The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) announced a new initiative to stop the spread of abortion pills on Tuesday, August 18.
The “Nationwide Invitation to Prayer & Action” was announced in a joint statement signed by USCCB President Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City and the USCCB’s pro-life chairman, Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, Ohio.
The initiative begins on August 18 and continues through October 31, said the USCCB on Tuesday. Each year, the Catholic Church in the United States observes “Respect Life Month”.
“Every abortion involves the death of a child and harm to the mother,” said Archbishop Coakley and Bishop Thomas in the announcement of the initiative. “Now with easier access to abortion pills, the abortion rate is tragically climbing, along with increased health risks.”
In the United States, it is legal to obtain abortion-causing drugs in the mail that are prescribed through telehealth appointments. This is true even in states which have otherwise banned abortion.
This amounts to a “nationwide mail-order abortion industry”, said the bishops, and one that is enabled by the Food and Drug Administration.
“This leaves women vulnerable to suffering an abortion alone at home, without any medical supervision. It also sets up additional opportunities for exploitation by violent partners or human traffickers,” said the bishops.
During the initiative, Catholics are asked to invoke the intercession of St Joseph, Defender of Life, and to learn more about the widespread use and availability of abortion pills.
“Participants of the initiative are encouraged to share information about the dangers of abortion pills, and sign up to send messages to pharmacies, distributors, and pharmaceutical companies at Respect Life Prayer and Action,” said the bishops.
Since the 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, states have been free to determine their own abortion laws. Since Dobbs, some states have chosen to heavily restrict or ban abortion, while others have instead codified a right to abortion in their constitutions.
In states where abortion was restricted, women have still been able to obtain abortions through telehealth appointments and the sending of abortion-causing drugs through the mail.
Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking to a group of faith leaders prior to his confirmation, said that the existence and prevalence of this practice was one he would be looking to target as attorney general.
“If states have said, ‘We are going to protect the unborn and we’re going to protect every life from the moment of conception,’ we’re putting practices and policies in place so that other states and other organisations can’t attack that,” Blanche said. “They can’t do things like they’re doing with mailing in mail-order drugs.”
In May 2026, the Supreme Court stayed a decision in the case Louisiana v. US Food and Drug Administration, allowing the case to continue through the lower courts and ensuring that abortion-causing drugs would remain available through telehealth for the time being.
