Louisiana Lawmakers Move to Criminalize Possession of Abortion Pills

[In It to Win It]

Louisiana Lawmakers Move to Criminalize Possession of Abortion Pills

Louisiana lawmakers are trying to quietly criminalize possession of the most commonly used abortion pills.

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.

State Sen. Thomas Pressly (R) filed Senate Bill 276 in honor of his sister, whose husband slipped abortion medication in her drink without her consent. The House Criminal Justice Committee heard multiple bills regarding abortion Tuesday, and there was not much buzz surrounding this particular one, until Pressly submitted the set of amendments that would classify the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV controlled substances under Louisiana law.

Abortion is almost completely illegal in Louisiana. Mifepristone and misoprostol both have other uses.

The legislation would include an exemption for pregnant women to possess mifepristone and misoprostol for their own consumption, and still allow people who have a “valid prescription” to obtain them from pharmacies. Thus, it appears to be designed to target people who might stockpile abortion pills ahead of their own pregnancy, or the pregnancy of their friends and family members. Health care workers worry the legislation will make it more difficult to do their jobs.