BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – Louisiana lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bill that would make it a crime to possess two abortion-inducing drugs without a prescription, a measure that doctors fear could prevent them from adequately treating their patients in a timely manner. .
Under the bill, which aims to reclassify mifepristone and misoprostol, pregnant patients would still be able to possess the drugs under a valid prescription. But in a state with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, doctors fear the legislation will have chilling consequences.
More than 200 doctors signed a letter to lawmakers saying the measure could create a “barrier to physicians’ ability to prescribe appropriate treatment” and cause unnecessary fear and confusion for both patients and doctors. The bill then goes to the Senate.
“These drugs are impacting maternal health, which, as we’ve all been discussing for several years, is really bad in Louisiana,” said Rep. Mandie Landry, a Democrat, as she argued against reclassifying the drugs. “According to their (doctors’) view, this (measure) will have very bad consequences.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone in 2000 to terminate a pregnancy, when used in combination with misoprostol. The U.S. Supreme Court in March heard arguments on behalf of doctors who oppose abortion and want to restrict access to mifepristone. However, the judges seemed unwilling to restrict access to the drug.
The reclassification of the two drugs in Louisiana is an amendment to a Senate bill that would create the crime of “coerced criminal abortion through fraud.” or attempting to induce an abortion without the knowledge or consent of the pregnant person.
Supporters of the reclassification say it would prevent people from using the pills unlawfully.
“He wants to keep these abortion pills from getting into the hands of people who shouldn’t be able to get them,” Republican Rep. Julie Emerson said of Sen. Thomas Pressly, the Republican sponsoring the bill. Pressly’s sister has shared her own story, about her husband throwing away her abortion-inducing medications without her knowledge or consent.
The amended bill must now return to the Senate. Specifically, the amendment aims to designate the drugs as Schedule IV drugs under the state’s Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law.
Under the measure, doctors would need a specific license to prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol, and the drugs would have to be stored in certain facilities that in some cases could end up being far from rural clinics. Opponents say such restrictions could cause delays in doctors prescribing drugs and patients getting them.
The bill, with the amendment, passed in the Republican Party-controlled Louisiana House, 66-30.
Louisiana has implemented a near-total abortion ban, which applies to both medical and surgical abortions. The only exceptions to the ban are when there is a significant risk of death or disability to the mother if she continues the pregnancy, or in the case of “medically futile” pregnancies, when the fetus has a fatal abnormality.
Currently, fourteen states maintain bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions.
Although it is already a crime in Louisiana to obtain medication to induce an abortion, a recent study shows that thousands of women in states with abortion bans or restrictions receive abortion pills in the mail from states that have laws protecting prescribers.
