[[link removed]]

A CHILLING EFFECT OF LOUISIANA’S ABORTION LAW  
[[link removed]]


 

Lora Kelley
May 28, 2024
The Atlantic
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Louisiana just became the first state to reclassify abortion pills
as controlled dangerous substances. The law may signal a new strategy
to curb reproductive-health-care access in post-Roe America. _

, Lauren Schatzman/NBC News

 

Late last week, the governor of Louisiana signed into law a bill that
marks a first in the battle over reproductive rights in America: The
state will categorize mifepristone and misoprostol, medication
commonly used in abortions, as controlled dangerous substances.
Possessing the drugs without a valid prescription will be a criminal
offense that could carry up to 10 years
[[link removed]] in
prison. Abortion pills in Louisiana are now in the same category as
drugs such as opioids and Xanax—medicines that are thought to be at
risk of abuse—even though the medical community and the FDA widely
consider
[[link removed]] mifepristone
and misoprostol to be safe.

The original version of the bill, introduced by Republican State
Senator Thomas Pressly in March, focused on criminalizing coerced
abortion
[[link removed]].
Pressly has said that he was moved to act when his sister discovered
in 2022 that her then-husband had mixed misoprostol in her drinks
without her knowledge. After that version of the bill had passed
unanimously in the state Senate, Pressly proposed a controversial
amendment that would reclassify abortion pills as controlled
substances, saying in an interview
[[link removed]] with
KSLA News that he wanted to “make sure they’re not put in the
hands of bad actors and criminals.” The amended version of the bill
received pushback but ultimately passed.

In Louisiana, where abortions have been banned in most cases since
2022, the use of mifepristone and misoprostol to induce abortions is
already highly restricted—so the new legislation will largely
disrupt other medical treatments. Mifepristone and misoprostol
have routine medical uses
[[link removed]],
such as inducing childbirth, stopping postpartum hemorrhages, and
treating miscarriages. Under the new law, doctors must have
a specific license
[[link removed]] to
prescribe the drugs, and the pills would need to be stored in special
facilities that rural clinics
[[link removed]] may
find difficult to access. Experts predict
[[link removed]] that
confusion about the law and fear of prosecution will have a chilling
effect on patients and health-care providers.

Medical professionals have raised alarms, with more than 200 doctors
in the state reportedly signing a letter
[[link removed]] warning
that Louisiana’s legislation would cause confusion
[[link removed]] and
present barriers to effective care. Because physicians haven’t been
prescribing the pills for abortions in Louisiana, the law will
“likely have minuscule impacts on abortion and more significant
impacts on miscarriage and obstetric care,” Greer Donley, a law
professor at the University of Pittsburgh who has written for _The
Atlantic_, explained to me in an email. (She also noted that the
legislation won’t affect people who currently receive abortion pills
in the mail from organizations operating legally under shield laws
[[link removed]],
and that pregnant patients who obtain the drugs for their own use
won’t be penalized.)

“Health professionals who need to prescribe the medication for any
reason—even the many uses of the drug that are not termination of
pregnancy—will now have to jump through many hurdles,” Melissa
Goodman, the executive director of UCLA Law’s Center on Reproductive
Health, Law and Policy, told me in an email. “Delays are likely.”
She noted that the new restrictions may drive health-care providers to
leave Louisiana—a state that already has bleak
[[link removed]] maternal-health
outcomes—and that this law could set a precedent for activist groups
that may try to make medications such as contraceptives and
mental-health treatments illegal for ideological reasons.

Mifepristone and misoprostol have become a flash point in the fight
over abortion access. Last year, there were more than 640,000
medication abortions in the United States—more than 60 percent of
abortions in the formal health-care system, according to
the Guttmacher Institute
[[link removed]].
That was up from 53 percent in 2020, before the fall of _Roe v.
Wade_. But these drugs have faced legal challenges across the country.
Texas effectively banned mifepristone in 2023 when a judge suspended
FDA approval of the drug (though an appeals court ruled
[[link removed]] to
preserve access again soon after). Twenty-nine states have either
outlawed abortion or have restrictions on abortion medication,
according to the Guttmacher Institute, and Arizona bans the mailing of
abortion pills. Currently, the Supreme Court is considering a case
that would make mifepristone much harder to access, though the
justices signaled
[[link removed]] in
March that they would not limit access to the drug. (Some of them
voiced concerns
[[link removed]] about
the implications of enacting nationwide restrictions or reversing the
FDA’s judgments.)

Louisiana may prove to be a bellwether, experts told me, inspiring
other states to further restrict access to mifepristone and
misoprostol. But Donley noted that the consequences for general health
care may make the law unappealing for other states to adopt. Still,
the legislation is a striking example of the lengths lawmakers may go
in their attempt to curb the use of abortion pills across the country.

_Lora Kelley is an associate editor at The Atlantic and an author
of the Atlantic Daily newsletter
[[link removed]]._

* abortion restrictions
[[link removed]]
* Louisiana
[[link removed]]
* abortion pills
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]