The Louisiana state legislature passed a bill criminalizing the provision of abortion drugs from out-of-state providers to Louisiana residents and making those providers legally liable.
The bill, called by its sponsor Lauren Ventrella the “Justice for Victims of Abortion Drug Dealers Act,” currently sits on Governor Jeff Landry’s desk waiting to be signed into law.
The bill states: “Any person or entity who performs, causes, or substantially facilitates an abortion is liable to the mother of the unborn child and those persons… regardless of whether the abortion resulted in the death of the unborn child.”
The other victims mentioned in the bill include the following:
“The natural or biological father of the unborn child except when the father impregnated the mother of the unborn child through an act of rape, sexual assault, or incest. The maternal and paternal grandparents of the unborn child. The legal custodian of the mother of the unborn child if the mother was a minor at the time the abortion was caused, performed, or attempted.”
The bill further defines “unborn child” as the “unborn offspring of human beings from the moment of conception through pregnancy and until termination of the pregnancy.”
Critics of the bill argue that it is unnecessary given the strict abortion laws in Louisiana. In 2024, Louisiana lawmakers designated the abortion drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, as “controlled dangerous substances.”
“It baffles me how year after year, after these (anti-abortion) organizations have gotten everything that they wanted — they got Roe overturned, trigger laws took effect and don’t even think about getting an abortion in the state of Louisiana, but here we go again,” State Senator Royce Duplessis told The Associated Press. “We have to send another message.”
