Louisiana Lawmakers Pioneer Stricter Abortion Pill Regulations, First To Classify As 'Dangerous'

 The Louisiana Senate passed first-of-its-kind legislation Thursday that will classify abortion pills as dangerous controlled substances, meaning people in possession of the pills without a prescription could face jail time and fines.

 The bill, which would be the first in the country to designate mifepristone and misoprostol—which are commonly used as abortion bills but are also used for miscarriages and to prevent ulcers—as controlled dangerous substances, passed the Republican-controlled Senate 29-7 on Thursday.

The legislation—which passed the Louisiana House of Representatives earlier this week—will now go to the desk of Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, who is expected to sign it into law.

People in possession of the abortion pills with no prescription could face up to five years in prison and a fine up to $5,000, according to the bill.

Louisiana has a near-total ban on abortions without exceptions for rape or incest, and recently the legislature declined to add those exceptions to the state’s ban.

Throughout the country and in Louisiana, people do typically need prescriptions for mifepristone and misoprostol. But the bill would make it harder for doctors in Louisiana to prescribe the pills by classifying them as dangerous controlled drugs and requiring a specific license to prescribe them, the Associated Press reported.


Louisiana Democrats have not supported the bill on its way through the legislature. After it passed the House on Tuesday, Chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party Randal Gaines said in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, that women in Louisiana “live in constant fear of losing even more rights” and passing the bill is “a harrowing preview of how much worse things could get” under GOP leadership.

BIG NUMBER
63%. That’s the percentage of abortions last year that were medication abortions—meaning drugs are used to end a pregnancy—according to the Guttmacher Institute. Just 10 years ago, medication abortions accounted for just 31% of all abortions in the U.S.

The bill, brought by Republican Sen. Thomas Pressly, drew criticism from hundreds of doctors in Louisiana who warned the pills have other important uses. Dr. Jennifer Avegn, an emergency physician and director of the New Orleans Health Department, told NBC News the drugs are “safe and effective,” and previously signed a letter saying the reclassification of the drugs would create “the false perception that these are dangerous drugs that require additional regulation.” The Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone in 2000 as a safe way to end early pregnancies. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court heard a case about whether it should limit access to mifepristone, and the court did not seem ready to commit to restricting access.