On Thursday, elected officials in the conservative state of Louisiana, located in the south of the United States, definitively approved a bill criminalizing the possession of abortion pills without a prescription. Passed by the Louisiana Senate and House, the text classifies abortion pills as dangerous substances. This is a first in the country. This decision above all puts an end to a long tragic series which began last year. The new law should be quickly signed into law by Republican Governor Jeff Landry.
The bill places mifepristone and misoprostol, widely used for abortion, on the same level as Valium and Xanax. Thus, possessing these pills without having a prescription will, in the future, be punishable by prison sentences and several thousand dollars in fines. The text, however, exempts approved doctors from prosecution, as well as pregnant women if they had this medicine for their own use.
Unacceptable legislation
Before the adoption of the text by Louisiana elected officials, Vice-President Kamala Harris described this proposal as “unacceptable”. “Let’s be clear: it’s because of Donald Trump,” she added. According to her and many observers in the country, the former president is at the origin of the reversal of the Supreme Court on abortion in 2022. Following this change of position, several states with a Republican majority have banned or restricted the right to abortions. Louisiana is one of them since the state banned almost all abortions there the same year.