Some possession of the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol could become criminalized in Louisiana, after state lawmakers attached a last-minute amendment to an anti-abortion bill that would reclassify the two pills as “controlled dangerous substances.”
The amendment would criminalize possession of the drugs, which are used to induce an abortion, without a valid prescription or order from a medical practitioner. A pregnant woman who obtains mifepristone or misoprostol “for her own consumption” would not be subject to prosecution, per the legislation.
The amendment, which was put together with help from the anti-abortion group Louisiana Right to Life, was added to Senate Bill 276 after it had passed.
The amendment, which was put together with help from the anti-abortion group Louisiana Right to Life, was added to Senate Bill 276 after it had passed. A Republican state senator, Thomas Pressly, introduced the bill — which would create the “crime of coerced criminal abortion by means of fraud” — after his sister’s husband was convicted of repeatedly slipping abortion drugs in her drink without her consent.
More than 240 doctors in Louisiana wrote a letter to Pressly, saying that reclassifying misoprostol and mifepristone would create “the false perception that these are dangerous drugs that require additional regulation.”
In a response he shared with CNN, Pressly said the legislation would not prohibit the abortion pills “from being prescribed or dispensed for legitimate reasons” and added: “The doctors I have consulted with feel this provision will not harm health care for women.”
If SB 276 becomes law, it will further erode access to abortion in Louisiana, where the procedure is allowed only under limited circumstances. Pregnant people have been forced to undergo unnecessary cesarean sections and delay treatment for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies to avert the potential prosecution of health care providers, according to a recent report.
Efforts to expand abortion access to sex crime victims have also failed. Last week, a Louisiana House committee rejected a measure that would have created an exception for underage victims of rape and incest, with one Republican lawmaker suggesting that teens might feign rape or incest to get an abortion.