Something is rotten in the state of Louisiana
Louisiana is not a great place to get pregnant. If you need an abortion, this means an almost total ban it is almost impossible to get one, even in cases of rape or incest – anyone who performs an abortion that is considered illegal can go to jail for 15 years. And if you’re planning to have a child, you’re dealing with some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the U.S. Although, as Senator Bill Cassidy says helpfully noted, “If you adjust our population by race, we are not as big an outlier as it might otherwise seem.” In other words, if you ignore the black population (a third of his voters), things look a little better. So that’s okay then!
This week, Louisiana decided to descend further into dystopia and passed a law making abortion pills a controlled substance. Senate Bill 276 makes possession of the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol without a prescription punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Republicans excel at using it secretly tactics to undermine our rights, and this bill is no exception. When it was originally brought up, you see, the bill did not include the amendment that converts abortion pills to Schedule IV drugs — a classification normally given to dangerous or addictive substances. The bill was previously positioned as a way to protect pregnant people by making it a crime to intentionally give an abortion-inducing drug to a pregnant woman without her consent. Everyone can get behind that idea, right?
There was also an emotional story behind the legislation that made it easy to sell. Senator Thomas Pressly, the bill’s author, explained that his sister, Catherine Herring, had been prescribed the abortion pill by her soon-to-be ex-husband. Several media outlets have said that Haring subsequently managed to save the baby through a “process for reversing medical abortion”. For example, KTBS, a Louisiana media company, reported that Herring was “on a pill reversal program and her baby is still alive.”
I’m sorry… what? I’m not a doctor, but this story sounds medically unlikely. Sara Pentlicky, who is a doctor (a gynecologist) and an abortion provider told me pretty much the same thing.
“If (Herring) took abortion pills and was still pregnant with a baby, the only explanation is that the pills didn’t work, which is a possibility,” Pentlicky said as I ran the scenario past her. However, there are she notes, organizations that “prescribe progesterone to people who have taken abortion pills with the false information that this can reverse the abortion with medication.” The New York Attorney General is currently taking tough action against these organizations, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said the procedures are “unproven and unethical.” They are also dangerous: a recent research into the effects of progesterone on people who had taken mifepristone was stopped after “the third bleeding”.
To be clear, I’m not saying Pressly is lying about what his sister, Herring’s husband, went through pleaded guilty for injuring a child and assaulting a pregnant person and was sentenced to six months in prison. But it feels rather like Pressly deployed elements of his sister’s story to position a regressive law as a way to women. At least that’s how it’s being defended following a backlash against the law. On Friday, for example, Landry tweeted that safety was the motivation behind the bill. “Proud to stand with our legislature to ensure this drug can be obtained legally and safely – ensuring the protection of all women. Without this bill, women and the unborn would be more vulnerable to predators,” Landry said.
Let’s be very clear about this: this is not about protecting women at all. Rather, the point is to make abortion pills in Louisiana even harder to obtain than they already are. More than 200 doctors in Louisiana have done so signed a letter to lawmakers warning that reclassification could create a “barrier to physicians’ ability to prescribe appropriate treatment” and cause unnecessary fear and confusion among patients and physicians. Of course, that’s exactly what anti-abortion activists want.
Perhaps the most depressing aspect of all this is that it’s almost certain that Louisiana has just set a dangerous new trend. As Pentlicky notes, “Every time a state succeeds in passing any form of abortion restriction, we see other states follow suit—it just becomes more and more egregious.”
In short, expect Louisiana’s crackdown on abortion pills to reach a red reading in your area soon.
Texas doctor who said nine-year-olds can now give birth safely joins maternal mortality committee
It looks like Texas is giving Louisiana a run for its money when it comes to the worst US state to be in for women.
British teacher charged with hate crime for calling Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman ‘coconuts’
Marieha Hussein has been charged with a racially aggravated public order offense for a placard at a pro-Palestinian demonstration that mocked the British Prime Minister and former Home Secretary by portraying them as coconuts. It’s fair to debate whether the term ‘coconut’ (used in British ethnic minority communities to describe someone who is brown on the outside and white on the inside) is offensive, but criminalizing a brown woman because she used this to criticize two brown politicians who have backed their support. The racist policies are outrageous. Let’s not forget that Sunak wants to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, and during her time as Home Secretary, Braverman introduced dystopian anti-protest legislation that has just been branded illegal and undemocratic. I can think of a lot worse things to call the pair than “coconuts.” This feels a lot like yet another way of doing it punishing pro-Palestinian statements.
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What does Donald Trump think about contraception?
On Tuesday, Trump suggested he would be open to limiting access to contraception policy on this “very soon”. After many alarmed headlines, he announced on Truth Social: “I DO NOT SUPPORT A BAN ON BIRTH CONTROL.” The all-caps do not make this certainty any more convincing.
There’s a New Reality TV Dating Show Called ‘Virgin Island’
You can guess exactly what Virgin Island is about from the name. In other abstinence news, celibacy is currently very popular. And if President Trump bans birth control, I imagine it will become even more popular.
Epidural delivery during labor can reduce the risk of serious complications by 35%
A new study suggests that expanding access to epidurals, especially among women who give birth prematurely, could improve maternal health.
Nicola Coughlan shows that you don’t have to sacrifice your morals for success
I’m happy to see the Bridgerton actor (who got her big break in the amazing Derry Girls) going from strength to strength. Unlike many other celebrities, the 37-year-old is not a coward fake baby: the self-made actor has consistently spoken out about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, despite warning that he is calling for a a ceasefire could damage her career. Take that in for a moment, will you? We live in a world where the call for… ceasefire in the middle of one genocide can damage your career. In the meantime, Amy Schumerthe self-proclaimed “most successful female comedian of all time,” has made outrageously racist statements about Palestinians without any consequences for her career.
The week in the paw triarchy
Have you seen a cute creature with a bandit face along the way? Then it’s time to call 1-800-BAD-RACOON! Tokyo is currently at war with its raccoon population, which has spiraled out of control after a 1970s TV show allegedly led to people importing the animals and keeping them as pets. Now they’ve gone from pets to pests, and hotlines have started in certain parts of the city for people to call and report naughty raccoons.