Louisiana reclassifies abortion pills as ‘controlled dangerous substances’

Beginning on Oct. 1, the two primary drugs used for medication abortions will be classified as Schedule IV drugs on Louisiana’s list of controlled dangerous substances.

Because of the state’s new classification, anyone in the state possessing the drugs without a valid prescription for mifepristone or misoprostol — the medications used in over half of abortions nationwide — could face up to five years in prison and be fined up to $5,000.

Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed Act 246 into law in May, putting the abortion drugs in the same category as potentially addictive prescription medications such as Xanax and Valium.

In addition to prescribing them for use in abortions, health care providers use mifepristone and misoprostol to treat miscarriages, induce labor during childbirth, and reduce the risk of bleeding from stomach ulcers.

Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has said he would veto any effort to limit abortion rights in the state.

Michelle Velasquez, the director of legal advocacy and services at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, told the Wisconsin Independent that if Wisconsin were to reclassify the abortion drugs the way that Louisiana has, it would have a chilling effect.

“Prescribers would say, Hey, we’re not actually sure about being able to prescribe this, or, We’re not sure about being able to dispense it, or pharmacies are perhaps less likely to even carry the controlled substance in stock,” Velasquez said.

Abortion is legal in Wisconsin up until 21 weeks and six days of pregnancy.

According to reporting by the Washington Post, pharmacists in Louisiana are struggling to figure out which diagnosis codes they will have to use to prescribe the drugs and what the new classification will mean for patients. 

Jennifer Avegno, the director of the New Orleans Health Department, told the Post that the new medication regulations could cost patients their lives: “Most patients would likely make it. But I’ve seen myself what can happen when someone is bleeding out from a miscarriage. And a few minutes could mean life and death in some cases.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone, sold under the brand names Mifeprex and Korlym, in 2000 as the first part of a two-step nonsurgical abortion regimen with a second drug, misoprostol. 

Just months after the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 ruling that reversed Roe v. Wade, an anti-abortion group challenged the FDA’s approval of mifepristone. The case went to the Supreme Court and in June 2024, it ruled against the challengers in the lawsuit on the grounds of standing.

“What we’re seeing here is a state saying that they can fly in the face of science and research, and say that a medication that has been proven safe for decades and has been used around the world to safely end people’s pregnancies, and also has a lot of other indications for use, can essentially be criminalized,” Farah Diaz-Tello, the senior counsel and legal director of If/When/How, an abortion rights legal group, told the Wisconsin Independent.

“Essentially, what the state is doing is going against all of that and saying that these health care issues are now going to become more matters for the criminal legal system. And that puts providers at risk, it puts abortion seekers at risk, and it also keeps medications out of the hands of people who need them,” Diaz-Tello added. 

Landry wrote on X on May 24: “Requiring an abortion inducing drug to be obtained with a prescription and criminalizing the use of an abortion drug on an unsuspecting mother is nothing short of common sense. This bill protects women across Louisiana and I was proud to sign this bill into law today.”

Abortion is totally banned in Louisiana except in extremely limited cases: to save the life of the pregnant person, to prevent serious risk to the pregnant person’s physical health, or if the fetus is not expected to survive the pregnancy.

In March, the Center for Reproductive Rights released a report documenting the results for patients of Louisiana’s abortion ban. The study details disproportionate harm to marginalized communities, a delay in abortion care for patients “facing serious and potentially life-threatening pregnancy complications and health conditions,” and an erosion of the level of care clinicians provide to patients due to fear of being charged with a crime.

“Maybe right now folks don’t see Wisconsin as having the potential to go this far, but that’s because we currently have a governor who has vowed to veto all abortion restrictions,” Velasquez said. “If we ever have a governor who doesn’t take that same vow, then we could very well be in a very similar place as Louisiana.”

To mark the second anniversary of the reversal of Roe, Gov. Tony Evers released a statement pledging to “never stop fighting to make sure Wisconsinites have the freedom to make the deeply personal reproductive healthcare decisions that are right for them without interference from politicians who don’t know anything about their life circumstances, values, or responsibilities—that’s a promise.”

Eric Hovde, the Republican nominee challenging Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin in November, has falsely claimed that the “morning-after pill” — emergency contraception that prevents fertilization — is an abortion drug.

In June, Baldwin repeated her support for access to abortion medication, posting on X: “Access to safe, effective abortion medication shouldn’t have ever been up for debate but overturning Roe opened the floodgates to attacks on women’s reproductive rights. These attacks on our freedoms will not stop. We must protect a woman’s right to choose — everywhere.”