Lawmakers in Louisiana may soon add mifepristone and misoprostol to the state’s list of controlled substances.
In a move that took the state’s abortion advocates and OB-GYNs by surprise, last-minute amendments that would place mifepristone and misoprostol on the state’s list of controlled substances were added to a bill focused on making “coerced criminal abortion by means of fraud” a crime..
The penalties would make possession of the medications a felony punishable up to five years in prison with a fine of up to $5,000.
The Supreme Court recently heard arguments from conservatives fighting to limit access to mifepristone, following a controversial ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Louisiana’s move to classify the abortion pills as “dangerous controlled substances” could signal the latest front in Republican-led states’ war on abortion access.
“The majority of times you’re prescribing misoprostol, it’s not for abortion, at least not here,” says the doctor, who asked to remain anonymous. “Twenty-five percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage, and the FDA-approved protocol for medically managing miscarriage is either a combination of misoprostol and mifepristone or a mifepristone-only regimen.”
“We’re all so scarred from the last two years of not exactly knowing what we can and can’t do,” says the Louisiana OB-GYN, adding that doctors now feel “sheer terror” in what used to be easy, daily decisions.
It should be noted that the anti-abortion legislators often insist that abortion laws are clear, even when they throw the medical community into crisis. It should also be noted that this amendment was made in the criminal justice committee, not the health and welfare committee. Louisiana Right to Life did not respond to a request for comment.
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