Louisiana
Louisiana fertility clinic selects patients for free IVF treatment to become parents
Alexia Carey, a 37-year-old social worker, spends her days being the “state mom” for many men, both young and old trying to find their way in the correctional setting.
Carey specializes in crisis and individual counseling at a corrections facility in Baton Rouge for 10 years. She views her patients as her family — her kids. But, she wants to start a family of her own.
Alexia Carey, a 37-year-old single aspiring parent in Baton Rouge, wins grant for free IVF treatment from Fertility Answers.
After years of failed relationships and missing “Mr. Right,” the Mandeville native decided she wanted to pursue single motherhood.
“I don’t know that it’s ever the goal to be alone in single parenting,” Carey said. “But as women, we are sometimes left with a choice: Do we decide we want kids, or do we continue to pursue a relationship with the potential of not having kids?”
In 2020, Carey decided to take her commitment to single parenthood seriously. She sought out a fertility clinic in Baton Rouge, found a sperm donor and scheduled an appointment for intrauterine insemination.
But, when the first session of insemination with a sperm donor did not result in pregnancy, then the next five attempts did not take either, Carey had to take a step back to review her options.
Her doctors recommended that she apply for a Louisiana-based IVF grant program.
Gift of Hope
Fertility Answers, a fertility clinic with full-service clinics in Baton Rouge and Lafayette, was founded in 2002.
The clinic was approached by a national fertility network after Hurricane Katrina to donate fertility treatments to those in need. However, the national service was going to take the donation patients outside of the state. Fertility Answers saw this as an opening to start something similar for Louisianans.
In 2006, Fertility Answers created the Gift of Hope IVF grant program to help infertile couples and hopeful parents overcome financial and emotional barriers to build their families.
The grant: a free in vitro fertilization cycle.
Unfortunately, many who struggle with infertility cannot afford IVF treatments as it is normally an out-of-pocket expense that insurance does not cover.
To apply for the free in vitro fertilization cycle grant, applicants must meet certain criteria — a specific financial status, IVF compatibility assessed by clinicians and access to prenatal care if pregnancy occurs.
Then, an independent board chooses the winners.
In 2024, Carey was announced as one of the 2024 grant recipients to receive IVF treatments.
Carey started her IVF cycle in August and will continue the steps toward single parenthood this year.
“It’s an exciting and also a nerve-wracking process,” Carey said. “It really is a privilege.”
How the treatment works
Infertility is a reproductive disease defined by the failure to get pregnant after a year of trying. According to the World Health Organization, 1 in 6 people globally suffer from infertility — about 6.7 million people. In the United States, according to research published by the National Institutes of Health, about 9% of men and about 11% of women of reproductive age have experienced fertility problems.
In the U.S., pinpointing the infertility issue is divided into three parts:
- In one-third of infertile couples, the problem is with the man.
- In one-third of infertile couples, the problem can’t be identified or is with both the man and woman.
- In one-third of infertile couples, the problem is with the woman.
Studies suggest that after one year of having unprotected sex, 12% to 15% of couples are unable to conceive, and after two years, 10% of couples still have not had a live-born baby. In couples younger than age 30 who are generally healthy, 40% to 60% can conceive in the first three months of trying.
In the IVF treatment, patients go through six steps:
- Ovulation induction. Patients start a daily injection of hormones that stimulate the growth of ovarian follicles — sacs in the ovaries that have the potential to release an egg. In a normal cycle, ovaries will “call-up recruits” each month and send hormones to those follicles to make them mature. Only one will become an egg each month. The additional prescribed hormones tell the ovaries to not only mature one, but a whole bunch of follicles.
- Egg retrieval. After the ovaries have produced several eggs, a doctor will perform an egg retrieval procedure. The patient is put to sleep, and the doctor retrieves the egg follicles through an ultrasound procedure.
- Fertilization. After egg retrieval, the mature eggs will be combined with a partner’s sperm — or in Alexia’s case, donor sperm — in the fertility lab. An embryologist then monitors the growing embryo for five to six days — not all embryos will make it.
- Genetic testing. The fertility clinic will take a few cells on the outside of the embryo (the outer cells that will become the placenta) and send them to a genetics lab. The test is to see if those cells contain the right number of chromosomes — the biggest cause of failure in insemination, according to Fertility Answers.
- Embryo transfer and preservation. After the embryo has been fertilized and tested, the embryo will be transferred back to the patient’s uterus. If the fertilization process yields more than one fertilized embryo, patients can freeze, or cryopreserve, additional embryos.
- Pregnancy test. The physician will order a pregnancy test about 2 weeks after the embryo transfer.
Not all IVF treatments, even the IVF grants, result in pregnancy. Since its launch, the Gift of Hope grant program has awarded 29 couples and patients with IVF treatment — and 13 babies.
Happy results
Sarah and David Basham met at Central Private School in Central, when they were 14 and 15 years old. They have been together ever since.
When the pair got married, they started to try for a baby. In that process, Sarah learned that she had PCOS — an ovarian condition that interferes with normal ovulation and increases the difficulty in achieving pregnancy.
After insemination did not work for the couple, they began to save up for IVF treatment. In 2023, on Sarah Basham’s birthday, the couple received the call that they were awarded the Gift of Hope IVF grant.
Sarah and Daniel Basham with their twins, Audrey and Eloise, after their birth in June of 2024 in Baton Rouge, La.
“I literally just went around the house crying,” she said of the moment they got the grant. “It has definitely been the best birthday present I’ve ever received.”
Sarah Basham’s IVF cycle resulted in 57 fertilized eggs with 23 of them passing genetic testing. When the embryo was transferred to her in December 2023, it split into two — twins.
The Bashams gave birth to two baby girls in June, Audrey and Eloise.
BATON ROUGE, La. (KNOE) – Louisiana State Police introduced two new k-9 officers Wednesday.
K-9 Billy and K-9 Rossy, German shorthair pointers specially trained in explosives detection, will serve LSP in the Capitol detail, LSP said in a Facebook post.
DPS Corporal Harold Conner and DPS Senior Officer Adrienne Colson will be their handlers. Both recently earned their national police K-9 certifications after completing weeks of intensive training, LSP said.
The teams will support security operations during special events, dignitary visits, sporting events and other high-profile events across the Capitol Complex, LSP said.
Copyright 2026 KNOE. All rights reserved.
More than half of Louisiana’s WIC clinics failed to meet required outreach standards, most operated only during traditional business hours, and the state ranked last in the nation for participation in the federal nutrition program, according to a performance audit by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.
The analysis found the Louisiana Department of Health did not adequately oversee outreach efforts intended to connect eligible women, infants and children with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly known as WIC.
Auditors concluded stronger oversight, expanded clinic access and improved community outreach could increase participation among families eligible for the federally funded program.
The audit also found Louisiana returned approximately $111.6 million in unused federal WIC food benefits to the U.S. Department of Agriculture between federal fiscal years 2021 and 2024 because eligible participants did not redeem them. The benefits were federal funds, not state taxpayer dollars.
During federal fiscal year 2024, about 92,000 people participated in Louisiana’s WIC program even though an estimated 196,000 residents were eligible, placing the state last nationally for participation.
State policy requires every WIC clinic to conduct at least one outreach activity each month to raise awareness of the program among eligible residents. However, auditors found 56 of Louisiana’s 100 WIC clinics failed to report meeting that requirement during federal fiscal year 2025, up from 51 clinics the previous year.
The audit also found weaknesses in the department’s oversight. Although the department said it reviews clinic outreach reports and issues findings when clinics fail to comply, auditors determined it identified only four of the 56 clinics that failed to meet the monthly outreach requirement.
According to the audit, the department generally reviews outreach activities only during comprehensive evaluations, which state policy requires for at least 20% of clinics each year, rather than reviewing reports submitted by every clinic.
Auditors also found clinics lacked clear guidance on what qualified as outreach. They reviewed 3,780 outreach activities reported during federal fiscal years 2024 and 2025 and found 328 were not consistent with the department’s outreach goals.
Examples included answering telephone calls, donating unused infant formula and processing prescription formula requests for participants already enrolled in the program rather than activities intended to reach eligible families who were not participating.
Access to services presented another challenge. Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates 77% of WIC households nationally include working families, 81 of Louisiana’s 100 WIC clinics operate only between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Just 19 clinics offer appointments outside those hours, and only two provide weekend appointments. The department’s own 2024 WIC Participant Satisfaction Survey found that 275 of 518 complaints, or 53.1%, involved appointment availability.
The audit also found Louisiana has limited alternatives for residents who cannot easily travel to a clinic. While at least 11 states use mobile WIC clinics or other approaches to deliver services outside traditional offices, Louisiana operates one mobile clinic that serves Barksdale Air Force Base. Auditors identified several communities, including Vinton, Raceland, Kaplan, Jeanerette and Mandeville, where large numbers of lower-income residents live more than 10 miles from the nearest WIC clinic.
In addition to recommending expanded mobile services, auditors said the department should increase off-site appointments in the community and strengthen partnerships with home visiting programs that can help enroll eligible mothers and children. The report noted other states have used community-based appointments to increase enrollment and said Louisiana could build on its existing partnership with the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program to help families enroll outside traditional clinic settings.
Survey results included in the audit suggest personal connections often played a larger role in enrollment than clinic outreach. Among 424 current WIC participants surveyed, 63.7% said family or friends encouraged them to enroll, while 42.7% said a medical professional encouraged them.
To improve participation, auditors recommended the department review outreach reports from every clinic each month, provide clearer guidance on acceptable outreach activities, expand appointment availability outside traditional business hours, increase mobile and off-site services, and continue developing partnerships that help enroll families in community settings.
The Louisiana Department of Health agreed with the recommendations. In its response, the department said it will begin reviewing outreach reports from every clinic each month, update outreach policies and clinic toolkits, and continue a statewide initiative launched in December 2025 aimed at increasing WIC participation by 25% by the end of 2026.
A small town police chief admitted Tuesday to pocketing thousands of dollars in kickbacks to churn out bogus police reports, marking the fourth and final lawman to plead guilty in an immigration fraud case that has roiled central Louisiana since it became public last year.
Former Forest Hills Police Chief Glynn Dixon, one of four cops charged last summer under what federal prosecutors called a yearslong scheme to profit from bogus visa applications, entered a “guilty” plea Tuesday on a single count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud, court records show.
An attorney listed in court records as representing Dixon, Kevin Stockstill, did not immediately respond to an email and phone message.
The former chief initially denied the charges for which he was arrested last July alongside three other lawmen and an Oakdale-based businessman.
Federal prosecutors in a 62-count indictment accused the businessman, Chandrakant Patel, of illicitly paying Dixon, plus Glenmora Police Chief Tebo Onishea, Oakdale Police Chief Chad Doyle and Oakdale Marshal Michael Slaney to churn out bogus reports naming immigrants as violent crime victims. The immigrants then used the reports to apply for “U-visas” — papers for crime victims who cooperate with police investigations — with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, prosecutors said.
In an affidavit filed Tuesday in Alexandria federal court, Dixon admitted to generating at least 69 doctored reports for Patel between August 2023 and July 2025. But prosecutors said the broader scheme may have started years earlier.
Immigrants paid Patel, himself the recipient of U-visa issued in 2023, $20,000 to obtain a police report for them, prosecutors say. He then paid the lawmen around $5,000 per bogus report they generated.
The result, on paper, was what looked like a wave of violent crime across a typically sleepy swath of central Louisiana. (Forest Hill, the Rapides Parish hamlet where Dixon was chief, has a population of just over 600, according to Census data.)
Agents from U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigations arm caught on when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services flagged the huge flare in U-visa applications with corresponding police reports from the sparsely populated, rural area, officials have said.
A large mural on the corner of E 6th Avenue and 9th Street welcomes visitors to downtown on Thursday, July 17, 2025 in Oakdale, Louisiana.
Doyle, Onishea, Slaney and Patel each pleaded guilty recently under agreements with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana in several court hearings that came in quick succession, records show.
In Patel’s plea agreement from May 28, he admitted to orchestrating the scheme for at least five years beginning in 2020. He sought law enforcement collaborators to supply and certify the reports needed for U-visa applications, his agreement says.
He admitted to using proceeds from the scheme to buy gold bars, a Swiss Ingot watch, rings, several central Louisiana properties and other items.
The indictment and subsequent plea deals landed as President Donald Trump’s administration has de-prioritized federal law enforcement’s focus on public corruption and white collar criminal investigations, focusing instead on its broad immigration crackdown, plus violent crime and drug trafficking enforcement.
Still, law enforcement agents who investigated the central Louisiana case called the wave of guilty pleas a sign of accountability for public officials who breach the public trust.
“When anyone, including public officials, exploits immigration relief programs or commits fraud against the government, HSI and our law enforcement partners will investigate, dismantle these schemes, and work to bring those responsible to justice,” said Matt Wright, HSI’s New Orleans-based acting special agent in charge.
By admitting guilt, Patel acknowledged in his plea agreement that he faces revocation of his immigration status and deportation.
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