How the Abortion Pill Black Market Enabled a Man to Attempt to Abort His Unborn Daughter, Josephine, Seven Times

Image Credit: Harris County Sheriff's Office

 After eleven years of marriage, developing a career in law, having two children, and another on the way, Mason Herring began having homicidal thoughts against his unborn daughter, Josephine. He and his wife, Catherine, were experiencing marriage problems, and the announcement of a new baby joining the family was not happy news to Mason. He did not see himself having more children with Catherine, telling her regarding the pregnancy announcement, "[this would] ruin his plans and make him look like a jerk." After some time passed, Mason informed Catherine that they could make things work, attend marriage counseling, and that he intended to work on himself for the benefit of their relationship. Things seemed to be taking a turn for the better.

In March 2022, Mason instructed Catherine that she needed to be more hydrated and began offering her cups of cloudy water and insisting that she drink said water in front of him to ensure consumption. On March 17, 2022, Catherine developed abdominal cramping, diarrhea, and bleeding. Having previously seen an article about abortion pill reversal, she called the hotline and explained to an on-call nurse that her drink may have been poisoned with that she suspected to be an abortion-inducing drug. Catherine was encouraged to start a dose of progesterone to diminish or stop the impact of mifepristone, if that was in fact what she had ingested. 

She told the Christian Post, "And by the grace of God, I already had a prescription in my medicine cabinet from a previous pregnancy, so, I was able to take the correct dosage [of progesterone] immediately." 

Over the course of the next two months, Mason went on to attempt to poison Catherine six more times. This led her to hire a private investigator and install secret cameras. The videos became the evidence necessary to confirm that Mason was putting some kind of foreign substance into the drinks he was insisting that Catherine consume. In one video, she saw Mason throwing away trash from his car. This garbage turned out to have a package of misoprostol from Mexico, confirming that all the strange, cloudy drinks she had been offered were, in fact, given to her with the hope of destroying their preborn daughter, Josephine.

Catherine turned over the video evidence to the police, and Mason was arrested. He was initially charged with felony assault to induce an abortion. In the end, Mason took a plea deal which carried a lesser charge and required 180 days in jail, 10 years of probation, and no contact with Catherine or their daughter, Josephine.

Whatever happened to baby Josephine? She was born ten weeks early in August 2022 and spent nine months in the hospital. Josephine has a developmental delay and must attend therapy eight times per week. She did not deserve to be treated violently by her father. All preborn babies have a right to full legal protection. Sadly, even in states where abortion is illegal, abortion drugs are sometimes secretly obtained through the abortion pill black market. These abortion pill traffickers must be held accountable for their crimes against humanity. Josephine and every other preborn child have a right to be safe from harm.