Family members of an “unborn child” could sue abortion providers and medication manufacturers for illegal abortions under first-in-the nation legislation advancing in Louisiana.
The Senate Judiciary Committee last week advanced the House-passed Justice for Victims of Abortion Drug Dealers Act, which would keep the state at the forefront of a national battle over access to a two-drug combination — mifepristone and misoprostol — that accounts for the majority of abortions performed in the United States.
Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion groups said the bill would close a major loophole in the state’s abortion ban, as out-of-state providers have continued to prescribe abortion drugs via telehealth.
“We are looking for ways to send the message to the rest of the country to please not send these abortion-inducing drugs to this state,” Rep. Julie Emerson (R) said at a Senate committee hearing Wednesday. “They’re not legal here, and unfortunately not every state will hold their doctors accountable to the laws of other states.”
The proposal would allow the grandparents and the biological father to file a lawsuit for up to 10 years after an abortion was performed, or up to five years after learning about it. It would not allow mothers to be sued. It would exempt fathers and paternal grandparents if a pregnancy is found to be the result of a rape.
Opponents, including abortion rights groups, health care providers and advocates for victims of sexual assault said the measure would violate patients’ privacy, put pregnant patients at risk, and exacerbate an exodus of maternal health care providers from the state.
“If I am faced with the possibility of financial ruin, unnecessary litigation and wasted time in court costs or leaving the state to practice, I would choose to leave the state,” Jocelyn Wertz, an OB hospitalist, said at the Senate hearing.
“Legislation about financial responsibility and lawsuits has no place in that examination room and no place in our medical decision making,” Wertz added.
Bill sponsors said amendments added in the Senate would protect medical providers and maintain the privacy of patients’ legal records.
“I want to be clear that we’re not just talking about out-of-state doctors,” said Erica Inzina, policy director at Louisiana Right to Life. “We’re talking about a whole network of out-of-state actors, some of whom are purporting to practice medicine and obtain these pills through their prescriptive power, but many of whom are not actually doctors and are nothing more than prescription drug sellers at the request of a woman who just simply fills out a request online.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers mifepristone and misoprostol safe to use in a two-pill regimen to end a pregnancy within the first 10 weeks. Both drugs have other common uses, including treating high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, inducing labor, treating miscarriages, and preparing for IUD insertion.
President Trump has said that he will not restrict access to abortion medication, saying the issue should be left to the states. The administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court this month to throw out a lawsuit from three Republican-led states seeking to cut off telehealth access to mifepristone.
Louisiana classified mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances under a 2024 law that has become a template for legislation proposed in other states.
A Louisiana grand jury indicted a New York doctor earlier this year for violating the state’s abortion ban for prescribing abortion medication to a minor, whose mother was also indicted.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has rejected the extradition request, citing New York’s shield law protecting health care professionals from prosecution under abortion bans in other states. New York officials have also refused to cooperate with a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) against the same doctor, Margaret Carpenter.