Louisiana

New lawsuit challenges Louisiana's classification of abortion pills as 'controlled substances'

Published

3 weeks ago

November 1, 2024

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New lawsuit challenges Louisiana's classification of abortion pills as 'controlled substances'

The Summary

A new lawsuit challenges Louisiana’s classification of abortion medications as controlled dangerous substances.
The suit alleges that the law creates barriers for health care workers who need to administer the pills — which have other uses besides abortions — quickly in an emergency.
Louisiana bans most abortions, with limited exceptions.

A group of Louisiana health care providers and reproductive rights advocates are suing the state over a new law that classifies abortion pills as controlled dangerous substances.

The law went into effect a month ago and puts mifepristone and misoprostol — the two pills involved in a medication abortion — on Louisiana’s list of “Schedule IV” drugs. The category also includes certain stimulants, sedatives and opioids.

It’s the first time a state has classified abortion pills as controlled substances.

In Louisiana, abortion is largely banned, so the law has not had a major impact on abortion access. However, abortions are allowed in some exceptional circumstances, and doctors often prescribe mifepristone and misoprostol off-label to manage a miscarriage. Misoprostol on its own is approved, as well, to prevent stomach ulcers.

In Louisiana, classifying the medications as Schedule IV drugs means that doctors must have a special license to prescribe them and hospitals are required to store the pills in a secure location, according to Allison Zimmer, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. Anyone who possesses the medications without a prescription could face a fine of up to $5,000 and up to five years in jail. (The law includes a broad exception, however, for pregnant women who possess the medications for their own consumption.)

The new lawsuit, filed Thursday, alleges that the law could create barriers for health care workers who need to administer mifepristone and misoprostol quickly in an emergency, thereby delaying patients’ access to the pills and creating a risk of harm. The complaint also says the law discriminates against people who need the medications, since patients with similarly severe medical needs aren’t subject to the same delays if they need other drugs. It seeks to prevent the law from being enforced.

“What it will do is just make it more dangerous to be pregnant or to have a variety of physical conditions,” Zimmer said.

The plaintiffs include a doctor, pharmacist, two reproductive rights advocates and the Birthmark Doula Collective — a doula practice that advocates for pregnant people in Louisiana. It names the state, the attorney general, the board of pharmacy and the board of medical examiners as defendants.

“The law is supposed to prevent misuse of the medications, but the real aim is to make abortion harder to access,” said Nancy Davis, one of the two advocates who brought the suit.

According to the American College of Medical Toxicology, mifepristone and misoprostol do not meet the definition of a controlled substance. The association warned in September that labeling the pills as such was “not consistent with decades of scientific evidence” and set a dangerous precedent of “politicizing pharmaceutical regulation.”

But Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill maintained support for the law on Friday.

“I’m confident this law is constitutional. We will vigorously defend it,” Murrill said in a statement.

In Louisiana, abortions are allowed only in cases where a fetus is not expected to survive, or if ending a pregnancy could save a pregnant person’s life or prevent serious risk to their health.

Zimmer said the new classification for abortion pills is “an example of the state trying to demonstrate as much as possible that it is an anti-abortion state.”

The law came about as a response to a particular case in Texas involving Louisiana Sen. Thomas Pressly’s sister Catherine Herring, whose husband was accused of slipping abortion pills into her drinks. The baby survived, and Herring’s husband pleaded guilty to charges of injury to a child and assault of a pregnant person. The Louisiana law established a crime known as “coerced abortion” — intentionally giving a pregnant woman abortion pills without her knowledge or consent.

“Ms. Herring’s courageous testimony illustrated that easy access to these drugs can be dangerous to pregnant women and exposes women to the risks of coercion, abuse, and criminal behavior,” Murrill said in a statement.

When Pressly originally introduced the bill, it did not include a classification of abortion pills as controlled substances — that was added later as an amendment, which Pressly said at the time was another step “to control the rampant illegal distribution of abortion-inducing drugs that ended up hurting my sister.”

But the new lawsuit alleges that the amendment isn’t clearly connected to the original bill and suggests that the law should be struck down altogether. Zimmer said the amendment was added “very, very late in the legislative process, at such a late date that there wasn’t a public hearing.”

The lawsuit says that Davis and another plaintiff in the suit, Kaitlyn Joshua, did not get an opportunity to testify in front of lawmakers before the law passed.

Joshua, a 32-year-old Baton Rouge resident, said she was turned away from two emergency rooms in 2022 after she started miscarrying at around 11 weeks. She worries that the policy could lead more women in Louisiana — particularly Black women — to be denied care like she was.

“This current law I know is going to disproportionately affect women that look like me, that already live in maternal health care deserts,” Joshua said.

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Louisiana

Know the Foe: Gaining Louisiana Tech insight with BleedTechBlue

Published

5 hours ago

November 21, 2024

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Know the Foe: Gaining Louisiana Tech insight with BleedTechBlue

As we will do throughout this football season, HawgBeat went behind enemy lines to gain insight on the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs with BleedTechBlue Publisher Ben Carlisle.

Louisiana Tech has been on a bit of a roller-coaster this season, as it defeated a team like Western Kentucky (7-3 record) and nearly beat NC State on the road, but the Bulldogs lost Tulsa, FIU and Sam Houston.

Under Cumbie’s leadership, Louisiana Tech has accumulated a 10-24 (7-16 CUSA) overall record in three seasons. This year, the Bulldogs boast the No. 104 total offense (344.4 YPG) and No. 61 passing offense (232.2 YPG) in the country.

Here is what Carlisle had to say about Saturday’s matchup, which is set to kick off at 3 p.m. CT at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville…

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Louisiana

Louisiana lawmakers search for ways to pay for Landry’s proposed income tax cut • Louisiana Illuminator

Published

13 hours ago

November 21, 2024

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Louisiana lawmakers search for ways to pay for Landry’s proposed income tax cut • Louisiana Illuminator

Gov. Jeff Landry’s ambitious plan to overhaul Louisiana’s tax structure has largely been pared down to a more modest goal – cutting state income taxes.

Lawmakers are working on a way to make sure the state can pay for that desired tax reduction while not having to make damaging cuts to areas such as health care and higher education.

Options include raising the state sales tax rate higher than it is now, retaining a higher corporate income tax rate than proposed or settling on an income tax cut that is smaller than Landry originally pitched weeks ago.

The governor wanted to move to a flat personal income tax rate of 3% – the highest rate currently is 4.25% – but it will cost the state more than $1 billion annually. Landry’s income tax plan also leaves the state approximately $700 million short of what is needed to cover the costs of government, according to senators.

Through his Revenue Secretary Richard Nelson, the governor had originally crafted a proposal that would exchange a broader base of tax collections for lower personal income and corporate taxes. Nelson said Louisiana would be able to pay for across-the-board personal income and corporate tax rate cuts totaling billions of dollars as long as the state scrapped generous business tax breaks and applied the sales tax to a greater range of products.

The governor has struggled to get lawmakers to fully embrace the trade off, however.

Legislators have eagerly voted for bills to cut corporate and personal income taxes but stalled on proposals to help make up for that lost revenue.

Landry’s tax package started to unravel last week when the Louisiana House of Representatives refused to vote for legislation that would extend the sales tax to more services, such as lawn care, home repair and dog grooming.

“Obviously, the services bill in its original form was a little over $500 million, which would equate to about a half a point on the personal income tax,” House Speaker Phillip Devillier, R-Eunice, said.

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This week, the Senate declined to fully roll back some of the state’s expensive business incentive programs, such as its movie and television tax credits and historic preservation tax breaks that collectively cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

A plan to eliminate a state inventory tax credit, which covers taxes businesses pay to local governments, has been delayed until 2026, and a proposal to increase a tax on heavy machinery and equipment used by industrial employers has also been scrapped.

If he doesn’t find a way to make up for that money, Landry runs the risk of revisiting the same political problems that plagued former Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Jindal also cut income taxes without replacing the lost revenue or finding a permanent way to cut government spending. His policy led to chronic budget problems for years and made the former governor deeply unpopular when he left office.

Senate leaders appear to be pushing for a higher state sales tax rate to help fill the hole left by the personal income tax cut.

It was scheduled to automatically drop from 4.45% to 4% in July, though Landry had already pitched keeping the extra 0.45% permanently as a way to cover the corporate and personal income tax reductions. Now, lawmakers are considering an even higher rate to cover the state’s expenses; 5% has been floated for a few days.

“This isn’t a tax-lowering session. This is a tax-reorganization session,” Rep. Michael Echols, R-Monroe, said Wednesday.

Louisiana already has one of the highest average sales tax rates in the country, and that levy is a larger burden on poor people who have to pay the same rate as the wealthy. Very low-income households don’t pay income tax and won’t necessarily see benefits from cuts Landry and lawmakers make in that arena.

“As soon as you start to increase the sales tax more, the plan becomes more regressive,” said Rep. Matthew Willard, D-New Orleans, leader of the House Democratic Caucus.

Several Republicans and Democrats in the House also weren’t enthusiastic about the sales tax portion of the original tax plan and might not want to vote for a 5% rate. A bill to keep the state sales tax at 4.4% barely passed the House, with just two votes to spare last week.

“That would be the top number we need for sales,” Sen. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge said Wednesday morning. “We don’t necessarily have the votes to do that yet. We need to get a tally of where things stand.”

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Lafayette Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, head of the Senate Democratic Caucus, said his party doesn’t want a higher sales tax rate, but Democrats also fear government programs they champion, like social services, will be targeted if they don’t support the proposal.

“We want to make sure the things that are important to us will be funded, right?” Boudreaux said Wednesday before he and other Democratic senators headed off to a meeting with Landry.

Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, was bullish on the legislators’ willingness to raise the sales tax to 5%.

“I think it can get there. It’s an easier path for that than it is for broadening the base,” he said.

If lawmakers aren’t willing to raise the sales tax more, legislators could look to retain more of the current corporate income tax rate, but they’ve already pulled back on an original plan to cut that tax dramatically.

Landry initially pitched replacing the graduated corporate tax rate that tops out at 7.5% with a flat 3%. But the senators moved that levy back up to 6% earlier this week to claw back some revenue. A further increase might be unlikely given pressure from business lobbyists.

Corporate taxes are also a notoriously unstable source of tax revenue. In part because sizable tax credits can be applied in any budget cycle, corporate tax collections have ranged from $193 million to $1.6 billion annually over the past 10 years, according to the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana.

Legislators could also increase the personal income tax rate from 3% but seem very reluctant to do so. If it does go up, they would try to keep it to a small adjustment, like up to 3.1% or 3.2%.

“My belief is the personal income tax will, probably will, stay at 3(%),” said Foil, who heads the Senate committee that oversees tax policy.

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Louisiana

Arkansas vs. Louisiana Tech: Star comparison, PFF grades, season stats

Published

20 hours ago

November 20, 2024

Press Room

Arkansas vs. Louisiana Tech: Star comparison, PFF grades, season stats

The Arkansas Razorbacks (5-5, 3-4 SEC) will look to secure bowl eligibility Saturday against Louisiana Tech (4-6, 3-4 CUSA) at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

Hailing from Ruston, Louisiana, the Bulldogs will bring the nation’s No. 12 total defense with them to Fayetteville fresh off an upset win over Western Kentucky, which was leading the Conference USA standings prior to last Saturday.

“We’re catching them when I think they’re playing their best football,” Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said Monday. “They deliver some problems. The structure of their defense. They’re a 3-3-5 but it’s different because they have a robber, a rover — a guy basically who’s hard to get to to block. Who is a really, really good player. The (Kolbe) Fields kid.

“So offensively, they’re running the ball a lot better than they have all year. Not throwing it quite as much as what they did earlier in the year. Bu the transfer from Coffeyville (Omiri Wiggins) is a hard runner. Their line is playing well. They’ve got a lot of speed at wideout. So I think they’re going to come in with a lot of confidence, obviously, after their win last week. We’re excited to have them here and on senior day for us. But we know that was a big win for them last week and they’ll come in with a lot of confidence I’m sure.”

Arkansas is statistically better than the Bulldogs in generally every major offensive category, but the Louisiana Tech defense is stingy. Former Razorback Zach Zimos has logged nearly 500 snaps on the year at linebacker, which is a position he switched to after being a safety with the Razorbacks.

“He’d hit you,” Pittman said. “When he hit you, you got stuck. Certainly playing a different position than we had him here. But I like Zach, I always have. I’m happy for him. I think he’s one of the leaders over there. He’s played a lot of ball. I’m just really happy for him and he’s doing a good job. He’ll hit you, now, so we’ll have to figure that out.”

The Razorbacks will be trying to bounce back from a 20-10 loss to Texas that set them back to a .500 record on the season. A win over the Bulldogs would make Arkansas bowl eligible after the Hogs missed the postseason last year.

“This game, winning, if we can win, it will allow us to play not just another one but another one after that,” Pittman said. “And we just have to continue to improve. So I think that’s what we’ll talk about a little bit more than even what Louisiana Tech has been able to do lately.”

HawgBeat has also compared both teams’ grades from Pro Football Focus, which is a football analytics website that provides grades for each individual player and full teams after analyzing each game for all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. Grades are given from 0-100, with the higher the grade signifying better performance.

Here’s a look at how both teams stack up based on stats from this year and high school star ratings:

Offense

Louisiana Tech || Arkansas

Scoring: 21.9 (109th) | 30.7 (45th)

Total yards: 344.4 (104th) | 458.3 (11th)

Passing: 232.2 (61st) | 278.0 (20th)

Rushing: 112.2 (115th) | 180.3 (80th)

Third downs: 41.7% (57th) | 47.3% (15th)

Sacks allowed/game: 3.3 (122nd) | 3.1 (117th)

Turnovers: 19 (118th) | 17 (98th)

Defense

Louisiana Tech || Arkansas