ordered the pills online using his wife’s ID.
She went to the emergency room, but it was too late to save the baby.
According to court and licensing records, Abbas pleaded no contest to the allegations last month. His medical license was suspended, and he is due in court for a hearing on June 26.
Pro-life advocates have expressed concern that reported situations such as Affholder’s could become increasingly common under current Food and Drug Administration regulations that allow the abortion pill to be dispensed by mail.
Under the Biden administration, the FDA revoked rules requiring an in-person visit to get the pills, saying existing research didn’t demonstrate an increased safety risk without one. The move was welcomed by abortion advocacy groups, who say that the pills are safe.
Meanwhile, some pro-life groups have urged President Donald Trump to reinstate the in-person rule for safety reasons and to prevent men from accessing the pills without their partners’ knowledge.
The FDA is currently studying the safety of mifepristone, the first pill in the abortion regimen.
Reversal Is Possible
Some women who change their minds after taking the abortion pill, including women who report coercion, make it to the emergency room but still lose their babies. Others, such as Jessica Williams, have been able to reverse the process and save their child.In 2022, Williams was 35, separated from her husband, and found herself pregnant by another man.
She said her husband insisted they try to reconcile one more time, but demanded she have an abortion. She said he threatened to aggressively seek custody of their children and sue her for alimony and child support.
Williams, a nurse, told The Epoch Times that she didn’t care about saving the marriage.
But faced with the possibility of losing her five children, she gave in, and ordered abortion pills online.
Even then, she couldn’t bring herself to take them, but spent more than a week inside her room, which she called her psychological “torture chamber.”
“Here I was, an ER nurse saving lives, but then I’m ready to take one of my own,” she said.
Finally, she decided to begin the abortion regimen; she said her husband sat by watching.
She took the first pill and waited. Then her medical training kicked in, and she realized it might not be too late to save her baby’s life.
Williams and her mother searched online and found the First Choice crisis pregnancy center. Although it had been 32 hours since she took the pill, she was able to take progesterone, which counteracted the mifepristone and saved her pregnancy.
In October 2022, Williams gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
Dr. George Delgado developed the abortion pill reversal protocol in 2011. Since then, it has saved more than 8,000 babies, Delgado told The Epoch Times, calling the reversal protocol “safe and effective.”
—Stacy Robinson
BOOKMARKS
Oil prices fell, and global stocks rose at the news that the United States and Iran had reached a deal to end the war. The economic rebound is due to expectations that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday that the Justice Department is investigating him and his wife. “[Donald Trump] isn’t coming after me because of mean tweets, but because I am considering running for president,” Newsom said on X.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Catch up on the details of the case by reading Matthew Vadum’s latest report.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent was allegedly struck by a fleeing suspect’s vehicle in New Jersey on Monday. “The agent discharged his firearm at the vehicle, reportedly striking it,” the Stafford Township Police Department said.
The University of California admissions board will consider reinstating standardized test requirements in its admissions process, after faculty complained that many freshmen lack math skills. The school system had previously phased out tests like the ACT and SAT after students filed a lawsuit alleging they were discriminatory.
—Stacy Robinson
