Drought stress adversely affects the production of the perennial medicinal herb C.A. Meyer. Phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) regulates many processes in plant growth, development, and response to environments. However, whether drought resistance is regulated by ABA in remains unknown. In this study, we characterized the response of drought resistance to ABA in . The results showed that the growth retardation and root shrinking under drought conditions in were attenuated by exogenous ABA application. Spraying ABA was shown to protect the photosynthesis system, enhance the root activity, improve the performance of the antioxidant protection system, and alleviate the excessive accumulation of soluble sugar in under drought stress. In addition, ABA treatment leads to the enhanced accumulation of ginsenosides, the pharmaceutically active components, and causes the up-regulation of () in . Therefore, this study supports that drought resistance and ginsenosides biosynthesis in were positively regulated by ABA, providing a new direction for mitigating drought stress and improving ginsenosides production in the precious medicinal herb.