Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill is accusing the media, political organizations, candidates and pro-abortion organizations of creating “confusion and doubt” about the state’s anti-abortion laws.
In a September 17 statement, the Republican AG said nothing in Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban or a new law regarding certain abortion drugs “stands in the way of a doctor providing care that stabilizes and treats emergency conditions.”
Murrill issued her statement a day before New Orleans City Council members likely will begin looking into a new law to restrict two common pregnancy medications – mifepristone and misoprostol – that also can induce abortions. The new law, known as Act 246 set to go into effect October 1, would reclassify the drugs as Schedule IV Controlled Dangerous Substances.
“Certain members of the media, political organizations and candidates, and pro-abortion organizations have attempted to sow confusion and doubt regarding our laws to further their own financial and/or political agendas,” Murrill said Tuesday. “These organizations profit from misinformation they perpetuate. …
“This legislation does not limit a healthcare provider’s ability to use, prescribe, or fill these medications for legitimate health purposes nor does it impose restrictive burdens on access for emergency purposes.”
Murrill says providers who follow regulations concerning scheduled drugs “will not have exposure to fines, adverse licensing actions or prosecution.” She says the Louisiana Department of Health gives hospitals and other providers dealing with emergent situations, such as a miscarriage or bleeding, maximum flexibility to access these medications if they are needed.
“The guidance is clear that ‘securing’ the medications need not impede access as long as the provider has adequate policies to ensure the drugs are safely and responsibly stored and accounted for,” Murrill said. “The intent of Louisiana’s pro-life law is to protect unborn babies from elective abortion. The treatment of conditions such as an ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage care do not fall within the legal definition of abortion, which requires an intent to terminate a viable pregnancy where no other exceptions apply.
“Additionally, Louisiana law does not define the termination of a medically futile pregnancy, as diagnosed by two qualified doctors exercising reasonable medical judgment, as abortion.”
She said the laws do not restrict “qualified, ethical doctors” from caring for mothers and their babies.
“Louisiana laws and regulations ensure, expect, and empower physicians to use reasonable medical judgment to care for pregnant women – including those facing emergencies, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, and fetal abnormalities,” Murrill said. “And to be clear: nothing in Louisiana laws stands in the way of a doctor providing care that stabilizes and treats emergency conditions. Any statements to the contrary are flatly incorrect. Any hospital or doctor at any hospital or emergency room who refuses to treat and stabilize a woman having a miscarriage or suffering with an ectopic pregnancy could be committing both medical malpractice and violating federal law. Louisiana law should not be read as requiring hospital or emergency room staff to refuse such emergency care.”
Murrill said her office never will seek to criminalize the conduct of a doctor using reasonable medical judgment within the confines of the law who, to the extent possible, endeavors to care for both mothers and babies.
“Doctors, in fact, have been doing their best to do so for decades,” she said. “Louisiana law specifically identifies actions that are not considered a prohibited abortion when performed by a physician. In summary, a physician only violates the law if he or she intentionally takes action to terminate a pregnancy knowing that it will likely cause the death of the unborn child and when that action does not otherwise meet the definition of permissible procedures.
“The law is not violated if intentional medical treatment accidentally or unintentionally causes the death of an unborn child or if the physician performs an act in good faith that is not considered an abortion under the law.”
Still, Murrill says misoprostol and mifepristone should only be used under the care of a licensed healthcare provider and with a valid prescription, adding that the use of the two drugs to induce an elective abortion has been prohibited in Louisiana since 2022.
Murrill also lists medical procedures that are not prohibited. That includes the removal of a deceased unborn child or the inducement or delivery of the uterine contents in case of a positive diagnosis that the pregnancy has ended or is in the unavoidable and untreatable process of ending due to spontaneous miscarriage, also known in medical terminology as spontaneous abortion, missed abortion, inevitable abortion, incomplete abortion or septic abortion.
Also, the termination of a pregnancy is not prohibited when a physician determines it is necessary to protect the life of the pregnant mother.
Murrill also says the refusal of a hospital to treat a woman presenting with emergent conditions could violate the federal Emergency Treatment and Active Labor Act, adding that treating, stabilizing and referring to the woman’s regular provider does not violate that law.
She also says the removal of an ectopic pregnancy through surgery or the use of methotrexate is legal and not considered a prohibited abortion. And because a molar pregnancy threatens the life of a mother, it also is not prohibited in those circumstances and because “the removal of an unborn child who is deemed to be medically futile” is not a prohibited abortion.
Murrill also says the law does not prohibit prescribing, selling, filling prescriptions for or using a “contraceptive device, measure, drug, chemical, or product” according to the manufacturer’s instructions before a pregnancy can be clinically diagnosed.
“My office is not aware of a single Louisiana doctor who has declined emergency care,” Murrill said.