Criminalized Care: How Louisiana’s Abortion Bans Endanger Patients and Clinicians
To gauge the on-the-ground human rights impacts of escalating attacks on reproductive rights and bodily autonomy in Louisiana, Lift Louisiana, Physicians for Human Rights, Reproductive Health Impact, and the Center for Reproductive Rights conducted extensive fact finding in the state. Research teams conducted dozens of in-depth interviews with Louisiana clinicians and patients and held focus group discussions with community-based organizations involved in reproductive health care access in the state.
About the Report
The findings contained in the report, Criminalized Care: How Louisiana’s Abortion Bans Endanger Patients and Clinicians, are alarming: the research shows how Louisiana’s abortion bans violate federal law meant to protect patient access to emergency care, 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 their state.
The bans’ narrow and ill-defined exceptions create confusion, uncertainty, and fear for both pregnant patients and clinicians, who face significant professional, civil, and criminal penalties for providing the patient-centered and compassionate care they were trained for and could legally offer before Roe v. Wade was overturned. This research revealed that Louisiana’s abortion 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.
Impact Assessment
The following table summarizes the key impacts of the bans as identified in the research:
| Impact Category | Findings from the Research |
|---|---|
| Clinical Practice | Erode clinician’s ability to use their best medical judgment and create dual loyalty for clinicians. |
| Patient Access | Cause delays and denials of abortion care and postpone prenatal care. |
| Human Rights | Violate federal law and deny basic human rights to Louisianans seeking reproductive health care. |
| Equity | Disproportionately harm historically marginalized communities and groups in the state. |
Perspectives and Recommendations
In March 2024, Reproductive Health Impact, Lift Louisiana, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Physicians for Human Rights published findings from a months-long fact-finding project in Louisiana to document the human rights impacts of the state’s escalating attacks on reproductive rights and autonomy. To capture the full impact of Louisiana’s abortion bans on people seeking access to, as well as organizations advocating for, full spectrum reproductive health care, the organizations released a new report: Community Perspectives, Experiences, and Recommendations on Louisiana’s Abortion Bans.
The findings in this study draw from interviews with representatives from community-based organizations (CBOs) and Louisianans of reproductive age and are meant to complement those in Criminalized Care. Based on these findings, the report outlines specific recommendations to state and federal governments, Louisiana hospitals and health care professionals, medical associations, and international human rights mechanisms on how to address these harms.