Louisiana moves to make abortion pills 'controlled dangerous substances' [View all]
Source: Washington Post
Louisiana moves to make abortion pills ‘controlled dangerous substances’
Someone possessing the pills without a valid prescription or outside of professional practice could be prosecuted and sentenced to prison.
By Emily Wax-Thibodeaux
May 13, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Louisiana could become the first state in the country to categorize mifepristone and misoprostol — the drugs used to induce an abortion — as controlled dangerous substances, threatening incarceration and fines if an individual possesses the pills without a valid prescription or outside of professional practice.
Legislators in Baton Rouge added the provision as a last-minute amendment to a Senate bill that would criminalize an abortion if someone gives a pregnant woman the pills without her consent, a scenario of “coerced criminal abortion” that nearly occurred with one senator’s sister.
A pregnant woman obtaining the two drugs “for her own consumption” would not be at risk of prosecution. But, with the exception of a health-care practitioner, a person helping her get the pills would be. ... Louisiana already bans both medication and surgical abortions except to save a patient’s life or because a pregnancy is “medically futile.” Lawmakers just rejected adding exceptions for teenagers under 17 who become pregnant through rape or incest.
The amendment would list mifepristone and misoprostol under the state’s Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Act, which regulates depressants, opioids and other sometimes highly addictive drugs. It elicited a strong reaction from more than 240 Louisiana doctors, who called it “not scientifically based.”
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By Emily Wax-Thibodeaux
Emily Wax-Thibodeaux is a National staff writer who covers national news, with a focus on gender issues and social movements for the America desk. She is an award-winning former foreign correspondent who covered Africa and India for nearly a decade. Twitter https://twitter.com/emily_wax
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/05/13/abortion-pills-louisiana-controlled-substance/
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