by Misty Severi
The Louisiana Senate approved a bill Thursday that would put two abortion pills on the state’s list of controlled hazardous substances, sending the bill to the governor’s desk for his signature.
State House of Representatives on Tuesday it adopted the law, which could make drug possession a crime punishable by imprisonment or fines. Surgical and medical abortions are already illegal in the southern state except in extreme cases, which means getting drugs legally is already challenging. But now, mere possession without a prescription is punishable by up to five years in prison.
The bill would place the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol in the Schedule IV classification of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Act, alongside drugs such as Xanax and Valium.
Critics of the bill argue it could lead people to think the drug itself is hazardous, which health care workers say is not true, while supporters say it would protect pregnant women from being forced to have abortions.
The bill punishes people who perform a “criminal forced abortion by fraud,” which targets people who put abortion pills into an unknowing person’s food or drink to cause or attempt to cause an abortion. People who commit this crime face a penalty of up to 10 years in prison or up to 20 years if the pregnant woman was in the third month of pregnancy or longer.
Mifepristone was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000, This was reported on NBC News. It is not considered a controlled substance by federal regulators because it has a low risk of misuse.
The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s desk, where he is expected to sign it.
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Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her further X for greater range.
Photo “Jeff Landry” by Jeff Landry.
