Louisiana
Harris campaign reacts to Louisiana hospitals pulling life-saving drug from post-delivery access • Louisiana Illuminator
The campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has waded into Louisiana’s reproductive health debate, criticizing Republican Donald Trump for restrictive policies that states have approved since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed its stance on legal abortion in 2022.
“Let’s be clear: Donald Trump is the reason Louisiana women who are suffering from miscarriages or bleeding out after birth can no longer receive the critical care they would have received before Trump overturned Roe,” Harris-Walz spokeswoman Sarafina Chitika said in a statement to the Illuminator.
“Because of Trump, doctors are scrambling to find solutions to save their patients and are left at the whims of politicians who think they know better,” she added. “Trump is proud of what he’s done. He brags about it. And if he wins, he will threaten to bring the crisis he created for Louisiana women to all 50 states.”
Chitika’s comments came after the Illuminator reported earlier Tuesday that Louisiana hospitals are preparing to remove misoprostol from their obstetric hemorrhage carts now that the medicine has been reclassified as a controlled dangerous substance. The new law goes into effect on Oct. 1, and health care providers are scrambling to come up with new protocols for a medication they have relied upon to save women with life-threatening hemorrhages after delivery.
Misoprostol is prescribed for a number of medical reasons, one of which is to prevent and treat postpartum hemorrhaging. A new Louisiana law reclassifying the medicine as a Schedule IV drug has introduced extra barriers for access because controlled substances have different storage and prescription requirements.
The drug, along with mifepristone, is being targeted because it is also used for abortion. Gov. Jeff Landry signed the law in May, despite more than 200 doctors sending him a letter of concern that the law could have unintended medical consequences.
Doctors grapple with how to save women’s lives amid ‘confusion and angst’ over new Louisiana law
Misoprostol will still be available in Louisiana hospitals, but it won’t be able to be easily accessible on the rolling carts and in-room kits that OB-GYNs typically use if a patient starts bleeding profusely after childbirth. This could mean a delay in care. Some hospitals have already started preemptively removing the medication from their obstetric carts.
“We’re trying to fix something that is not broken and that is absolutely safe,” said Dr. Stacey Holman, division director for Touro Infirmary’s maternal child services. “It’s an unnecessary barrier and really critical to the regular everyday care that we provide to our patients.”
In August, 50 Louisiana doctors signed a letter requesting the Louisiana Department of Health and Surgeon General Ralph Abraham provide guidance on the use of misoprostol in the inpatient setting. “This is a nationally recognized guideline to emergently treat life-threatening postpartum hemorrhage and it is critical that providers are aware and have access to medication without delay,” the doctors wrote.
Louisiana has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, and Black women are disproportionately affected. Seventy-five percent of the state’s rural hospitals don’t have maternity care. The Illuminator spoke with a physician who treats pregnant women at a rural hospital in northwestern Louisiana who was shocked to hear misoprostol was being reclassified as a controlled dangerous substance.
“What? That’s terrifying,” the doctor said. “Take it off the carts? That’s death. That’s a matter of life or death.”
The physician said she uses misoprostol as one of the first drugs to treat hemorrhages because it is easily accessible, doesn’t require syringes or IV access, and has fewer side effects for women with high risk pregnancies.
Other politicians and reproductive health activists have weighed in since the Illuminator published its report on Louisiana’s new law.
Starting 10/1, mifepristone and misoprostol – two drugs used for medication abortion – will become controlled, dangerous substances in Louisiana.
This political move will have dangerous consequences for pregnancy care.
H/t @lorenaoneil & @IlluminatorLAhttps://t.co/kwEvwtc3tq
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) September 3, 2024
Misoprostol can be a *lifesaving* medication. Women are at risk of emergency hysterectomies and even death if it’s not administered promptly.
Trump’s Supreme Court overturned Roe, and now look where we are.
Miso isn’t dangerous — Republicans’ stance on abortion is. https://t.co/L3HiOJ1fY4
— Senator Tina Smith (@SenTinaSmith) September 3, 2024
Restricting a lifesaving drug isn’t just extreme, it’s preventing doctors from doing their job.
Women deserve better. Doctors deserve better. Americans deserve better.
We can’t let such dangerous measures become the norm. https://t.co/lrScSyUpwU
— Rep. Diana DeGette (@RepDianaDeGette) September 3, 2024
MAGA abortion bans put all pregnant women in danger. One in three American women have had their reproductive freedom stripped away by Trump’s friends, and this is the future that #Project2025 will bring to every state. We won’t go back. https://t.co/R17se0WIqD
— Michigan Democrats (@MichiganDems) September 3, 2024
Louisiana
DHS watchdog finds use-of-force issues and safety and sanitation concerns at Louisiana ICE center
A Department of Homeland Security watchdog report revealed that staff members at an ICE detention center in Louisiana used a prohibited chokehold to “gain control” of a person being held there and stabbed another in the hand with a pen when an officer could not close the door to a housing unit.
The newly released findings about Winn Correctional Center in central Louisiana follow the DHS inspector general’s review of video of the use-of-force incidents as part of an unannounced facility inspection. The report, which was published on the DHS website, also noted that the officer who stabbed the detainee with a pen was disciplined.
FORSUBSCRIBERS
02:55
Why an ICE detention center in New Jersey has sparked protests
Staff members failed to maintain safe and sanitary conditions, the report says, noting leaking vents and ceilings with insulation falling through. Staff members used napkins and Styrofoam containers to collect the water from the leaks, according to the report.
Scrutiny of conditions inside ICE detention centers that house more than 60,000 detainees has been growing.
Earlier Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended his agency’s detention standards on Capitol Hill amid complaints about ICE’s Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. That center has been the site of frequent protests.
Rep. Tim Kennedy, D-N.Y., accused Mullin of leaving detainees without food or medical care.
Mullin rejected the claims. “You can say all you want, but don’t accuse me of something that’s not accurate,” he said.
The inspector general made nine recommendations, ranging from environmental health and safety standards to proper handling of use-of-force incidents and maintaining food service standards.
ICE is working to address all of the issues, including by providing additional staff training, a spokesperson for the agency said.
“These minor infractions included failing to provide detainees exercise equipment, record keeping errors and leaking vents. Another infraction included providing a shared computer for legal research that would allow other detainees to see other detainees’ case information,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for DHS said the report shows that the facility complies with detention standards.
“ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens,” the spokesperson said.
Winn Correctional is one of the largest ICE detention centers in the country, housing more than 1,500 men. It opened in 1990, and ICE took it over from the state in 2019.
The report was produced after an unannounced inspection by the DHS inspector general, whose office recently got an infusion of $20 million and plans to boost its inspections from four to six per year to potentially as many as 40 to 60.
ICE lists 70% of the 1,500 detainees at Winn as having “No ICE threat level,” meaning they do not have violent criminal histories.
Winn is an hour north of Alexandria, which is one of four hubs for ICE deportation flights around the country.
METAIRIE, La. (WVUE) – Louisiana insurance officials will hold a press conference Wednesday to acknowledge the retirement of bonds issued after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple and Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation leadership will provide an update on the state-backed insurer as hurricane season begins.
The press conference is scheduled for 1 p.m.
See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.
Subscribe to the Fox 8 YouTube channel.
Copyright 2026 WVUE. All rights reserved.
CALVIN, La. (WVUE) – A small community in north-central Louisiana is working to preserve an important piece of its history.
During the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps put young men to work replanting by hand the state’s only national forest.
The tiny community of Calvin, tucked away in the resulting pine forest, holds only a few other remaining crumbling clues of that work, as Dave McNamara finds in the Heart of Louisiana.
For more, visit the Heart of Louisiana archive here.
See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.
Subscribe to the Fox 8 YouTube channel.
Copyright 2026 WVUE. All rights reserved.
-
Dallas, TX1 minute agoWings’ top pick Azzi Fudd hosts clinic as Cash App donates to Dallas nonprofit
-
Miami, FL8 minutes agoPatients left scrambling for care after Miami-Dade woman accused of operating an unlicensed surgery recovery center
-
Boston, MA11 minutes agoClover plans to reopen some locations after sudden closure, thanks to an anonymous investor
-
Denver, CO16 minutes agoNew report finds Denver metro home buyers and sellers experiencing ‘unattainability fatigue’
-
Seattle, WA23 minutes agoSeattle mayor grilled over public safety, affordability, CCTV
-
San Diego, CA26 minutes agoAutomated license plate readers and public surveillance cameras are coming to Imperial Beach
-
Milwaukee, WI31 minutes agoFriends, family gather to remember gunshot victim Pepe Sikisi-Belle Jr.
-
Atlanta, GA38 minutes agoAs FIFA World Cup nears, some MARTA riders raise safety concerns after recent attacks on transit system
