The Binge Cases: Denise Didn't Come Home - Assassins, Heists, & Nazis - The Untold Story of the Abortion Pill in America

Episode Date: July 10, 2023

You may have heard of the abortion pill, especially in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year. But the story of how the pill became legal in America is closer to an action film than to a courtroom drama—with covert operations, heists, and even murder. On the new season of Cover Up: The Pill Plot, travel   back to the ‘90s and join the ragtag group that plotted an international drug   smuggling scheme and set up a secret lab to get the abortion pill to America. Get a front row seat to the epic struggle facing activists who battled presidents, the Supreme Court, militant anti-abortionists and so much more. Subscribers to The Binge can listen to all episodes of Cover Up: The Pill   Plot right now, completely ad-free. Catch new episodes of Cover Up: The Pill Plot every week wherever you get your podcasts or subscribe to The Binge and unlock all episodes ad-free today. Just click ‘Subscribe’ on the top of the Cover Up show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen. A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone, my name's TJ Raphael, and I'm jumping into your regularly scheduled listening to tell you a little bit about the new season of the podcast coverup, which I think you'll really like. The newest season is called The Pill Plot, and I'm your host. On The Pill Plot, I will take you on the wild ride to get the pill into American hands,

whatever it took, battling presidents, the Supreme Court, former Nazis, anarchist punks, would-be assassins, and murderers. For those of you who don't want to wait to listen, I've got good news for you. You don't have to. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts to binge all episodes now, all ad-free. Just click subscribe on the top of the cover-up show page on Apple Podcasts or visit getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. Here's a clip just for you from the new season. If you like what you hear,

be sure to add cover-up The Pill Plot to your weekly listening. I live in New York and outside of Times Square, John F. Kennedy International Airport is the most chaotic place in the city. Every time I go there, it's a zoo. Tens of millions of passengers go through that airport every year. And every person, bag, and dog carrier on any flight has to go through some kind of screening. And for the most part, it is pretty routine. But every now and then, there's that one person, that one bag that breaks up the monotony and makes headlines. About 28 pounds of cocaine were seized at JFK Airport after being found in the... Like the woman who tried to smuggle cocaine in the wheels of her wheelchair.

Or the guy who was caught with 35 songbirds hidden inside hair curlers. Or this one. Let's take a look at this. A sticky situation at Kennedy Airport. A guy had packed two jars of peanut butter in his suitcase, and they were filled with parts from a disassembled semi-automatic handgun. But last summer, I heard this story that I think beats them all. Because what these folks brought into JFK three

decades ago is still making headlines today. Like, actually today. And that story starts here. On British Airways Flight 173 on July 1st, 1992. There's these two people traveling together, a woman named Leona. She's in her late 20s. She's a punk, a little scruffy. And then there's this much older man, Larry. He could be her grandfather. He's 72, super fancy, in a suit that you don't buy off the rack. They're the kind of couple that makes you look twice. What are those two up to exactly? And you can tell they're up to something because he keeps going over and over some kind of plan with her. At some point, Leona, the punk, she gets up to use the toilet. When she comes out, she looks different. She's not wearing her jeans anymore.

She's wearing a black pencil skirt. She looks nice. And then just before they touch down, Larry hands Leona an envelope. And when the plane lands, Ladies and gentlemen, kindly remain seated. They stay put. They want to be the last ones off the flight because they have an entrance to make. Whatever Larry was muttering about on the plane, it's about to go down. They make it to customs and they hand their passports to the agent. The envelope is burning a hole in Leona's pocket, but she tries to stay cool.

Which gets harder when she sees their names written in all caps on a piece of paper on the agent's desk. And a single word. Female. The feds are onto them. Customs have been alerted that there was somebody coming in with an illegal drug. Federal agents separate them. They take Larry into one room and start sifting through his luggage. They're searching him as a common crook, you know what I mean?

And they take Leona into a separate room. And she hands over what they've been looking for. The envelope. It has pills in it. And they're illegal in the U.S. The agents seize the drugs. But then they let Larry and Leona go.

There's no arrest. So they head for the exit. And all hell broke loose. A mob of reporters are waiting outside for them. And they looked through my luggage, and then they took me into the back room and they patted me down. But Larry, the older guy in the suit, yeah, he isn't surprised. Because this is all going exactly as he planned. You see, Larry was the one who tipped off the feds.

I was worried because Larry, you never know, he'd give you surprises here or there. You see, Larry was the one who tipped off the feds. I was worried because Larry, you never know, he'd give you surprises here or there. Why such a big dust-up over a small amount of drugs? What's inside the envelope isn't heroin or cocaine. This wasn't part of the war on drugs. It was, however, from another seemingly endless American war that pill authorities had seized. It was RU486, also known as Mifepristone, the abortion pill. What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! This group of anti-Christian and public Christian men!

Hey, hey, ho, ho. The abortion pill has got to go. RU486 was the medication that was supposed to provide an escape from the chaos of the American abortion wars. It's a drug that offers a simpler, easier, and more private way for people to end their pregnancies, far away from the shouting protesters that haunted clinics in the 1990s. More than 100 anti-abortion protesters were arrested for blocking an entranceway.

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the pill has taken center stage. But how we got this medication is a decade-long saga packed with an unlikely cast of collaborators who are all pushing towards one goal, to bring the abortion pill to America. It's a story that has mostly been forgotten to history, until now.

From Sony Music Entertainment, this is Cover Up the Pill Plot. I'm your host, TJ Raphael. On this season, I'll take you on the wild ride to get the pill into American hands, whatever it took. Battling presidents, the Supreme Court, former Nazis, anarchist punks, and would-be assassins and murderers. You are not going to get away with this. Overturning Roe was a huge victory, but it's not the end of the war. On today's show, Chapter One, Light a Fuse..