On Oct. 31, Louisiana healthcare workers filed a lawsuit against a new state law that classifies abortion medications as controlled substances, a designation the plaintiffs say will delay care and harm patients.
Louisiana is the only state to define misoprostol and mifepristone, an FDA-approved regimen to terminate a pregnancy, as Schedule IV medications. Other therapies in this class are cough medicines and painkillers that have a low potential for abuse and low risk of dependence.
Anyone who possesses the medicines without a prescription could face a fine of up to $5,000 and imprisonment between one and five years, according to the law that went into effect Oct. 1.
The state bans the use of these medicines for abortion, but misoprostol and mifepristone can be prescribed for postpartum hemorrhage and incomplete miscarriage. The new classification as controlled substances requires hospitals to store them in locked cabinets and providers to have a special license to prescribe them, NBC News reported Nov. 1.
The lawsuit alleges that the law will "[subject] medical professionals and their patients to a highly regulated legal scheme that will delay access to potentially life saving medications," according to a news release from a law firm representing the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs include a physician, pharmacist, two reproductive rights advocates and New Orleans-based Birthmark Doula Collective, according to NBC News.
"The lawsuit also challenges the way Louisiana passed the law," the release said. "Anti-abortion politicians failed to follow Louisiana's constitutional process for passing bills, and that the law will increase the tax burden of Louisiana taxpayers like Nancy Davis and Kaitlyn Joshua," two of the plaintiffs.