La. leaders respond to Supreme Court decision on abortion pill

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - On June 13, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the abortion pill mifepristone, meaning the pill will stay on the market.

The ruling came two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The court found unanimously that the group of anti-abortion doctors who questioned the FDA’s decisions making it easier to access the pill did not have legal standing to sue.

We got reaction from some of our leaders here in Louisiana.

“The court did not weigh in on the merits of the case, but the fact remains this is a high-risk drug that ends the life of an unborn child,” U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said.

Cassidy urged the FDA to “follow the law and reinstate important safeguards.”

“Louisiana state law is not contingent on what the U.S. Supreme Court decided today, and the ruling only emphasizes the state’s need to act. Any assertion that the FDA did nothing wrong or that their approval was indeed valid is erroneous,” said Sarah Zagorski with Louisiana Right to Life.

Abortion is effectively banned altogether in 14 states, including Louisiana.

Mifepristone is used as part of a two-drug FDA-approved regimen that is now the most common form of abortion in the United States.

Though the ruling allows Mifepristone to remain available, there are some questions about how it will be applied in Louisiana.

Last month, state legislators passed a law placing Mifepristone and Misoprostol into the state’s controlled substances act as Schedule IV drugs.

State Sen. Thomas Pressly (R-Shreveport), who authored the bill, said the Supreme Court’s ruling will not have an impact on our state because our law does not outright ban the drugs.

“There shouldn’t be an effect at all for legitimate healthcare purposes. There will be an effect for bad actors trying to use these drugs for coercion and forcing a woman to have an abortion or do so without her knowledge and certainly cannot have these medications. Just like you couldn’t prior to this legislation passing without a prescription,” he said.

The Louisiana law will go into effect on Oct. 1.