Criminalizing Reproduction: Attacks on science, medicine and the right to choose..."Despite evidence of safety and effectiveness, the Louisiana State House voted Tuesday to classify two common abortion medications as controlled substances, HuffPost reports. (Crime and Justice News… The Louisiana bill comes as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs a case that could severely scale back access to mifepristone, though a majority of justices appeared skeptical of the lawsuit’s merits when they heard the case in March."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  "In recent years, I have taken on the  theme of criminalizing reproduction - a natural theme for a Blog concerned with  flawed science in its myriad forms  - as I am utterly opposed to the current movement in the United States (and some other countries) emboldened by the overturning of Roe Versus Wade,  towards imprisoning women and their physicians and others who help them secure a safe abortion,  on the basis of sham science (or any other basis). I can’t remember the source, but agree  totally with the sentiment that control over their reproductive lives is far too important to women in America - or anywhere else -  so they can  participate  equally in the economic and social life of their nations without fear for  loss their freedom at the hands of political opportunists and fanatics. (Far too many of those those around these days.) 

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration are the most common method of terminating pregnancy.  In 2023, the Guttmacher Institute found that medications accounted for 63% of all abortions in the United States.  Democrat state Rep. Mandie Landry (no relation to Gov. Landry) argued against the bill Tuesday, saying the sudden need to treat the drugs as dangerous substances is absurd.  She noted the drugs have numerous other medical uses that have nothing to do with abortion. “This is used for ulcers, miscarriage. It’s to induce labor. It’s for postpartum hemorrhaging. If you get an IUD, it might help with that,” she listed.  Classifying drugs under the state’s Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law also requires them to be addictive, she noted ― something mifepristone and misoprostol are certainly not. "

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STORY: " Louisiana House Criminalizes Abortion Pill Possession," published by Crime and Justice News, on May 22, 2024.

GIST: "Despite evidence of safety and effectiveness, the Louisiana State House voted Tuesday to classify two common abortion medications as controlled substances, HuffPost reports. 

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The medications, mifepristone and misoprostol, are already illegal to use for abortions in Louisiana, where the procedure has been outlawed since the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022. But the legislation the House passed Tuesday would make possession of the medications without a valid prescription punishable by up to five years in prison. 

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The medications, mifepristone and misoprostol, are already illegal to use for abortions in Louisiana, where the procedure has been outlawed since the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

 But the legislation the House passed Tuesday would make possession of the medications without a valid prescription punishable by up to five years in prison. 

The proposed law, the first of its kind nationally, passed 64-29 and now goes to the state’s Republican-controlled Senate.

 If it passes there, it will move on to Gov. Jeff Landry (R), who is expected to sign it. 

The drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration are the most common method of terminating pregnancy. 

In 2023, the Guttmacher Institute found that medications accounted for 63% of all abortions in the United States. 

Democrat state Rep. Mandie Landry (no relation to Gov. Landry) argued against the bill Tuesday, saying the sudden need to treat the drugs as dangerous substances is absurd. 

She noted the drugs have numerous other medical uses that have nothing to do with abortion. “This is used for ulcers, miscarriage. It’s to induce labor. It’s for postpartum hemorrhaging. If you get an IUD, it might help with that,” she listed. 

Classifying drugs under the state’s Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law also requires them to be addictive, she noted ― something mifepristone and misoprostol are certainly not. 

The Louisiana bill comes as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs a case that could severely scale back access to mifepristone, though a majority of justices appeared skeptical of the lawsuit’s merits when they heard the case in March. "

The entire story can be read at:

louisiana-house-criminalizes-abortion-pill-possession

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.

SEE BREAKDOWN OF  SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG,  AT THE LINK BELOW:  HL:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985

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FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:

David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.

https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801

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