Louisiana may soon become the first state in the country to pass a bill adding two common abortion pills to the state’s list of controlled dangerous substances, leading individuals who are caught with the drugs and lack authorization to potentially face years in prison.

Like the rest of the US deep south, Louisiana already bans almost all abortions. But recently, when a house committee in the Republican-controlled legislature debated a bill to ban people from performing abortions on people without their consent, lawmakers added an amendment to reclassify mifepristone and misoprostol, the two drugs typically used in medication abortions, as Schedule IV drugs.

Under that amendment, a woman who obtains the drugs “for her own consumption” would not face penalties, but anyone who possesses them without a prescription or outside of normal medical practice could. In Louisiana, people who possess Schedule IV drugs can face up to five years in prison, while people who produce, distribute or intend to distribute such drugs can be sentenced to up to 10 years in […]