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“Louisiana is unfortunately now THE cautionary tale for the rest of the United States.”
BATON ROUGE, LA - On Tuesday, September 3, The Louisiana Illuminator published an article detailing their interviews with countless doctors across Louisiana worried about treating patients - and potentially saving lives - now that Governor Jeff Landry and House Republicans have passed a law criminalizing misoprostol, mifepristone, and other medications that treat women’s health needs.
Misoprostol and mifepristone are prescribed for a number of medical scenarios - they are an essential part of reproductive healthcare that can be used during emergencies, as well as for miscarriage treatment, labor induction, stopping postpartum hemorrhage, and IUD insertion. But because they are also used for abortion, these drugs have been targeted by conservatives in Louisiana - an unprecedented move for a medication that routinely saves lives.
When the criminalization law, SB276 by State Senator Thomas Pressly, passed the Louisiana legislature in May, Louisiana Democratic Party Chair Randal Gaines said, “This action by extreme House Republicans is yet another example of their pursuit to take away reproductive freedoms for women in Louisiana. Thanks to Donald Trump, who proudly claims credit for ripping away women’s freedoms, women in Louisiana live in constant fear of losing even more rights. Already our state has one of the most extreme abortion bans in the country…and these actions are a harrowing preview of how much worse things could get under Governor Landry and the extreme GOP leadership. Criminalizing possession of these medications, which have a wide range of uses to protect women’s health, could further endanger the lives of Louisianians.”
And it has. As shown in the article, doctors and pharmacists are already scrambling to come up with postpartum hemorrhage policies that will comply with the law while still providing proper medical care for women, fearing that new mothers across the state will suffer.
Also yesterday, the Harris-Walz campaign weighed in on this critical issue, highlighting the “confusion and angst” over new Louisiana law, and placing the blame squarely on Donald Trump and those that push his policies, like the Project 2025 agenda.
Harris-Walz 2024 Spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said, “Let’s be clear: Trump is the reason Louisiana women who are suffering from miscarriages or bleeding out after birth can no longer receive the critical care they would have received before Trump overturned Roe. Because of Trump, doctors are scrambling to find solutions to save their patients and are left at the whims of politicians who think they know better. Trump is proud of what he’s done. He brags about it. And if he wins, he will threaten to bring the crisis he created for Louisiana women to all 50 states.”
Shortly after, the Louisiana Democratic Party released a statement saying, “Thank you, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz, for echoing the truth. The country is now getting a glimpse of what we’ve been dealing with under the Trumpian dangerous duo of Jeff Landry and Liz Murrill. Louisiana is unfortunately now THE cautionary tale for the rest of the United States.”
The new legislation empowers the state government to monitor every pregnant woman prescribed misoprostol and mifepristone, and people possessing abortion medication could be criminalized and jailed for years - including a woman’s friends and family members. The law goes into effect on October 1.