Pro-Life Group Filed FCA Case to Cut Into Abortion Pill Importer's Profits

A recent False Claims Act case brought over unpaid marking duties on imports of Mifeprex, the active ingredient for the abortion pill mifepristone, was filed by the Life Legal Defense Foundation in a bid to "take some gold out of Egypt," the foundation's lawyer Catherine Short told Trade Law Daily. "This company is making drugs that kill babies, and we were able to cut away some of their profit from that," Short said.

The LLDF filed the suit against pharmaceutical distributor Danco Laboratories alleging that the company violated the False Claims Act by failing to pay marking duties, given that the Mifeprex shipments lacked country of origin markings. The case was recently settled, resulting in a $765,000 payment from Danco, $115,000 of which went to the LLDF (see 2304130016). Danco's attorney did not comment.

Short said in an interview that the foundation was made aware of the missing COO markings through an anonymous tip. The group then sought to independently verify the allegation -- no easy feat given her lack of connections with someone in the world of importing and distributing mifepristone. She said she worked with other pro-life groups and looked at pictures of the Mifeprex packages online to see that they were not properly marked with their COO.

Short had to educate herself on trade-related FCA cases, having no background in import/export disputes. Now on the other end of the case, Short sees the matter as more of a one-time occurrence and not as a future revenue source for the foundation, unless more evidence of FCA violations surface.