DOJ Faces New High-Profile Request

Ultrasound images with assorted pills on a brown surface — Photo: Sofiia.P / Shutterstock

Senator Josh Hawley just asked the Trump Justice Department to criminally investigate a group he says is running a nationwide pipeline to ship illegal abortion pills into states that banned them.

Quick Take

Senator Josh Hawley sent a formal criminal referral to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche targeting the group Plan C.
Hawley claims Plan C acts as a “referral and logistics hub” connecting women to pill manufacturers, foreign clinics, and online vendors.
The referral asks the Department of Justice to also look at manufacturers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro over their possible role in the network.
Hawley says Plan C may be violating federal drug import laws, prescription rules, and conspiracy statutes.
The move lands in the middle of a years-long legal fight over mailing abortion pills into states with bans.

Hawley’s Formal Referral to the Justice Department

Missouri Senator Josh Hawley sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche this month asking the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into Plan C. Hawley describes the group as a “left-wing dark-money operation” that poses as a public health campaign while actually running the shipping network for chemical abortion drugs.

What the Referral Actually Alleges

Hawley’s letter claims Plan C connects women directly with abortion-pill manufacturers, foreign clinics, and online vendors that mail the drugs into states where they are restricted or banned outright. That is not a vague policy complaint. It names a specific organization and describes a specific operational chain, from referral to shipment, that Hawley wants federal investigators to trace and test against existing law.

The senator’s office says the conduct may break several federal laws at once. That includes rules under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, laws banning the import of unapproved drugs into interstate commerce, and federal conspiracy and aiding-and-abetting statutes. Hawley also wants investigators to examine Plan C’s possible ties to drugmakers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, along with other suppliers feeding the pipeline.

Local reporting adds another layer. Hawley’s referral reportedly notes that Plan C directs users toward privacy tools like encrypted browsers, VPNs, and secure email while warning them about legal risk in their state. Conservatives will see that as evidence the group knows it is skirting the law and is helping people cover their tracks, rather than simply sharing neutral health information.

Plan C describes itself publicly as a resource connecting people to abortion pills “by mail in every state,” and it points users to legal helplines when questions come up. That framing puts the group’s own public messaging in direct tension with Hawley’s claim that it operates as an organized distribution hub built to dodge state bans, not a simple information service.

Part of a Bigger Legal Fight Over Mailed Abortion Pills

This referral does not stand alone. It fits a pattern stretching back years, where anti-abortion officials argue that mailing abortion pills into restrictive states breaks federal law, while abortion-rights groups insist the practice is legal healthcare protected by federal rules. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton already sent Plan C a cease-and-desist letter accusing it of facilitating illegal pill shipments into the state. Twenty state attorneys general also challenged a 2023 Justice Department opinion that cleared the Postal Service to keep delivering the pills.

Thirteen states now have near-total bans on mifepristone, while 37 states and Washington, D.C., still allow it. That patchwork is exactly why groups like Plan C exist and why senators like Hawley are pushing so hard. If a woman in a banned state can still get pills mailed from a vendor in a legal state, the ban means little on paper. Hawley’s referral is an attempt to close that gap through federal enforcement rather than wait on state courts.

The legal landscape keeps shifting under the Trump administration. Nearly 80 anti-abortion groups sent their own letter to Acting Attorney General Blanche asking him to back states suing the Food and Drug Administration over its loosened rules on online abortion-pill prescriptions. A federal appeals court briefly blocked the mail-order mifepristone policy earlier this year before the Supreme Court stepped in to let deliveries continue for now.

What’s Missing and What Comes Next

No public evidence yet shows the Justice Department has opened an investigation, filed charges, or found probable cause against Plan C. A referral only proves Hawley wants federal action, not that a crime has been confirmed. The full letter has not been released with attachments, so specific shipment records, customs data, or funding documents that would prove the “dark-money” label remain unseen by the public.

Still, the referral gives the Trump Justice Department a clear opening to act on a network conservatives have flagged for years. Parents and lawmakers in banned states have watched abortion pills flow across borders through the mail with little federal pushback under prior guidance. Hawley’s letter puts a name, a structure, and specific legal theories on the table. Now it is up to Acting Attorney General Blanche’s team to decide whether to run down the leads.

‘Dark-Money’ Abortion Drug Dealer Hub Referred To Trump DOJ For Criminal Investigation

Websites like Plan C enable anyone with Internet access to order abortion pills to their door in less than a minute.

If your 12 year old daughter wants to order them- no problem!

Even if… pic.twitter.com/VnctutaSTO

— NWRain-Judi (@RYboating) July 21, 2026

Whatever the Justice Department decides, this fight over mailed abortion pills is not going away soon. State bans, federal court rulings, and now a direct criminal referral are colliding at the same moment, and the outcome will shape how enforceable any state abortion law actually is going forward.