INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana legislators on Tuesday removed a requirement that doctors prescribe a higher-than-usual dosage of the so-called abortion pill from a proposal aimed at tightening laws on how doctors administer the drug.
The state Senate deleted the bill's mandate that doctors follow federal Food and Drug Administration guidelines for RU-486. Doctors told a Senate committee last week that FDA guidelines issued in 2000 call for triple the dosage normally prescribed, which could lead to greater side effects.
Republican Sen. Travis Holdman of Markle, the bill's sponsor, said he agreed after talking with doctors that the FDA guidelines were outdated.
"Physicians are left to do as they have been doing," Holdman said of the changes to the bill.
The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to send the full bill to the House.
Provisions remaining in the bill require that a doctor working at an abortion clinic examine a woman in person before giving her RU-486 and schedule a follow-up ultrasound for her two weeks later. Doctors who don't follow those steps could face a misdemeanor criminal charge if the proposal becomes law.
