How States’ Moves to Call Abortion Drugs ‘Controlled Substances’ Can Make Childbirth More Dangerous and Interfere With Legal, Safe and Necessary Healthcare
May 26, 2026 | Source: The Conversation | by , , and
The number of abortions in the U.S. rose by 21% between 2020 and 2025 – despite the fact that 20 states have passed laws banning or severely restricting abortion care, overturned the constitutional right to abortion.
The increase is largely due to the growing adoption of medication abortion and the use of telehealth. States that have banned or limited abortion are seeking to disrupt the trend.
Louisiana, for example, sued the federal government to block doctors nationally from prescribing mifepristone, one of the two drugs used for abortion in the U.S., via telehealth. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on May 14, 2026, that providers could continue dispensing the medication via telehealth, for now.
Another, lesser-known strategy that states are using is to restrict drugs that can be used for an abortion, even if they also have other uses. In 2024, Louisiana passed Act 246, the first state law to classify mifepristone and misoprostol, the second drug used for medication abortion, as controlled substances. The controlled substances designation had previously been reserved for drugs like Xanax and fentanyl, drugs that can be abused.