NEW DELHI: The Louisiana House, with a majority of 64 to 29, has passed a bill that would classify the drugs used in medication abortions as controlled substances, making it illegal to possess them without a prescription, reports CBS News.
Louisiana will be the first state to categorize misoprostol and mifepristone, used in early-stage pregnancy termination, as controlled substances, if the legislation is signed into law, as reported by CBS News.
Controlled substances are typically drugs considered addictive, such as opioids or depressants. This allows states to monitor the drugs and create a database of recipients, as well as criminalize possession without a prescription. However, the legislation exempts pregnant women from prosecution.
Meanwhile, these two drugs are used for more than half of the abortions in the US. Mifepristone, approved by the FDA in 2000, has been under scrutiny in recent years, with the Supreme Court considering a case this term regarding the rules surrounding its use.
“The State of Louisiana would effectively be creating a database of prescriptions for every woman who is prescribed mifepristone and misoprostol, regardless of the reason, truly monitoring women and their pregnancies,” Schilling said. “That should be unimaginable in America,” said Ellie Schilling, Louisiana attorney specializing in reproductive health law.
Although abortion is already banned in Louisiana in most circumstances, with exceptions for cases where the mother’s life is at risk or the pregnancy is “medically futile,” the legislation could serve as a model for other states to target the medication commonly used in early-stage pregnancies.
Mitch Landrieu, former mayor of New Orleans, while expressing concern, said, “Women in Louisiana are one step closer towards living in a world where they can be monitored and tracked and even sent to prison for just holding FDA-approved medications. What’s happening right here in Louisiana is just one example of this dystopian agenda that Trump and his allies are pushing.”
Louisiana will be the first state to categorize misoprostol and mifepristone, used in early-stage pregnancy termination, as controlled substances, if the legislation is signed into law, as reported by CBS News.
Controlled substances are typically drugs considered addictive, such as opioids or depressants. This allows states to monitor the drugs and create a database of recipients, as well as criminalize possession without a prescription. However, the legislation exempts pregnant women from prosecution.
Meanwhile, these two drugs are used for more than half of the abortions in the US. Mifepristone, approved by the FDA in 2000, has been under scrutiny in recent years, with the Supreme Court considering a case this term regarding the rules surrounding its use.
“The State of Louisiana would effectively be creating a database of prescriptions for every woman who is prescribed mifepristone and misoprostol, regardless of the reason, truly monitoring women and their pregnancies,” Schilling said. “That should be unimaginable in America,” said Ellie Schilling, Louisiana attorney specializing in reproductive health law.
Although abortion is already banned in Louisiana in most circumstances, with exceptions for cases where the mother’s life is at risk or the pregnancy is “medically futile,” the legislation could serve as a model for other states to target the medication commonly used in early-stage pregnancies.
Mitch Landrieu, former mayor of New Orleans, while expressing concern, said, “Women in Louisiana are one step closer towards living in a world where they can be monitored and tracked and even sent to prison for just holding FDA-approved medications. What’s happening right here in Louisiana is just one example of this dystopian agenda that Trump and his allies are pushing.”