New State Law Reclassifies 2 Drugs as Controlled Substances

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - Starting October 1st, Misoprostol and Mifepristone will be classified as a controlled dangerous substance and must be obtained with a prescription. The drugs are used for various reason like abortions and severe bleeding after birth.

“The CDC just came out with a big recommendation about how much pain women are having with IUDs and we need to do as much as we can to minimize the pain. Misoprostol is great to help the cervix dilate making it easier to put the IUD in.” says Dr. Terry Dunn. She’s been a practicing OBGYN for 39 years and owns her own practice.

She believes that going through a pharmacy to obtain these drugs wastes valuable time in emergency cases like postpartum hemorrhaging.

“You’re using it in an emergency situation, it needs to be readily available and you know drugs that you have to get from the pharmacy like any drug, it can be a long wait or the pharmacy doesn’t have it.” says Dr. Dunn.

The author of the law, Senator Thomas Pressly says the drugs should still be available on medical carts, “I know there are carts that have authorization on them directly that can be overridden at any time that have scheduled drugs in those carts. That’s exactly what we expect to be used. I believe LDH will put out more rules on that.”

Senator Pressly pushed for the law after his pregant sister was poisoned with Misoprostol seven different times by her ex-husband.

“We’re simply saying it needs to be prescribed and administered by a healthcare professional so these drugs are not in the hands of bad actors like my brother-in-law.” says Senator Pressly.

But some democrats are concerned this law is primarily affects abortion access and restricts doctors and patient resources. 1st Vice Chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party, Katie Darling, says those rstiriction are dangerous, “The framing of the bill was designed to keep women safe but the folks that authored and passed the bill did listen to healthcare professionals when passing the bill. Who said this will cause more harm not less.”

Part of the bill makes it a crime is an abortion is ‘coerced by means of fraud’. That means if a person knowingly and intentionally gives a pregnant woman an abortion inducing drug without her knowledge or consent, they can face serious jail time and fines.

“If this occurs in the first trimester the person that commits this act on a woman would be sentenced to ten years of incarceration. If it happens in the second or third trimester because of the increased risk to the woman the penalty would be increased to twenty years.” says Senator Pressly.

Republicans believe this bill is protecting women whereas Democrats believe its restricting their health care options.