The Quickie: Louisiana Lawmakers Fail to Protect Survivors, Again

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: Louisiana lawmakers fail to protect survivors, federal judge pushes back on AL’s AG threats, and a new study shows links to abortion restrictions and higher risk of intimate partner violence.

LOUISIANA LAWMAKERS FAIL TO PROTECT SURVIVORS, AGAIN: On Tuesday, the Louisiana House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee rejected bills that would have added rape and incest exceptions in the state’s abortion ban and clarified treatment for pregnant patients with dangerous health conditions under the law. This is the second year in a row that bills to provide some relief from the state’s abortion ban were rejected by state lawmakers.

“Louisiana lawmakers have once again failed their constituents by rejecting legislation aimed at mitigating the harm of the state's total abortion ban for the second time in two years,” Petrice Sams-Abiodun, PhD, vice president of Strategic Partnerships at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast said in a statement. ”Despite overwhelming support from Louisianans, lawmakers continue to disregard the will of their constituents and prioritize their extreme political agendas over the health and well-being of the people they were elected to serve. At no point in pregnancy is a politician more qualified to make personal medical decisions than an individual and their doctor, yet this body has the audacity to think they know better, even when confronted with all the data to the contrary.”

A recent report from Lift Louisiana examines the impact of the state’s abortion bans and shows that the bans “erode clinician’s ability to use their best medical judgment to treat patients, cause delays and denials of abortion care, postpone prenatal care, and create dual loyalty for clinicians who must navigate their duty to patients and fear of criminalization.” 

Read more in AP.

FEDERAL JUDGE ALLOWS SUIT TO CONTINUE AGAINST ALABAMA AG’s PROSECUTION THREATS: This week, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson rejected the state’s attempt to dismiss two challenges to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s threats to prosecute anyone helping Alabamians leave to state to get an abortion. These lawsuits were brought forth by the ACLU, The Lawyering Project, and abortion funds and providers in Alabama who, as a result of these threats, were to stop providing information and practical assistance to patients attempting to leave the state to obtain abortions in states where abortion remains legal.

“Alabama can no more restrict people from going to, say, California to engage in what is lawful there than California can restrict people from coming to Alabama to do what is lawful here…Travel is valuable precisely because it allows us to pursue opportunities available elsewhere,” Judge Thompson wrote in his opinion. Alison Mollman, legal director of the ACLU of Alabama, said this ruling “brings us one step closer to ensuring that healthcare providers can fulfill their ethical duties to their patients and to establishing that pregnant Alabamians can access comprehensive information about their legal healthcare options”.

Read more in CNN.

NEW STUDY SHOWS ABORTION RESTRICTIONS LINKED TO HIGHER RISK OF INTIMATE PARTNER HOMICIDE: A new study from scientists at Tulane University revealed that pregnant women in anti-abortion states are more likely to face intimate partner homicide. Homicide is the leading cause of death among pregnant and postpartum women in America. Researchers found that Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws studied are linked to a 3.4% increase in the rate of intimate partner violence-related homicides. 

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: the consequences of restricting abortion reach far beyond abortion. The health and safety of our communities depend on allowing everyone to access sexual and reproductive health care. 

Read more in Salon and The Guardian.