Ohio doctor sentenced to six months after pleading no contest to forcing abortion pills on girlfriend
Hassan-James Abbas, a surgical resident at the University of Toledo, was sentenced to six months in prison after pleading no contest to four felony charges stemming from a December 2024 incident in which he forcibly administered abortion medications to his pregnant girlfriend, Jona Affholder. Abbas obtained mifepristone and misoprostol using his estranged wife's identification and, according to prosecutors, held Affholder down and forced the crushed pills into her mouth. Affholder subsequently miscarried.
Single source · Not corroborated
Hassan-James Abbas, then a 32-year-old surgical resident at the University of Toledo, was arrested on December 19, 2024, one day after the incident at his Holland, Ohio home. Prosecutors said he held Affholder down in bed, forced crushed abortion pills into her mouth, then took her phone when she attempted to call 911. Affholder was able to leave and went directly to a hospital, where she began hemorrhaging and ultimately miscarried.
In May 2026, Abbas pleaded no contest to four felony counts: disrupting public services, unlawfully distributing abortion-inducing drugs, identity fraud, and using deception to obtain a dangerous drug. As part of the plea agreement, charges of abduction and tampering with evidence were dropped. He was sentenced to six months in prison.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, told Fox News Digital that she viewed the sentence as evidence that U.S. law has not kept pace with the availability of abortion medication. She contrasted Abbas's six-month term with Ohio's penalties for rape, which can carry years or life in prison. Dannenfelser also referenced a February 2024 Texas case in which Mason Herring received the same six-month sentence for slipping misoprostol into his then-wife's drinks.