Over the past decade, Louisiana hospitals began stocking specialized carts designed to treat hemorrhages, one of the most common pregnancy complications in the state. The plug-in cart can be wheeled from room to room and holds surgical tools and lifesaving medications to stem blood loss.
A state law passed in 2024 forced hospitals to remove a key drug — misoprostol — from the medical cart and keep it locked in a secure room designated for controlled substances.
For physicians like New Orleans obstetrician-gynecologist Nicole Freehill, misoprostol is the go-to medication to treat hemorrhages. The drug is uniquely cheap, safe, and shelf-stable, she said.
But it’s also the second in a two-pill procedure that millions of people have used to have medical abortions. Because of that use, Louisiana lawmakers reclassified misoprostol as a controlled substance, a category typically reserved for addictive drugs.
Now, physicians like her have gone from reaching over to the cart to grab misoprostol to waiting at least two minutes while a nurse sprints to retrieve the medication, Freehill said.
