Health Care
Louisiana lawmakers pass bill suggesting ‘abortion reversal’ is possible
Louisiana lawmakers approved a bill that would require medical professionals to tell a woman using medication to terminate a pregnancy that her pregnancy might still be viable if she only takes one of the two abortion pills she’s prescribed. There is no verified scientific evidence to support such an assertion. Gov. John Bel Edwards still […]
Louisiana may require medical staff to suggest ‘abortion reversal’ is possible
Louisiana lawmakers are close to approving a new law that would require medical professionals to tell a woman using medication to terminate a pregnancy that her pregnancy might still be viable if she only takes one of the two abortion pills she’s prescribed. There is no verified scientific evidence to support such an assertion. The […]
Louisiana Senate scuttles post-pregnancy Medicaid extension
The Louisiana Senate Finance Committee killed legislation Thursday that would have allowed people who were pregnant to stay on Medicaid for a year postpartum. The federal government would have had to sign off on the approval before it went into effect. Currently, people who use Medicaid during their pregnancy lose their health care coverage two […]
In five years, 786 people died in Louisiana’s jails and prisons, a new report finds
As a law professor in Louisiana, the state that leads the country and world in the percentage of residents it incarcerates, Andrea Armstrong of Loyola University New Orleans College of Law had a question: How many people are dying in Louisiana’s jails and prisons? Armstrong, a national expert on prison and jail conditions, couldn’t answer […]
Louisiana won’t legalize recreational marijuana this year
The push to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Louisiana died Tuesday, when the Louisiana House rejected legislation to tax recreational marijuana. The proposed tax needed 70 House votes — two-thirds of the chamber — to pass. It only got 47 votes. After the tax bill failed, Rep. Richard Nelson, R-Mandeville, shelved a second, separate […]
Louisiana may look at changing medical release for sick, dying incarcerated people — again
A lawmaker wants the state to put together a commission to study Louisiana’s policies related to the release of incarcerated people who are sick and dying in prison — just three years after the Legislature voted to tighten the rules on those same releases. The Louisiana House will have to approve the measure before it […]
Nothing but racism explains Black women’s higher rate of horrible birth stories | Jarvis DeBerry
Tatyana Ali, who starred as Ashley Banks on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” from 1990 to 1996, entered Harvard the next year where she double majored in government and African-American studies. In 2016, Ali and her husband, an English professor at Stanford, welcomed their first child, but only after mother and baby were roughly treated […]
Heartbreaking stories of Black maternal deaths, pregnancy complications, racism related at hearing
WASHINGTON — When U.S. Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri was pregnant with her first child, Zion, she saw a sign in her doctor’s office encouraging her to speak up about anything unusual she was feeling. She did so, telling her physician that she was having severe pains, but her concerns were swiftly dismissed. The doctor […]
Senator pulls bill that would have imposed health care restrictions for transgender youth
Sen. Mike Fesi, R-Houma, pulled his legislation Wednesday that would have restricted health care access for transgender children and teenagers by requiring people under 18 years old to get written permission from both their parents before pursuing medical care and mental health services based on their gender identity. This means that Fesi’s proposal is no […]
Will Louisiana fully legalize marijuana? 10 things to know about the debate
The Louisiana Legislature took a major step toward fully legalizing marijuana products for recreational use when — for the first time that anyone can remember — a legislative committee sent a bill to fully legalize marijuana to the House for consideration. The House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice voted 7-5 Tuesday for legislation […]
John Bel Edwards opposes bills with transgender restrictions
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards opposes four bills introduced by lawmakers that would impose restrictions on transgender people. The governor said he would hope the lawmakers will kill the legislation, and indicated he would likely veto the proposals if they made it to his desk. “I am really concerned about emotionally fragile people and the […]
‘We all deserve to keep our children’: Grieving grandmother calls attention to state’s high infant, maternal mortality rates
Argarette Weatherspoon-Collins told the Louisiana Senate Committee on Health and Welfare Wednesday that her daughter Jessica, then 6 months pregnant, went to see a doctor in March 2020 and when she was turned away because her insurance had just lapsed, went to an emergency room where her blood pressure registered 280/190. Twenty minutes later, Weatherspoon-Collins […]