Abortion isn't always about choice: The undeniable reality of coerced abortion

The rallying cry of the pro-abortion movement has always been “My Body, My Choice.” Abortion has always been sold as empowering for women, allowing them to exercise control over what happens to their own bodies. A typical response to any pro-life argument is, “If you don’t like abortion, don’t get one.”

However, this line of argumentation ignores the heartbreaking, and all too common, cases in which the abortion is unwanted by the mother. Forced abortions are the tools of boyfriends to avoid responsibility, of parents to avoid social shame, and of child abusers to hide their crimes. It would seem that the “pro-choice” movement should want to protect the women who want to choose life, even over the objections of their friends and family.

Looking at the evidence

A shocking proportion of abortions are actually unwanted by the mother. A 2023 study published in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science found that only 33 percent of abortions in the U.S. were “wanted and consistent with [the mother’s] values.”

Coercion most frequently comes from a father who doesn’t want the child, as in the case of Brittany Weston of South Dakota, who was forced to undergo an abortion at the age of 22 by her 41-year-old boyfriend. Weston later said of the experience, “Whatever consent, if any, was given at all, it was under pressure, against what I wanted.”

It can also be the case that a minor girl’s parents don’t want to deal with the stigma of having a pregnant, unwed teenage daughter. This was the experience of Margie Ayers of South Dakota, who testified that her mother beat her until Margie agreed to get an abortion. At Planned Parenthood, Margie told the staff she was being forced to undergo the procedure, but they proceeded anyway.

Perhaps most disturbing are cases of men looking to hide the evidence of their abuse of young girls. Dr. Brook Bello of Illinois was forced into sex trafficking at age 15 and was coerced to get several abortions, which ultimately left her infertile. Sadly, because of the deregulation of the abortion pill by the FDA, stories like this are becoming even more common.

Telehealth abortions open door to coercion

The advent of telehealth provision of abortion pills means that others can get the pills to use on a pregnant mother without her knowledge. The story of Catherine Herring of Texas is a horrific demonstration. In 2022, Catherine was pregnant while estranged from her husband. Mason Herring crushed up abortion pills and put them into Catherine’s drinks seven separate times. Thankfully, the abortion pill reversal regimen saved the baby: Josephine Herring was born 10 weeks prematurely with several disabilities.

The ordeal led Catherine’s brother, Louisiana State Sen. Thomas Pressly, to introduce the Catherine and Josephine Herring Act to severely punish anyone who coerces or tricks a woman to take an abortion pill. The bill was passed into law in Louisiana in 2024 and Arkansas in 2025. But stronger protections against coerced abortions are needed in every state in the Union.

Though it is not often addressed in discussions about abortion, the reality of coerced abortion is not up for debate. The cases listed here are a mere fraction of the cases I’ve found through researching this topic. If the pro-abortion movement truly is “pro-choice,” surely it can come across the ideological divide to support efforts to protect women who want to choose life. 

This article first appeared in the October-December 2025 issue of MCCL News.