A Louisiana bill that would let family members sue medical providers and drug manufacturers over suspected abortions passed a House committee on Monday, despite pushback from doctors, pharmacists and reproductive rights advocates who fear it could leave providers open to frivolous lawsuits — even from family members of rapists.
The bill, HB 575, comes as anti-abortion groups and politicians look for ways to block Louisiana women from obtaining abortion medications through the mail. Rep. Lauren Ventrella (R-Greenwell Springs), the bill’s lead author, credited Louisiana Right to Life for inspiring the legislation during a House Civil Law and Procedure committee hearing earlier this week. The bill passed the committee 8-2.
It would let “the mother of the unborn child,” her parents, the man who impregnated her or his parents sue anyone they believe caused or “substantially” facilitated an illegal abortion — including by prescribing, dispensing, or even manufacturing any quote “abortion inducing drug,” regardless of whether an abortion actually occurred.
“It allows us to hold these people who prescribe the drug liable for civil damages, to dissuade and hopefully prevent this conduct from happening,” Ventrella said.
Out-of-state doctors who prescribe abortion medications through the mail are not licensed to practice in Louisiana, said Erica Inzina, Louisiana Right to Life’s policy director.
“We feel like the women and families of Louisiana deserve better, and when they are harmed by these terrible practices, they deserve to be made whole,” Inzina said.
Critics of the bill include the Louisiana State Medical Society (LSMS), which represents 4,000 physicians, residents and physicians-in-training statewide, and the Louisiana Alliance of Retail Pharmacies, which includes Walmart, Walgreens, Kroger and Albertsons pharmacies, among others.
The bill could spur lawsuits over legal health care from suspicious family members and force health care providers to defend themselves in court, Maria Bowen, vice president of governmental affairs for the LSMS, said during Monday’s committee hearing.
Attorney General Liz Murrill testified in favor of the bill, calling it “another tool in the toolbox” for prosecutors targeting out-of-state physicians who mail abortion medication to women in Louisiana, despite Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban.
Murrill also announced her office is investigating a second case involving a New York doctor who was indicted for sending abortion pills to Louisiana earlier this year. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul refused the extradition request for Dr. Margaret Carpenter, citing the state’s shield law that protects abortion providers.
But it’s unclear what impact the bill would have on out-of-state abortion providers. Many shield laws protect against both criminal and civil liability, including New York’s. Texas already tried to sue Carpenter, and a county clerk in New York blocked the case from proceeding, citing New York law and saying she would refuse any similar filings.
Reproductive rights and maternal health advocates also spoke against the bill, arguing it could worsen maternal health by making physicians and pharmacists more fearful to provide legal health care that could be misconstrued as an abortion. Two drugs used to cause an abortion — mifepristone and misoprostol — are used to treat postpartum hemorrhages, miscarriages, and for other reproductive health care and non-reproductive health treatments, including for ulcers.
“It absolutely could worsen that fear mongering, that is already in place and prevent the appropriate management of situations like spontaneous miscarriages, ectopic pregnancy, all these things where patients need attention and need medical care to prevent hemorrhage, to prevent infections, to prevent other complications,” Dr. Nicole Freehill, a New Orleans OBGYN, told WWNO/WRKF.
Bowen said the term “abortion-inducing drug” was so vague that it could encompass all drugs that are known to cause miscarriages, like Xanax, and leave providers who prescribe them open to civil lawsuits.
The bill would bar the use of medical review panels in these lawsuits. The panels consist of a group of experts that review the facts of a malpractice claim before it goes to trial. That could leave doctors even more vulnerable to false claims, Bowen said. It’s unclear if medical malpractice insurance would cover that liability if, say, a mother-in-law became suspicious, she added.
“She may not know what happened to that pregnancy and just decide to sue the physician and others involved, simply as a fishing expedition,” Bowen testified.
Advocates for sexual assault survivors also oppose the bill. Although it would not let a rapist sue over a suspected abortion, it would let his parents sue, said Morgan Lamandre, the CEO of Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response (STAR).
Another anti-abortion bill, HB425 by Republican Rep. Josh Carlson, would expand the definition of a criminal coerced abortion to include kidnapping, extortion and false imprisonment.
Both bills await a House floor vote. If passed, they head to the Senate.
