2019 Mississippi Code
Title 41 - Public Health
Chapter 41 - Surgical or Medical Procedures; Consents
Women’s Health Defense Act of 2013
§ 41-41-107. Providing or prescribing abortion-inducing drug prohibited unless provided or prescribed by physician; requirements for physicians
(1) It shall be unlawful to knowingly give, sell, dispense, administer or otherwise provide or prescribe any abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant woman for the purpose of inducing an abortion in that pregnant woman, or enabling another person to induce an abortion in a pregnant woman, unless the person who gives, sells, dispenses, administers or otherwise provides or prescribes the abortion-inducing drug is a physician, and the provision or prescription of the abortion-inducing drug satisfies the standard of care.
(2) Because the failure and complications from medical abortion increase with increasing gestational age, because the physical symptoms of medical abortion can be identical to the symptoms of ectopic pregnancy, and because abortion-inducing drugs do not treat ectopic pregnancies but rather are contraindicated in ectopic pregnancies, the physician giving, selling, dispensing, administering or otherwise providing or prescribing the abortion-inducing drug must first physically examine the woman and document in the woman’s medical chart the gestational age and intrauterine location of the pregnancy before giving, selling, dispensing, administering or otherwise providing or prescribing the abortion-inducing drug.
(3) When any drug or chemical is used for the purpose of inducing an abortion, the drug or chemical must be administered in the same room and in the physical presence of the physician who gave, sold, dispensed or otherwise provided or prescribed the drug or chemical to the patient.
(4) Every pregnant woman to whom a physician gives, sells, dispenses, administers or otherwise provides or prescribes any abortion-inducing drug shall be provided with a copy of the drug’s final printed label or FPL.
(5) If the physician giving, selling, dispensing, administering or otherwise providing or prescribing any abortion-inducing drug is unable to provide follow-up care, the physician must have a signed contract with a physician who agrees to provide follow-up care and produce that signed contract if requested by the patient or by the department. The contract shall include the name and contact information of the follow-up physician. The contract follow-up physician must have active hospital admitting privileges and gynecological/surgical privileges.
(6) The physician giving, selling, dispensing, administering or otherwise providing or prescribing any abortion-inducing drug, or an agent of the physician, must schedule a follow-up visit for the woman at approximately fourteen (14) days after administration of the abortion-inducing drug to provide treatment that meets the standard of care.
