Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 38
On Tuesday, Louisiana will become the first state in the U.S. to categorize two widely used abortion pills as “controlled dangerous substances.”
Opponents argue the classification could have catastrophic impacts in a state that already has a near-total abortion ban and one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation. Doctors fear the reclassification will cause delays in accessing the drugs — mifepristone and misoprostol — which together can be used to manage miscarriages, while misoprostol induces labor and treats severe bleeding after delivery. They also worry the practice of reclassifying the drugs might spread beyond Louisiana.
Proponents say the new law should help prevent coerced abortion, pointing to a Texas case in which a pregnant woman was given seven misoprostol pills by her husband without her knowledge; the baby survived. Over the past 15 years, news outlets have reported on similar cases — none in Louisiana — but the issue does not appear widespread.
Mifepristone and misoprostol can both be obtained through a prescription in Louisiana, but the state has reclassified the pills as “Schedule IV drugs,” putting them in the same category as the opioid tramadol and other substances that can be addictive.
Mifepristone is typically taken along with misoprostol and was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000 after federal regulators deemed it safe and effective for ending pregnancies in the early weeks of gestation. The drug, which blocks the hormone progesterone, also primes the uterus to respond to the contraction-causing effect of misoprostol.
Last year in the U.S., nearly two-thirds of all abortions were medication abortions.
OB-GYNs say a tiny fraction of patients suffer “major” or “serious” adverse events after taking mifepristone. In June, the Supreme Court unanimously preserved access to the drug, throwing out a lawsuit from abortion opponents that argued the FDA overlooked serious safety problems when it made mifepristone easier to obtain.
Medical experts say it’s possible and safe to use misoprostol by itself to end a pregnancy, but it’s slightly less effective than the two-drug regimen. Besides being used in reproductive care, misoprostol is also used to prevent stomach ulcers in people who take certain pain medicines.
Under current Louisiana law, physicians convicted of performing an illegal abortion, including one with pills, face up to 15 years in prison, $200,000 in fines and the loss of their medical license.
The new classification means that if someone knowingly possesses mifepristone or misoprostol without a valid prescription for any purpose, they could be fined up to $5,000 and sent to jail for one to five years.
Source: ABC News
