A doctor can prescribe any approved drug for any reason. So it seems to me there’s no issue with this.
To a certain extent. A dermatologist prescribing long courses of OxyContin invites scrutiny
Doctors are subject to State law, if State law expressly forbids prescribing medication to facilitate abortions, you would be inviting a ton of legal trouble as a prescriber to challenge that law.
If a state decided to crack down on such things, I would imagine there are ways of finding doctors who prescribe, say, misoprostol or mifepristone. Could a state proactively demand records of all patients prescribed such medication. to ensure those patients have been diagnosed with other conditions that warrant their use? Both are legitimately used for other conditions. If a doctor writes a scrip for the two, for a patient without the non-pregnancy-related issues, s/he could be in big trouble.
Sure. This is a significant part of how the state and federal governments are attempting to enforce the regulations on opioid prescribing. They obtain patient files and look at whether or not the opioid prescriptions (commencement, duration, dosage) are supported by the files. Taking action against prescribers issuing fraudulent or illegitimate in the context of abortion would really just be an extension of a pretty familiar investigatory approach.
One caveat is that the enforcement tools of state law enforcement may be limited. Federal investigators (DEA and HHS/OIG mostly) have very broad authority to demand the production of documents. I don’t know if a state investigator has similar subpoena power, or whether they need a warrant (which probably needs more than simply the fact that this prescriber prescribed a particular medication).
Wondering why you’re being coy here. What organizations?
Methinks that there may be some question as to the legality of shipping pharmaceuticals from overseas to circumvent laws in the the location in which the recipient lives. Getting more detailed could easily run afoul of forum rules about discussing/promoting/enabling illegal activities, even if the people involved believe it to be for a good cause and the right thing to do.
Certainly some states may currently lack laws giving those states’ regulators the authority they need to obtain records.
But for a legislature hell-bent on preventing the use of these meds, altering their laws to give the state regulators the power, and even beefing them up with budget and headcount to conduct widespread regular trawls through the records seems pretty darn easy.