Louisiana could list abortion drugs as controlled substances

The Louisiana House of Representatives on Tuesday voted 65-31 in favor of legislation that would treat the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances.

What’s the background on this bill? The bill was originally known as the Abortion by Fraud Bill and was introduced by state Sen. Thomas Pressly to criminalize coerced abortion through fraud. Pressly’s sister Catherine Herring testified to a senate committee in April that her husband had slipped Misoprostol into a drink of hers while she was pregnant.

The Louisiana Senate approved the bill before sending it to the House. The House then added an amendment that would list the two drugs as Schedule IV substances under the state’s Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law. The bill’s new amendments and text, if approved by the Senate and then signed by the governor, would make conspiring to commit an abortion with drugs a crime punishable by penalties listed in the controlled substances law.

Is abortion already illegal in Louisiana? The state’s law already protects unborn babies from abortion except in cases where an abortion is medically necessary to save the life of the mother. But even in those cases, the state requires doctors to do their utmost to protect both the life of the mother and the life of the unborn child. The law also illegalizes inducing abortions with drugs or chemicals.

Dig deeper: Read Leah Savas’ report in Vitals about disagreements among pro-lifers about medical exceptions to laws protecting unborn babies.