From left: Lila Bonow, Alana Edmondson and Aiyana Knauer prepare to take abortion pill while demonstrating in front of the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices hear hear arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, a case about a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks, on Dec. 1, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Democrats on a congressional committee say a new Louisiana law that classifies pregnancy care drugs as controlled dangerous substances will put women’s lives at risk.
The report from the minority party members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce links Louisiana’s policy to the reproductive health platform of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“This law is yet another example of a poorly written, anti-science policy that Republican extremists have been trying to pass in states across the country,” the report reads.
Effective Oct. 1, mifepristone and misoprostol are treated as Schedule IV drugs in Louisiana, requiring that they be secured. The medications were targeted because they can be used together for abortions, but both have multiple other uses, particularly misoprostol. It’s been the go-to treatment to stop life-threatening hemorrhaging after delivery.
Hospitals and other health care facilities can no longer have quick and easy access to the drugs. Rather than include misoprostol in “bleed kits” taken into delivery rooms, it must now be kept in a separate passcode-protected dispensary system. Their prescription and use must also be closely monitored.
“Requiring life saving medications to be kept in a lockbox and threatening doctors with jail time and fines will only make Louisiana’s existing maternal health crisis worse,” Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., said in a statement. “This report demonstrates that Louisiana’s new law is clearly intended to create a chilling effect on both patients and doctors that will undoubtedly put women’s lives at risk.”
The report outlines concerns that the legislation could become a blueprint for other states. Democratic staff on the committee have said they are not able to set the agenda with committee hearings while in the minority, but if the Nov. 5 election puts them in the majority, things could change. Regardless, committee members assert that access to reproductive health care will continue to be a focus, both from a legislative as well as an oversight perspective.
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Oversight of drug regulation falls under the duties of the Energy and Commerce health subcommittee. The Democratic members’ report includes harsh criticism of the Louisiana Legislature for designating mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV drugs, putting them in the same category as substances such as Ambien and Valium that could potentially be addictive or misused.
State lawmakers did not follow the typical process and have the reproductive drugs medically and scientifically evaluated as drugs with potential for abuse, the report said.
Louisiana health care providers sue state, claiming misoprostol law violates constitution
“The Louisiana legislature politicized its scheduling of drugs – an otherwise legitimate medical tool for preventing drug abuse – and directly placed mifepristone and misoprostol under the state’s controlled substances Schedule IV, ignoring all existing scientific and medical data about these safe and effective FDA-approved drugs,” the report reads.
“The only thing this law accomplishes is creating a pretext for investigating women, their loved ones, providers, and pharmacists,” Democrats on the committee wrote.
Doctors and reproductive rights organizations are challenging the new law in state court, having filed a lawsuit Thursday. They claim the measure, Act 246, violates the state constitution because it discriminates against people with certain medical conditions.
Additionally, the lawsuit points out legislators added the drug restrictions to a bill that originally sought to create the crime of coerced abortion. The lawsuit claims the amendments were not germane to the proposal’s initial intent, which plaintiffs say also goes against a constitutional provision.
State Sen. Thomas Pressly, R-Shreveport, is the author of the law. He was inspired to write it after his pregnant sister was given abortion drugs in 2022 by her then-husband without her knowledge.
Catherine Herring nearly lost her daughter, who was born 10 weeks premature with significant health issues. Mason Herring pleaded guilty in a Texas court to injuring a child and assault of a pregnant woman. He was sentenced to six months in prison, a penalty Pressly said was insufficient.
“No woman should ever be drugged without her knowledge, and bad actors should not be able to obtain Misoprostol or Mifepristone in an effort to kill unborn babies,” the senator said when asked for comments about the congressional report. “The Louisiana legislation allows for health care providers to continue to prescribe these medications for necessary healthcare purposes while limiting the ability of bad actors to obtain these drugs. I’m proud of the work we are doing in Louisiana to protect women and the unborn by criminalizing the weaponization of these drugs.”
Pressly and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill insist the law should not result in delays in access to misoprostol and mifepristone, but doctors and patients are reporting issues. Among the medical professionals the committee reached out to was New Orleans health director Dr. Jennifer Avegno, who is leading an impact study on the new law to investigate these delays.
“As this report clearly shows, there is no scientific or medical rationale for mislabeling mifepristone and misoprostol as ‘dangerous’ substances,” Avegno said in a statement to the Illuminator. “In fact, the standard of care and best practices require these medications to be immediately available to treat a variety of common and serious conditions. As hundreds of Louisiana physicians have noted, this law has the potential to harm patients directly and does not improve maternal morbidity and mortality in our state.”
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