NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry on Friday signed the first-of-its-kind bill classifying two abortion-inducing drugs as controlled and dangerous substances.
The Republican governor announced his signing of the bill in Baton Rouge one day after it was finally passed by the state Senate.
The measure affects the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol, which are used in medical abortion, the most commonly used method of abortion in the United States.
Opponents of the bill included many doctors who said the drugs have other essential uses in reproductive health and that a change in classification could make it more complex to prescribe the drugs.
Supporters of the bill said it would protect expectant mothers from forced abortions, but cited only one example, the state of Texas.
The bill passed as anti-abortion activists await a final decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on efforts to restrict access to mifepristone.
The recent law comes into force on October 1st.
The bill was originally intended as a measure to classify “criminal abortion compelled by fraud” as a crime. An amendment to add the abortion drugs to Schedule IV of Louisiana’s Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law was pushed by Senator Thomas Pressly, a Republican from Shreveport and the bill’s primary sponsor.
“Requiring that an abortion-inducing drug be available only by prescription and criminalizing the use of an abortifacient on an unsuspecting mother is nothing more than common sense,” Landry said in a statement.
Under current Louisiana law, both drugs already require a prescription and their employ to induce an abortion is a criminal offense in most cases. The law would make the pills harder to obtain. Other Schedule IV drugs include the opioid tramadol and a group of sedatives known as benzodiazepines.
Knowingly possessing the drugs without a valid prescription would be punishable by ponderous fines and prison sentences. The wording of the bill appears to provide protection for pregnant women who obtain the drugs without a prescription for their own employ.
This classification would require doctors to have a special license to prescribe these drugs and would require the drugs to be stored in specific facilities, which in some cases could be far from rural clinics.
In addition to causing an abortion, mifepristone and misoprostol are also used for other purposes, such as treating miscarriages, inducing labor, and stopping bleeding.
More than 200 doctors in the state signed a letter to lawmakers warning that the measure could “make it harder for doctors to prescribe appropriate treatments” and cause unnecessary fear and confusion among both patients and doctors. The doctors warn that any delay in obtaining the drugs could lead to worsening outcomes in a state that has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country.
Pressly said he pushed for the legislation because of what happened to his sister, Catherine Herring of Texas. In 2022, her husband planted seven misoprostol pills on her to induce an abortion without her knowledge or consent.
