Louisiana bill tightening reins on abortion pill ‘drug dealers’ goes to governor

A Louisiana bill that aims to stop illegal abortion pills from entering the state has passed both the House and Senate and now heads to the desk of Governor Jeff Landry for signature.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• The state legislation allows pregnant women to sue anyone who facilitates an abortion.

• The bill aims to stop abortion pills from being sent illegally into the state.

• Though nearly all preborn children are protected from abortion in Louisiana, the state has indicted a New York abortionist for mailing the abortion pill to a teen girl, who was injured as a result.

• The bill will become law unless Landry vetoes, which is unlikely.

THE DETAILS:

House Bill 575, the “Justice for Victims of Abortion Drug Dealers Act,” expands the window for which abortion lawsuits can be filed from three to five years, allowing the pregnant mother to sue “any person or entity … who knowingly performs or substantially facilitates an abortion with the intent to achieve that result.”

According to the legislation, “substantially facilitates” means “administering, prescribing, dispensing, distributing, selling, or coordinating the sale for an abortion-inducing drug to a person in this state.”

Rep. Julie Emerson, the bill’s co-sponsor, explained that its aim is to deter abortionists from sending abortion pills through the mail.

“When doctors and pharmacies realize that this is a thing in Louisiana and that they could be civilly liable, then they’ll stop sending them here,” she said.

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THE CONTEXT:

Though state law protects nearly all preborn children from abortion, the law aims to curtail situations where the abortion pill is being mailed illegally into the state.

As explained by Louisiana Right to Life, “HB 575 updates current Louisiana law that already provides the ability for a person hurt by abortion to file suit against the abortion industry to account for out-of-state drug dealers who illegally provide abortion pills in this state.”

Earlier this year, a Louisiana grand jury indicted New York abortionist Dr. Margaret Carpenter on felony charges after she mailed the abortion pill to a teen girl who suffered complications after undergoing the abortion procedure. The girl’s mother is also facing charges for ordering the pills.

Attorney General Liz Murrill announced last month that she is also investigating Carpenter for mailing abortion pills to a second woman in the state, who took the pills when she was 20 weeks pregnant — well past the FDA limit — and then threw the child’s lifeless body in the trash.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Murrill summed up her support of the bill when she testified in its favor last month. “It’s not safe; there is no medical care happening here,” she said of the abortion pill at the time. “These are not doctors providing health care. They are drug dealers.”

“Its not different if they were mailing fentanyl, or they were mailing any other illegal drug,” she added, “because it’s illegal to mail it to our state for purposes of procuring an abortion.”