(LifeSiteNews) — A Louisiana law classifying abortion pills as controlled substances took effect this week, prompting the mainstream press to promote claims that women’s lives will be endangered as a result.
As previously covered by LifeSiteNews, the Catherine and Josephine Herring Act puts mifepristone and misoprostol, two drugs commonly used in combination to cause chemical abortions, on Louisiana’s list of Schedule IV drugs under its Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances law, classifying them as drugs considered to have the potential for abuse or dependence. It makes possession without a prescription a criminal offense subject to significant fines and up to 10 years in prison. It does not prohibit the pills for non-abortion purposes.
The law was originally introduced by Republican state Sen. Thomas Pressly, motivated by the ordeal of his sister, Catherine Pressly Herring. In February, her then-husband Mason Herring pleaded guilty to spiking her drinking water with abortion pills, causing her to become seriously ill. Her baby daughter, Josephine, was saved via abortion pill reversal, but still has health complications stemming from her premature birth.
In May, Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed the law, which helps reinforce the state’s existing abortion ban by making it harder to circumvent it via abortion pills.
The Guardian reported that the law took effect Tuesday and quoted OB-GYN Dr. Nicole Freehill as warning that it extends the amount of time it takes to dispense misoprostol for its uses in non-abortion emergency situations, such as hemorrhaging, from 15 seconds to two minutes by requiring them to be stored outside of patients’ rooms rather than in hemorrhage carts.
“A lot of people might go: ‘Oh, two minutes, that’s really fast.’ And yes, in the long scheme of things, that’s fast,” she said. “But when you have someone who is actively hemorrhaging – in two minutes, they can lose hundreds of cc’s of blood. So those seconds count. I’m definitely worried about what’s going to happen to patients who are hemorrhaging.”
In response to such claims, Louisiana Right to Life cited a statement by Dr. Robert Hart, chief physician executive and president of Ochsner Health (the state’s largest non-profit healthcare provider), attesting that the new law does not conflict with the timely dispensation of drugs when necessary, thanks to “close collaboration with the Louisiana Department of Health, the Attorney General and other government partners in developing these protocols.”
“We respect the guidance in Louisiana Act 246 and have updated our processes to be compliant with the law and also ensuring that misoprostol will be readily available in Labor & Delivery units across the system, including in emergency situations,” Hart said. “As with all controlled substances, misoprostol can be prescribed with clear documentation of clinical condition with accompanying diagnosis codes both in the patient’s medical record and the prescription/order by any provider with a DEA license. It is standard practice to securely store certain medical supplies in patient care areas.”
Abortion pills carry distinct risks to women who take them, especially when done so without medical oversight, as authorized by the Biden administration and supportedby both major candidates for president.
A 2020 open letter from a coalition of pro-life groups to then-FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn noted that the FDA’s own adverse reporting system says the “abortion pill has resulted in over 4,000 reported adverse events since 2000, including 24 maternal deaths. Adverse events are notoriously underreported to the FDA, and as of 2016, the FDA only requires abortion pill manufacturers to report maternal deaths.”
Pro-lifers warn that with the complete removal of requirements that abortion pills be taken in the presence of a medical professional, meaning without any medical supervision or medical support close by, those events are certain to increase.
“A November 2021 study by Charlotte Lozier Institute scholars appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology,” Catholic University of Ameica research associate Michael New wrote. “They analyzed state Medicaid data of over 400,000 abortions from 17 states that fund elective abortions through their Medicaid programs. They found that the rate of abortion-pill-related emergency-room visits increased over 500 percent from 2002 through 2015. The rate of emergency-room visits for surgical abortions also increased during the same time period, but by a much smaller margin.’”
