Democratic Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards
*Image taken from https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jun/10/john-bel-edwards-democratic-louisiana-governor-pos/
Planned Parenthood Louisiana
Planned Parenthood of Louisiana is a combination of their Baton Rouge Health Center and New Orleans Health Center.
According to Planned Parenthood, in 2019, the US Supreme Court announced it will review the Louisiana Act 620 and find out if it is causing unnecessary abortion restrictions. If the court chooses to leave this law in place, it could ultimately risk the loss of women being able to access proper abortions. Louisiana would become the seventh state to have one safe clinic to obtain an abortion. Women who want abortions and are being forced to admit into a hospital was found to not help any woman’s treatment, only make the abortion harder to obtain. “77% of Americans say they do not want to see Roe overturned.” Women should be able to schedule an appointment with their clinic and get the healthcare they need within a week or two. Unnecessary abortion restrictions will only push women over the edge; with the stress of an unwanted pregnancy, making it difficult to stop the pregnancy will only affect their mental health in negative ways. It will not benefit the woman, the unborn child, or the government. “This year in nearly half the states, champions have pushed for bills that codify abortion rights into state law, repeal harmful policies that create barriers to care, and treat abortion as health care, not a crime.” Louisiana is striving for better healthcare.
The Louisiana Act 620 was passed in June of 2014. According to Oyez, a law project from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, it required ““that every physician who performs or induces an abortion shall ‘have active admitting privileges at a hospital that is located not further than thirty miles from the location at which the abortion is performed or induced.’”” While this law was being created, an almost identical law in Texas was being banned. The Texas law was found to have no benefit to the women and an unnecessary burden. Oyez states, “The district court made detailed findings of fact and determined that “admitting privileges also do not serve ‘any relevant credentialing function.’” The law was determined to cause nothing but problems and setbacks, making it more challenging for women to have abortions.
NCSL elaborates on the law as, “Louisiana’s Unsafe Abortion Protection Act requires physicians performing abortions to have admitting privileges, meaning they must be a member of the hospital in good standing able to perform surgery on patients, at a hospital not further than 30 miles from the abortion clinic.” The site states that health regulations are unconstitutional if their only goal is to delay or block a woman from receiving an abortion. The purpose of the law was intended to make abortions safer by having a hospital close and on standby if any complications were to arise during the procedure, but the almost identical Texas law found that this did not provide any more safety. With these new restrictions, clinics were forced to close, resulting in “fewer doctors, longer waiting times, and increased crowding.” The 5th circuit believed that if doctors put in enough effort, they would be able to gain admitting privileges. Only one of the five doctors who performed abortions received admitting privileges. “If Louisiana was down one doctor who performed abortions, the 5th Circuit concluded, no clinics would close and the other doctors who performed abortions in the state could absorb his capacity.” The Supreme Court stopped the law from going into effect while the litigation continued. Planned Parenthood points out that “a woman would have to drive up to 300 miles one way to obtain safe, legal abortion care.” Many of Louisiana’s neighboring states are enacting similar abortion restrictions. “With these same dangerous restrictions enacted in neighboring states, the United States is becoming a country where a woman’s ability to make personal medical decisions without interference from politicians will be dependent upon where she lives.” Politicians should not have this much control over a woman’s personal life and health.
In May of 2019, Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards signed a bill that banned abortion after a heartbeat has become detectable in the fetus. There are no exceptions for rape or incest. A heartbeat can occur as early as 6 weeks of pregnancy, when many women do not even realize they are pregnant yet. CNN states “The Louisiana law will go into effect only should a federal appeals court uphold a similar Mississippi law.” Many were surprised that a democratic governor was in support of this. The New York Times stated, “Today, Democrats rarely take public positions against any kind of abortion access and Republicans rarely take them in support. Louisiana has been an anomaly.” Planned Parenthood has hope that “women who need to end a pregnancy will eventually be able to rely on Planned Parenthood in Louisiana for safe, legal abortion.” Louisiana is working towards more available healthcare for women, so that they can feel safe when seeking an abortion.
By Elizabeth Sherlock
Blog Cycle 2 