Louisiana Republicans want to make it harder to get drugs to prevent postpartum hemorrhage

Anti-abortion Republicans talk loudly about caring for the sanctity of life, but as they have made abundantly clear, the only thing they care about is controlling women’s bodies—and in fact, cannot less interested in pregnant people or the children they want to force people to have. We know this because:

Oh, and now we know it, too, because lawmakers in Louisiana—which has one of the harshest abortion bans in the country*—are so enthusiastic about abolishing abortion that they’re Proposed legislation will classify Mifepristone and misoprostol are dangerous controlled substances on par with opioids and other highly addictive prescription drugs.

Each The Washington Post:

The amendment would list mifepristone and misoprostol under the state’s Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Act…It sparked a strong reaction from more than 240 Louisiana doctors, who called it a “no-no.” have a scientific basis”.

The pending language appears to open another front in the country’s bitter fight over whether and how women can have abortions. Efforts to limit medical abortions—which now account for more than half of all abortions in the United States—are part of the legislative agenda not only in deep Louisiana but also in many Republican-controlled states. And in March, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit brought against the Food and Drug Administration by a group of anti-abortion doctors seeking to limit access to mifepristone.

This legislation is sponsored by a Republican state senator Thomas Pressly, Her sister testified that her then-husband slipped abortion pills into her drink, causing her to have “severe cramps.” (Doctors saved the pregnancy and Pressly’s former brother-in-law was sentenced to 180 days in jail; the bill would have carried a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $75,000 fine.)

Obviously, no one disputes the fact that what happened to Pressly’s sister was horrible. But health experts don’t think it will lead to laws that limit people’s abilities want to have an abortion can do so, or classify a drug as a controlled substance that does more than cause a miscarriage. “The addition of a safe, medically indicated drug for the management of miscarriage…creates the false perception that these are dangerous drugs to have,” a group of Louisiana physicians wrote to Pressly. additional regulations”. It is important for doctors to note that misoprostol is also used to prevent gastrointestinal ulcers and to help safely induce labor in those preparing to give birth. Like parcel note, misoprostol is also used after someone has had a miscarriage (when their body does not reject the tissue on its own) and “to help prevent postpartum hemorrhage, one of the leading causes of death in mothers in this state.”

“Given its historically poor maternal health outcomes, Louisiana should prioritize safe and evidence-based care for pregnant women,” the doctors wrote to Pressly. EQUAL Neelima Sukhavasi, a Baton Rouge obstetrician and gynecologist and a fellow with Reproductive Health Physicians, told parcel: “For obstetricians and gynecologists, this is worrying. No one will confirm what happened to [Pressly’s] younger sister. But this is a safe drug with many important life-saving uses. It is not addictive.” Nimra Chowdhry, The state’s senior legislative counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, put it more bluntly, said the law, if passed, would “turn back the clock on modern medicine.” It is a medicine that helps postpartum women not bleed to death.