Dear Governor Landry, Attorney General Murrill, and Honorable Members of the Louisiana Legislature,

Since the Dobbs decision in 2022, Louisiana has completely banned abortion care with very narrow exceptions under threat of up to 15 years in prison and $200,000 in fines. A new report on the impacts of Louisiana’s restrictive and punitive abortion policies contains alarming findings that these laws violate federal law meant to protect patients, disregard evidence-based public health guidance, degrade long-standing medical ethical standards, and, worst of all, deny basic human rights to Louisianans seeking reproductive health care in our state.

The study revealed that the bans’ narrow and ill-defined exceptions create confusion, uncertainty, and fear for both pregnant patients and clinicians, actively deteriorating the quality of prenatal and miscarriage care across the state. These policies have negative impacts on public health writ large, with a disproportionate impact on historically marginalized communities and groups in the state.

In light of these findings, we urge Louisiana you to move immediately to adopt the following policy recommendations included in the report.

To the Louisiana Executive Branch:

1) Governor Landry should:
Support the enactment of legislation that protects reproductive health care in the state; veto legislation that would further restrict access to reproductive health care, including abortion access; and adopt executive orders to ensure such care can be provided and received without fear of investigation, harassment, or civil or criminal penalties.

2) Attorney General Murrill should protect abortion care in the state and use her authority to decline to prosecute abortion-related charges.

3) The Louisiana Department of Health should adopt policies that expand Louisianians’ access to health care and engage with clinicians, hospitals, medical colleges, and medical associations to understand and address the impacts of abortion bans on Louisiana’s public health and health care system.

To the Louisiana Legislature:

1) Repeal Louisiana’s abortion bans, as well as all other restrictive laws and regulations that effectively obstruct access to abortion in the state. This includes enacting legislation that would:

Decriminalize abortion and remove professional, civil, and criminal penalties for health care workers who provide abortion care to patients; repeal laws that could be used to prosecute or penalize people for having an abortion, including a self-managed abortion, assisting another person to access abortion care, or for pregnancy outcomes; remove all medically unnecessary requirements for provision of abortion care, such as mandatory waiting periods and biased counseling; and amend and adopt legislation to ensure access to the full spectrum of sexual and reproductive health care, including comprehensive sexual health education, contraception, abortion, maternal health care, and perinatal mental health care without discrimination.

This includes:
Refering a constitutional amendment to affirm the right of every Louisianan to make and carry out their own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions about abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and continuing their pregnancy; addressing the state’s maternal mortality and morbidity crisis by enacting laws and policies that increase access to prenatal, peri-partum, and postpartum care for historically marginalized communities and those disproportionately impacted by maternal mortality and morbidity, including through regulatory and funding measures that facilitate access to and coordination between nurse midwives and surgical centers; investing in full-spectrum health care centers and providers, including birthing centers and birth workers, who are committed to the reproductive justice framework and offer care in chronically underserved areas, particularly rural and low-income communities; enacting Medicaid reforms that would expand access to full spectrum reproductive health care, including contraception, abortion, pregnancy, and postpartum care; and taking steps to address social determinants of health that contribute to health inequities in maternal mortality and morbidity—such as unequal access to income, nutrition, housing, clean water, healthy environments, transportation, paid family and medical leave, and affordable childcare.

We urge you to sieze the opportunity to proactively change policy to address the harm they have caused and work to restore the quality of healthcare and human rights to people in our state.

Respectfully,