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May 23, 2024By Kate Scanlon, OSV News
(OSV News) -- The Louisiana House approved legislation May 21 that would classify drugs used for both early abortion and miscarriage as controlled dangerous substances, and would criminalize improperly possessing the pills, such as lacking a valid prescription or their use outside the context of a professional medical practice.
The House voted 64-29 to approve its version of Senate Bill 276 with this reclassification, amending the bill previously introduced in the state Senate by Republican state Sen. Thomas Pressly. In its original Senate version, the bill would make it a crime to intentionally give an abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant woman without her consent, something he said happened to his sister, Catherine Herring, in another state.
The amended bill now proceeds to the state Senate.
Vice President Kamala Harris wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the measure was "Absolutely unconscionable."
"The Louisiana House just passed a bill that would criminalize the possession of medication abortion, with penalties of up to several years of jail time," she wrote.
"Let's be clear: Donald Trump did this," Harris added.
The Biden-Harris campaign has sought to tie restrictions on abortion to the former president, the presumptive Republican nominee. But Trump issued a statement in April arguing abortion should be left to individual states to legislate and declined to back federal restrictions sought by pro-life activists.
Pressly replied to Harris on X, stating "what's unconscionable is blatantly lying about my bill."
"Leaving out the part about 'not having a valid prescription' & our efforts to protect expectant mothers from being slipped abortion meds by diabolical spouses, that's kind of a big omission," he wrote. "Do better."
The legislation would classify mifepristone and misoprostol -- the combination of drugs used in a chemical or medication abortion -- as controlled dangerous substances, a category also including medications that can be abused including narcotics. However, the bill states someone who possesses the drugs "for her own consumption" would be exempt from prosecution.
The same pill combination also has been prescribed to women who experience early pregnancy miscarriage to expel any fetal remains and residual pregnancy tissue from the womb. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists updated its protocols to recommend a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol as more effective than misoprostol alone for early miscarriage care based on research published since 2018.
The Food and Drug Administration has argued the drugs pose statistically little risk to the mother in the early weeks of pregnancy. But critics have alleged regulations on the drug were improperly reduced in a lawsuit currently under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that more than half of the abortions performed in the U.S. -- or 53% -- are carried out with medication rather than surgical procedures.
Louisiana prohibits abortion unless a woman's life is at risk or a pregnancy deemed "medically futile."
OSV News has reached out to the Louisiana Catholic Conference and is awaiting comment.
The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, opposing direct abortion as an act of violence that takes the life of the unborn child.
After the Dobbs decision, Church officials in the United States have reiterated the Church's concern for both mother and child, and called to strengthen available support for those living in poverty or other causes that can push women toward having an abortion.