Louisiana's new law categorizing two widely used abortion drugs as “controlled dangerous substances” was challenged in a state court lawsuit Thursday by a physician, a pharmacist and others who say the legislation sets up needless, dangerous delays in treatment during medical emergencies.
Although there already was a near-total abortion ban in Louisiana, including by medication, the reclassification of the drugs — mifepristone and misoprostol, which have other critical reproductive health care uses — went into effect earlier this month. Proponents of the law said more oversight and control over the drugs was needed to prevent coerced abortions. They have used as an example a Texas case in which a pregnant woman was given seven misoprostol pills by her husband without her knowledge. The baby survived.
