Hawley Refers Dark Money Abortion Pill Operation to DOJ for Criminal Investigation

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and prosecute left-wing dark money operation Plan C. In the criminal referral, Senator Hawley explained how Plan C organized the shipping of chemical abortion pill mifepristone in the mail, in violation of both state and federal law. He requested the DOJ open a criminal investigation into Plan C, its relationship with potential co-conspirator manufacturers, and the network of suppliers it promotes. Senator Hawley wrote, “I write to refer to the Department of Justice new information my office has received concerning an organized international effort to profit from the violation of state and federal law. I believe these activities warrant criminal investigation. At the center of the effort is an entity called Plan C, a left-wing dark-money operation that styles itself a ‘public health information campaign’ but functions, in practice, as the referral and logistics hub for shipping abortion drugs into states whose laws prohibit it.” He continued, “Plan C does not operate alone. Danco Laboratories, a large and wildly profitable manufacturer of mifepristone, lists Plan C among the patient resources on its own website, steering prospective customers to an organization that instructs Americans on how to break the law. On information and belief, GenBioPro, the generic manufacturer, maintains a similar referral relationship with Plan C. The Department is well positioned to determine the full extent of these relationships, including any financial ties.” Senator Hawley concluded , “I therefore respectfully refer this matter to the Department to open a criminal investigation into Plan C, its relationship with potential co-conspirator manufacturers, and the network of suppliers it promotes. That includes the foreign clinics and no-prescription vendors shipping drugs into the United States. I appreciated your recent comments before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the right of the states to enforce their duly enacted laws, as well as your promise that the Department will protect vulnerable women from criminals who would prey upon them. In that vein, this coordinated effort between Plan C and the abortion drug manufacturers to violate state law at the expense of women’s health deserves the closest scrutiny. I thank you for your prompt attention to this referral.” Read the full letter here or below. July 17, 2026 The Honorable Todd Blanche Acting Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530 Dear Acting Attorney General Blanche: I write to refer to the Department of Justice new information my office has received concerning an organized international effort to profit from the violation of state and federal law. I believe these activities warrant criminal investigation. At the center of the effort is an entity called Plan C, a left-wing dark-money operation that styles itself a “public health information campaign” but functions, in practice, as the referral and logistics hub for shipping abortion drugs into states whose laws prohibit it. Plan C does not operate alone. Danco Laboratories, a large and wildly profitable manufacturer of mifepristone, lists Plan C among the patient resources on its own website, steering prospective customers to an organization that instructs Americans on how to break the law. On information and belief, GenBioPro, the generic manufacturer, maintains a similar referral relationship with Plan C. The Department is well positioned to determine the full extent of these relationships, including any financial ties. Consider what Plan C does, much of it in its own words: •      Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas each specifically prohibit providers from mailing abortion drugs to patients. Plan C nonetheless directs residents of all three states to obtain pills by mail, including from two foreign clinics, that ship mifepristone to U.S. addresses from abroad. Plan C warns that using these clinics carries “possible legal risk.” •      Plan C likewise directs residents of those states to e-commerce websites that sell and ship dangerous pills with no prescription, no identification, and no medical consultation of any kind. By Plan C’s own description, these websites “sell generic abortion pills that are not regulated or inspected by the US government,” and “Plan C tests these websites by buying pills from them.” •      Plan C coaches its users on how to evade the law. Its website instructs users to protect their “digital footprint” against investigations, recommending privacy-enabled browsers, virtual private networks, and encrypted email. Its own FAQ acknowledges that people face legal jeopardy for obtaining pills through the services it lists and tells readers it is “up to every individual to decide what level of legal risk they are willing to take.” •      Plan C steers women to providers willing to mail pills as late as fourteen weeks into pregnancy. That is a month beyond the ten-week limit in FDA’s own approved labeling and risk-mitigation program, and far beyond the limits enacted by states such as Florida and Iowa. This conduct squarely implicates federal criminal law. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits introducing unapproved and misbranded drugs into interstate commerce and dispensing prescription drugs without a valid prescription.[6] Criminal anti-smuggling statutes likewise cover the importation of these unregulated foreign pills.[7] And an organization implicates federal conspiracy statutes and aiding-and-abetting provisions when it openly announces its intent to deliver drugs into states whose laws forbid it, coordinating the suppliers, vendors, and carriers needed to accomplish that end. I therefore respectfully refer this matter to the Department to open a criminal investigation into Plan C, its relationship with potential co-conspirator manufacturers, and the network of suppliers it promotes. That includes the foreign clinics and no-prescription vendors shipping drugs into the United States. I appreciated your recent comments before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the right of the states to enforce their duly enacted laws, as well as your promise that the Department will protect vulnerable women from criminals who would prey upon them. In that vein, this coordinated effort between Plan C and the abortion drug manufacturers to violate state law at the expense of women’s health deserves the closest scrutiny. I thank you for your prompt attention to this referral. Sincerely, Josh Hawley United States Senator