Abortion Laws in Louisiana: Ban, Exceptions & Penalties

Abortion laws in Louisiana amount to a near-total ban: it is a felony to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy, and only a short list of medical exceptions allows the procedure legally. The ban took effect the day the U.S. Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022, activating a trigger law the legislature had already updated through Act 545.¹ The pregnant woman herself cannot be charged. Everyone else involved in performing or inducing an abortion can be.

What Is Banned and Who Can Be Charged

The statute is written broadly. It is unlawful for any person to perform an abortion, with or without the consent of the pregnant woman, from the earliest weeks of pregnancy through the end of term.¹ There is no gestational cutoff below which the procedure is permitted. There is no exception for rape or incest.

The law reaches “a physician or other person,” so someone who is not a licensed doctor faces the same criminal exposure as one who is. Contraceptives and emergency contraceptives are excluded from the definition of what the statute prohibits, and the pregnant woman is explicitly shielded from prosecution for having an abortion performed on her.¹

The Narrow Exceptions

Three situations fall outside the ban, and each is defined tightly.

Medical Emergency

A physician may perform an abortion when, in good faith, the procedure is necessary to prevent the pregnant woman’s death or to avoid substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function. The statute defines “medical emergency” as a physical condition only, excluding emotional, psychological, or mental conditions, and requires the physician to document the medical necessity in the patient’s record.²

Medically Futile Pregnancy

Abortion is permitted when the fetus has a condition incompatible with life outside the womb. The Louisiana Department of Health has published an exclusive list of 25 qualifying conditions, including anencephaly, trisomy 13, trisomy 18, bilateral renal agenesis, and thanatophoric dysplasia. A catch-all provision covers other profound and irremediable congenital or chromosomal anomalies incompatible with sustaining life after birth, but only if two Louisiana-licensed physicians certify the diagnosis.³ That two-physician requirement can delay care while a patient waits on a second confirming diagnosis.

Ectopic Pregnancy

Treating an ectopic pregnancy is not considered an abortion under Louisiana law. The statutory definitions specifically exclude the use of methotrexate for ectopic pregnancy from the definition of an “abortion-inducing drug,” and physicians providing that treatment are not subject to the ban’s penalties.⁴

Criminal Penalties for Performing an Abortion

Louisiana treats an illegal abortion as a serious felony carrying mandatory minimums. A first offense cannot be resolved with probation alone.

Under RS 14:87.7, performing an abortion carries imprisonment at hard labor for one to ten years and a fine of $10,000 to $100,000.¹
Under RS 14:87.8, a late-term abortion carries imprisonment at hard labor for one to fifteen years and a fine of $20,000 to $200,000.⁵

Healthcare providers face professional consequences on top of the criminal exposure. The Louisiana Department of Health can deny, refuse to renew, or revoke the license of any outpatient abortion facility that employs or contracts with someone who does not meet the law’s requirements.² Physicians have reported holding back on care in ambiguous emergencies because of the combined threat of prosecution and license loss.

Civil Lawsuits Under RS 9:2800.12

Louisiana also allows the mother of an unborn child to sue anyone who knowingly performs or substantially facilitates an abortion. Damages claims must be filed within five years of discovering the harm, with an absolute cutoff of ten years from the date of the procedure.⁶

Several parties cannot be sued under this statute: the woman herself, a healthcare provider licensed to practice medicine in Louisiana, and a Louisiana-licensed pharmacist or pharmacy acting within the scope of pharmacy regulations.⁶ In practice, the civil cause of action targets unlicensed individuals, out-of-state providers, and organizations that facilitate abortions. In-state licensed doctors and pharmacists face the criminal statutes instead.

Mifepristone and Misoprostol as Controlled Substances

Louisiana became the first state to classify the two medications commonly used for medication abortion as controlled dangerous substances. Act 246, effective October 1, 2024, added mifepristone and misoprostol to Schedule IV.⁷

Pharmacies and hospitals must store both drugs under lock and key, using the same protocols required for medications like benzodiazepines. Prescriptions require extra documentation from the prescribing physician and additional paperwork from the dispensing pharmacist. Some small community hospitals and rural doctor’s offices that are not set up to stock any controlled substances can no longer keep these medications on hand at all.

Misoprostol has uses that have nothing to do with abortion. Physicians prescribe it to prevent stomach ulcers in patients on anti-inflammatory medications and to manage postpartum hemorrhage. Patients who need it for those reasons now go through the same locked-storage and prescription requirements.

Knowingly possessing mifepristone or misoprostol without a valid prescription carries one to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.⁷ The law contains an explicit exception: a pregnant woman who possesses either drug for her own consumption does not violate the possession statute.

If a Legal Abortion Does Happen: Ultrasound and Waiting Period

Louisiana’s older procedural requirements are still on the books and would apply to any abortion performed under one of the exceptions. The physician must perform an obstetric ultrasound, position the screen so the patient can view it, make the fetal heartbeat audible if present, and give a spoken explanation of the location, dimensions, and cardiac activity of the fetus. The patient must be given the opportunity to ask questions.²

The default waiting period between the ultrasound and the procedure is 72 hours. It drops to 24 hours only for women who certify in writing that they live 150 miles or more from the nearest licensed outpatient abortion facility.² A medical emergency exempts the physician from both the ultrasound and the waiting period.

Emergency Rooms and EMTALA

The federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act obligates any hospital participating in Medicare, which is nearly every hospital in the country, to screen emergency-room patients and provide stabilizing treatment within the hospital’s capability. When the stabilizing treatment for a pregnant patient is termination of the pregnancy, EMTALA and Louisiana’s ban point in opposite directions.

The Supreme Court took up that conflict in Moyle v. United States, which challenged Idaho’s ban on EMTALA grounds. In June 2024 the Court dismissed the case without deciding the merits and sent it back to the lower courts, which reinstated a district-court injunction blocking Idaho from enforcing its ban in emergency situations while litigation continues.⁸

Federal guidance has moved back and forth. In July 2022 the Biden administration issued guidance saying EMTALA obligations include providing abortion as stabilizing treatment when medically necessary. In June 2025, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rescinded that guidance while writing to healthcare providers that “EMTALA continues to ensure pregnant women facing medical emergencies have access to stabilizing care.” No court ruling resolves the question for Louisiana. Physicians in the state’s emergency rooms are left to make split-second calls in a legal environment where the safest course is not clear.

Traveling Out of State for an Abortion

Louisiana’s abortion statutes do not penalize a resident for traveling to another state to obtain an abortion that is legal there.⁹ The pregnant woman is exempt from criminal liability under state law regardless. The closest states offering legal abortion vary depending on where in Louisiana a person lives; Illinois has no gestational limit for legal abortion, and several other states offer broader access.

Roughly 19 states have enacted shield laws as of early 2026. Those laws block out-of-state subpoenas and investigations, prevent arrest and extradition for abortion care that is legal in the shield state, and in some cases let people targeted by out-of-state civil suits countersue for damages. The practical barriers of cost, distance, and time off work remain the harder obstacles for many Louisiana residents.

1
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 14 87.7 – Abortion
2
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 40 1061.10 – Abortion by Physician; Determination of Viability; Ultrasound Test Required; Exceptions; Penalties
3
Louisiana Department of Health. List of Conditions That Shall Deem an Unborn Child Medically Futile
4
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 40 1061.1.1 – Definitions
5
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 14 87.8 – Late Term Abortion
6
Justia Law. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9-2800.12 – Liability for Unlawful Termination of a Pregnancy
7
Louisiana Department of Health. Memorandum and Guidance Regarding Act 246 of the 2024 Louisiana Regular Legislative Session
8
Supreme Court of the United States. Moyle v. United States, No. 23-726
9
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 40 1061 – Abortion; Prohibition