A new undercover video by Live Action, one of the nation’s leading pro-life media organizations, reveals that chemical abortion pills are being distributed in Alaska and across the country with minimal oversight – exposing women to coercion, misinformation and dangerous complications.
With the aim of exposing grave threats posed by chemical abortion, on Jan. 22, Live Action released three resources: an explosive undercover investigation video, the comprehensive report “The State of Chemical Abortion: A Mechanism of Death“, and a detailed policy memo outlining the urgent need for reform.
The video features a young woman who calls multiple Planned Parenthood abortion centers, including one in Alaska, New Mexico, Minnesota, Kansas and Oregon to get information on how to procure a chemical abortion with maximal secrecy and the least possible medical oversight.
The undercover calls include one conversation with a Planned Parenthood staffer in Anchorage who told the young woman she could use telehealth to bypass a pre-abortion ultrasound, which is commonly used to confirm a baby’s gestation age and location. Some states specifically mandate that an ultrasound be performed beforehand in order to rule out ectopic pregnancies (where the baby is lodged outside the uterus) and to ensure the correct abortion method is used in order to minimize severe injury to the mother.
Alaska’s telemedicine laws allow women in remote areas to simply order these abortion drugs through the mail and take them at home without ever seeing a doctor in person.
Alaska law does not require abortionists to provide women with an ultrasound before killing their baby, nor does it mandate that providers show or describe an ultrasound image to the mother.
When it comes to telehealth, where women don’t even see a doctor, face-to-face, ultrasounds are never used.
“If you do it through telehealth, you’re basically waiving your, the ultrasound,” the Anchorage Planned Parenthood staffer stated to the undercover woman in the new video.
She then clarifies, “So, I could not have an ultrasound if I did it through telehealth?”
“Correct,” the male staffer replies. “Yeah, the ultrasound is only to confirm the pregnancy and tell you how far along you are.”
He then gave the woman false information about what an ultrasound can detect.
“They don’t tell you – they’re not even able to tell you the size of the baby or the gender or show you,” he said. “It’s just a ploy to get you to change your mind.”
In reality, ultrasounds done at just 12 weeks provide reliable details about both the size and sex of the pre-born baby. At that age, the baby is measured from her crown to her rump, roughly 2-2.5 inches long. These early ultrasounds can also show formed limbs, fingers, toes and a profile with a defined nose and chin. While identifying the sex is more accurate at 18-22 weeks, technicians can still predict this with a high degree of accuracy, even at 12 weeks.
When asked if the Anchorage-based Planned Parenthood would be willing to send abortion pills by mail for later use, the Anchorage staffer confirmed this option.
“Well, I mean you have until you’re 12 weeks along in order to get the medication,” he said.
The woman then asked what would happen if she took the abortion drugs after 12 weeks.
“Staff discuss the dispensing of abortion pills without confirming the gestational age of the child, increasing the risk of undetected ectopic pregnancy and severe hemorrhage.” – Live Action Founder Lila Rose
“It’s not effective as much. I would think just the procedure itself.”
The woman clarified: “It just doesn’t work AT ALL?”
Man: “I’m not sure it works ‘at all,’ but it’s definitely a far less effective.”
In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration restricts using the two-drug regimen (mifepristone and misoprostol), which are utilized in telehealth abortions, to the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
In addition to the conversation with the Anchorage Planned Parenthood staffer, the undercover video includes multiple conversations with other abortion staffers across the nation, revealing insights into how chemical abortion pills are distributed with minimal oversight, bypassing essential safeguards and exposing women to coercion, lies, and dangerous complications.
“Staff discuss the dispensing of abortion pills without confirming the gestational age of the child, increasing the risk of undetected ectopic pregnancy and severe hemorrhage,” Live Action Founder Lila Rose noted on Jan. 22. “They do not check Rh status, putting women at risk of permanent Rh sensitization that can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, or serious complications in future pregnancies. They skip basic medical history, which misses conditions and medications that raise the risk of dangerous drug interactions and uncontrolled bleeding.”
Rose noted that abortionists also skip essential medical care.
“They provide no real follow-up care, leaving infections, retained baby tissue, and internal bleeding untreated until women end up in emergency rooms,” she said. “We documented Planned Parenthood offering to ship pills to a friend’s address, showing Planned Parenthood exposing their patients to potential abuse. Women were told to expect labor-level pain without being warned about the signs of hemorrhage or sepsis. Serious risks were consistently minimized. Planned Parenthood lied and said carrying a baby to term was more dangerous than abortion. This is standard practice at the nation’s largest abortion provider, which could regain millions in taxpayer funding later this year.”
In a report for the Trump administration, Live Action explains how federal regulators allowed this system to grow through years of weakened rules and incomplete reporting.
“The agencies charged with protecting public health now have the evidence in front of them,” Rose emphasized. “The FDA should revoke the approval of mifepristone as an abortifacient. Until that happens, it must immediately restore in-person exams, full medical screening, and real follow-up requirements. Every day of delay means more women harmed and more children killed.”
The Live Action video comes at a time when Alaska’s telemedicine laws allow women in remote areas to simply order these abortion drugs through the mail and take them at home without ever seeing a doctor in person.
In 2024, nearly 6 in 10 Alaska abortions (59%) were done using the drug cocktail (Mifepristone and misoprostol), which causes the nourishing lining of the mother’s uterus to break down, making it easier for her pre-born baby to be expelled. Mifepristone is typically followed by a second drug, misoprostol, which causes contractions that expel the dead baby.
TAKING ACTION
— Click here to view all the latest data released by Live Action.
— Click here to contact U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan.
— Click here to contact U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
— Click here to contact U.S. Rep. Nick Begich.
