Pro-life leader calls for DOJ action after doctor gets 6 months in abortion pill case
SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser says lawmakers and the DOJ should take action after an Ohio doctor received a six-month sentence in a case involving abortion drugs administered to his pregnant girlfriend without her consent.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of SBA Pro-Life America, told Fox News Digital that U.S. law has not caught up with the growing availability of abortion medication, allowing predators who use the drugs to end pregnancies without women’s consent to face relatively light consequences.
She pointed to the case of Hassan-James Abbas, an Ohio man accused of forcing abortion pills into his pregnant girlfriend's mouth in December 2024. He was sentenced earlier this month to six months in prison.
The woman, Jona Affholder, went to the hospital and ultimately lost the baby.
"The fact that this guy got only six months in prison for his crime says a lot about the state of our culture right now," Dannenfelser said. "This was a very much wanted pregnancy. She could support the baby on her own and didn't need his help. But he had other ideas in mind."
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America organization, speaks at the National Press Club on Nov. 30, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
PRO-LIFE CEO PREDICTS TRUMP FDA NOMINEE COULD BRING RENEWED SCRUTINY TO ABORTION DRUG RISKS
Abbas, then a surgical resident at the University of Toledo, began dating Affholder in early October 2024, according to a lawsuit she filed against him.
Sometime in December that year, Affholder got pregnant. Authorities said once he found out, he illegally obtained mifepristone and misoprostol using his estranged wife's identification information. It is unclear whether Abbas prescribed the drugs himself.
Taken together, the two medications terminate early pregnancies: mifepristone blocks progesterone, a hormone needed to sustain the pregnancy, while misoprostol causes contractions that expel the fetus.
TRUMP-BACKED VIVEK RAMASWAMY WINS OHIO GOP GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARY, WILL FACE DEMOCRAT AMY ACTON
Under current FDA rules, patients do not have to see a physician in person to receive a prescription, allowing mifepristone to be prescribed after a telehealth visit and mailed by a certified pharmacy.
After getting his hands on the pills, he began offering Affholder hot chocolate and tea, "which was out of character for their relationship," according to the Lucas County Prosecutor's Office.
On Dec. 18, 2024, Abbas invited her to his home in Holland, Ohio. Prosecutors said despite being aware of Affholder's intention to keep the baby, he climbed on top of her in bed, held her down and shoved crushed abortion pills into her mouth.
Court records show that when Affholder tried to call 911, he took the phone out of her hand and hung it up. Eventually, she was able to leave Abbas's residence and get to the hospital.
Affholder described this experience in a Daily Wire op-ed published in June 2026.
Hassan-James Abbas, a 32-year-old surgical resident at the University of Toledo, allegedly forced abortion pills down the mouth of his pregnant girlfriend. (Google Maps; University of Toledo)
HAWLEY SENDS CRIMINAL REFERRAL OF 'LEFT-WING DARK-MONEY' GROUP OVER MAILED ABORTION DRUGS
"I fought him off and ran to call 911. He took my cell and my keys, blocking me from leaving. I rushed to the kitchen, trying to rinse the powder from my mouth. But he continued to restrain me, buying each minute for the drugs to do their intended purpose of killing our kid," Affholder wrote.
"When he assumed the drugs had sufficiently aborted our baby, he returned my belongings, and I went straight to the hospital," she added.
According to Affholder's account, she began hemorrhaging after arriving at the hospital and ultimately miscarried.
Abbas, who was arrested the next day, initially pleaded not guilty. In May 2026, he pleaded no contest to four felony charges: disrupting public services, unlawfully distributing abortion-inducing drugs, identity fraud and using deception to obtain a dangerous drug.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped charges of abduction and tampering with evidence. The state had alleged that Abbas drove away from the home on the night of the assault and threw the remaining pills out his car window.
A booking photo for Hassan Abbas. He was arrested on Dec. 19, 2024, a day after he drugged his then girlfriend, Jona Affholder, with abortion medication. (Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio)
Dannenfelser contrasted Abbas' six-month sentence with Ohio's penalties for rape, which can carry years or even life in prison depending on the circumstances.
"But...this coercion and this attack that led to the death of her wanted child gets only six months," she said.
In February 2024, Mason Herring, of Texas, received the exact same sentence — six months — for slipping misoprostol into his then wife's drinks. The baby survived but initially faced severe developmental delays.
"If you are Amy Acton running for governor [of Ohio], if you are Sherrod Brown running for the Senate, you need to answer for this because their Republican opponents are very much for limiting these drugs or controlling them at least," Dannenfelser added.
Fox News Digital reached out to both campaigns for comment.
Marjorie Dannenfelser said former Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is running to retake a Senate seat in Ohio and Amy Acton, the state's Democratic gubernatorial nominee, should comment on the Hassan Abbas case. (Daniel Lozada / Bloomberg, Stephen Zenner / Bloomberg)
Dannenfelser also criticized Planned Parenthood and pro-choice advocates, accusing them of failing to speak out about Affholder’s case and others like it.
"Where are the advocates, the feminists, the people who are against the coercion of women, the people who are 'my body, my choice,' the people who say that medical care is all that they're really looking for," she said.
Planned Parenthood attends the 2026 WeHo Pride Parade on June 7, 2026 in West Hollywood, California. (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Planned Parenthood does not appear to have publicly commented on Affholder's case, but the organization has explicitly condemned the act of giving women abortion drugs without their knowledge or consent.
Fox News Digital reached out to Planned Parenthood for comment.
Dannenfelser said the Department of Justice should take a more active role in prosecuting cases involving forced abortions.
"We do have every hope that the attorney general will move on this, and he's referenced it at the Dallas convention that people who are pushing death in a pill will be disappointed," she said. "That is the surest way to justice."
On Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, joined Dannenfelser in demanding Attorney General Todd Blanche take action, referencing Affholder's case.
"My constituent was held down and force-fed crushed-up mail-order abortion pills," Moreno wrote to Blanche. "Unsurprisingly, reckless Biden-era mail-in abortion policies are responsible for this hell-on-earth tragedy."
