LOUISIANA ILLUMINATOR – A Texas lawmaker has filed a bill that would reclassify two drugs used for reproductive health as controlled substances, which would place further restrictions on their access.
The proposal mirrors a law in Louisiana that went into effect Oct. 1 that treats mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances in state law.
While the drugs are used in medication abortions, they have other applications such as treating life-threatening hemorrhaging. [Pregnancy is not a disease, therefore drugs that cause fetal death are not ‘medications.’ – HEADLINE HEALTH]
Texas state Rep.-elect Pat Curry, a Republican from Waco, has filed legislation, House Bill 1339, that is comparable to the Louisiana law. Some health care providers have criticized Louisiana’s measure over its stricter storage and documentation requirements. Physicians have said the additional steps could place patients’ lives at risk.
Both Louisiana and Texas have strict abortion bans in place. Both states bar the procedure in almost all instances.
The Texas Legislature convenes for its next lawmaking session Jan. 14.
Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed the new law, Act 246, in May, despite 270 doctors signing a letter against it. Mifepristone and misoprostol have been pulled off obstetric hemorrhage carts in hospitals and are now stored in passcode-protected cabinets outside of labor and delivery rooms.
Misoprostol is a pill often used to help prevent and treat post-delivery bleeding, especially for patients with hypertension or asthma who might have adverse side effects from using other hemorrhage medications usually administered with hypodermic needles or through an IV.
Doctors and pharmacists in Louisiana have scrambled to come up with postpartum hemorrhage protocols that comply with the law while still providing fast, life-saving care for women.
LCMC Health and Ochsner Health System, which own and operate hospitals throughout Louisiana, keep the drug in a large passcode-protected storage locker on their maternity units …
