Louisiana
Louisiana lawmakers insist child rape victims must carry their pregnancy to term
Former President Donald Trump, now the presumptive Republican nominee, boasts that he “broke Roe v. Wade.” In the aftermath, according to Trump, “states are working very brilliantly” to impose various restrictions on abortion and creating “very beautiful harmony.”
Over the last few days, this process has played out in Louisiana. Lawmakers in the Pelican State voted to continue to require child rape victims to carry their pregnancy to term.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, Louisiana, along with 13 other states, imposed a ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy. The only exceptions to Louisiana’s ban are when an abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother or in cases of “medically futile” pregnancy, when the fetus has a fatal abnormality. Doctors in the state “who perform illegal abortions can face up to 15 years in prison and steep fines of $10,000 to $200,000.”
In February, Louisana Representative Delisha Boyd (D) introduced legislation that proposed exceptions for rape and incest to Louisiana’s abortion ban. When it became clear that the proposal would fail, Boyd narrowed her bill to allow persons 16 years old and younger to have an abortion if they were the victim of rape or incest.
The legislation was grounded in Boyd’s personal experience. She was born after her mother was raped by a man when she was 15 years old. Boyd said that her mother suffered years of trauma before dying at 30.
Neelima Sukhavasi, an obstetrician from Baton Rouge, urged the members of the Louisiana House Committee on Criminal Justice to approve Boyd’s bill. Sukhavasi said that since Louisiana imposed its abortion ban in 2022, “[s]he and her colleagues have delivered babies for pregnant teenagers, including mothers as young as 13.” She told the committee, “[o]ne of these teenagers delivered a baby while clutching a Teddy Bear — and that’s an image that once you see that, you can’t unsee it.” According to Sukhavasi, these girls “can experience health complications that affect them for the rest of their lives.”
Nevertheless, the committee rejected Boyd’s bill last week on a 7 to 4 vote. All seven Republicans on the committee voted against creating the exception for child rape victims. One legislator who voted against creating the exception, Representative Lauren Ventrella (R), said she believed “teenagers who had consensual sex might feign rape or incest in order to get access to abortion service.” Another legislator in opposition, Representative Dodie Horton (R), said rape should be punished, but she “cannot condone killing the innocent.”
Louisiana politics has long been dominated by anti-abortion advocates. But, on this issue, the legislature is out of step with their constituents. A 2023 survey found that 77% of Louisiana voters supported an abortion exception for rape and incest. A survey this year by The Times-Picayune found a majority of Louisiana voters also support allowing abortion for any reason up to 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Anti-abortion lawmakers in Louisiana are also pushing a bill that would classify abortion medication as Schedule IV drugs, the same treatment as opioids. If the bill becomes law, Louisiana would be the first state in the country to classify mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled dangerous substances.
Under Senate Bill 276, anyone who possesses mifepristone or misoprostol – the two pills used in a medication abortion – without a valid prescription could face up to “five years in prison and $5,000 in fines.” The bill includes an exemption for pregnant women who use the drugs for their “own consumption.” But it still makes acquiring abortion drugs for future use – a practice known as advanced provision – effectively illegal.
The proposed law also “appears to target people who might obtain abortion medications in order to distribute them to pregnant people,” WWNO New Orleans Public Radio notes. In Louisiana, distributing or manufacturing controlled substances is a punishable offense “with up to 10 years in prison and $15,000 in fines.” According to the bill’s author, State Senator Thomas Pressly (R), the aim is to take the pills “away from people who are stockpiling these drugs for whatever reason.” The bill, which was written in collaboration with Louisiana Right to Life, also seeks to “create a new crime of ‘coerced criminal abortion by means of fraud,’” Pressly said in a press release. More than 240 Louisiana doctors said the proposed classification is “not scientifically based” and wrote that it could result in “unjustified mistrust by patients and fear of the medication.”
Critics also warn that the new penalties could discourage health providers from prescribing mifepristone and misoprostol and make pharmacies reluctant to fill out those prescriptions. Abortion medication is currently the most popular method of ending a pregnancy. The drugs targeted by Pressly’s bill also have uses outside of abortions: mifepristone is used to treat Cushing’s syndrome, a hormonal disorder, and given for miscarriage treatment. Meanwhile, misoprostol is prescribed to treat ulcers and is sometimes used to help patients give birth.
Louisiana’s limited exceptions for the life of the patient and “medically futile” pregnancies are both extremely narrow and poorly defined. But the state’s anti-abortion officials have promised to prosecute doctors for any perceived violations. A recent report by Physicians for Human Rights and other reproductive rights advocates concluded that Louisiana’s abortion ban violates “federal law meant to protect patient access to emergency care, disregard[s] evidence-based public health guidance, degrade[s] long-standing medical ethical standards, and, worst of all, den[ies] basic human rights to Louisianans seeking reproductive health care in their state.”
Specifically, “initial prenatal care in Louisiana is being pushed deeper into pregnancy, often beyond the first trimester when miscarriage is more common—purposely delayed to avoid the risk of miscarriage care being misconstrued as an abortion in violation of the bans.” As a result, pregnant women are “struggling to access time-sensitive, appropriate care for early pregnancy and miscarriages.”
Louisiana is already “among the U.S. states with the lowest number of employed obstetricians and gynecologists (OB-GYNs) in the country with the majority of its parishes having less than two per 100,000 residents.” This shortage is unlikely to dissipate as obstetricians and gynecologists in the state put themselves at risk of prosecution for providing basic prenatal care.
Louisiana’s House Committee on Criminal Justice also considered legislation last week to “insulate physicians and other health care providers from facing abortion-related charges if they were only trying to treat a pregnant person’s unavoidable miscarriage or troubled pregnancy.” At the hearing, Louisiana doctors testified that they were afraid of being thrown in jail for treating pregnant patients. The legislation was rejected by the committee.
Massive alligator causes chaos, attempts to avoid capture
Officers wrangled and released an alligator after it was spotted near a home in Livingston Parish, Louisiana.
Louisiana may expand its wild alligator harvesting opportunities to recreational hunters if the Legislature passes a bill that secured unanimous approval in a committee hearing March 11.
Franklin state Sen. Robert Allain’s Senate Bill 244 would authorize the Louisiana Wildlife Commission to create a recreational season that would be open to 5,000 hunters annually, each with a two-gator limit.
The state already has a commercial hunting season for alligators, which is chronicled in the popular “Swamp People” TV reality series.
“We think the time is right,” Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Tyler Bosworth testified during the Senate Natural Resources Committee hearing. “We want to provide a recreational opportunity for the common folk of Louisiana.”
Louisiana’s alligator population has exploded in the past 50 years from fewer than 100,000 to more than 3 million today. Of those, about 2 million are wild with another 1 million farmed.
That’s at least twice the population in Florida, the state with the second most number of alligators.
And their Louisiana numbers have grown throughout the state where they can be commonly spotted from Lake Martin in Breaux Bridge to Caddo and Cross lakes in Shreveport to Caldwell Parish in northeastern Louisiana.
“This is a conservation success story on the highest level,” LDWF general counsel Garrett Cole said during the hearing. “This would create a true recreational opportunity outside our commercial season.”
Garrett said hunters would compete for hunting tags through a lottery will statewide opportunities. Recreational hunters would be limited to hook and line harvesting from land. No gators could be taken by boat as commercial hunters are allowed to do.
If approved, the first season could take place beginning Oct. 1.
Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.
Responsible Anglers United, LDWF release bass into Lake Bouef
Responsible Anglers United team up with Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to release more than 3,000 Florida bass into Lake Bouef on Oct. 17.
While Louisiana’s largest lake, the Toledo Bend Reservoir, spans 1,200 miles of shoreline, the state’s deepest lake only spans 1,125 acres.
Lake Peigneur is the deepest lake in Louisiana, with a depth measuring approximately 200 feet.
Lake Peigneur is a brackish lake, meaning it contains saltwater but has less salinity than seawater, located in New Iberia Parish in South Louisiana.
How did Lake Peigneur become the deepest lake in Louisiana?
Lake Peigneur was not always considered the deepest lake in Louisiana, as it was only a 10-foot-deep freshwater lake 40 years ago.
On Nov. 20, 1980, an oil rig crew was attempting to free a 14-inch drill bit when they heard popping noises and the rig began to tilt. Shortly after the crew abandoned the rig and headed for shore, the crew watched the 150-foot oil rig disappear into the 10-foot-deep lake.
Soon, a whirlpool formed in place of the oil rig. The whirlpool grew rapidly until it was able to suck up nearby boats, barges, trees, a house and half an island.
At the same location of the oil drilling site, there was also a salt mine, and when the whirlpool formed after the oil rig collapsed, the mine began to fill with water. As the whirlpool grew, water was able to enter the mine at such a force that it caused a geyser to spew out of the mine’s opening for hours until the lake was drained.
After the lake was emptied, the Delcambre Canal began to flow backward, marking the only time in history that the Gulf of Mexico flowed into the continental U.S. This backflow continued until the entire mine and lake were filled with water, except now the lake was filled with saltwater, according to an article published on Louisiana Tech Digital Commons.
Can you swim in Lake Peigneur?
Before the oil rig and salt mine accident, Lake Peigneur was a popular spot for fishing and recreational activities. However, since the lake is almost entirely surrounded by private property, visitors will have to enter the nearby Rip Van Winkle Gardens in order to get a closer look, according to Atlas Obscura.
While there are no reports indicating the lake is unsafe, the lake is not exactly developed for public access. However, there are things to do around Lake Peigneur, like visiting Rip Van Winkle Gardens on Jefferson Island, or visiting Avery Island to tour the Tabasco Factory.
Presley Bo Tyler is a reporter for the Louisiana Deep South Connect Team for USA Today. Find her on X @PresleyTyler02 and email at PTyler@Gannett.com
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. — A local fisherman raised concerns about the substance now coating Opal Beach, citing a recent oil spill off the coast of Louisiana.
WEAR News went to officials with the Gulf Islands National Seashore and Escambia County to find out the cause.
They say it’s not related to an oil spill, but is in fact algae.
The Marine Resources Division says they can understand beachgoers’ concerns, and hope to raise awareness.
“You don’t even want to get near it because it’s so gooey and sticky,” local fisherman Larry Grossman said. “It was accumulating on my beach cart wheels yesterday, and it felt like an oil product.”
Grossman messaged WEAR News on Monday after noticing something brown and oozy in the sand. He says it started showing up by Fort Pickens and stretched down to Opal Beach.
Grossman said a park service employee told him it could be oil from a recent spill in Louisiana. So he took a message to social media, sparking some reactions and raising questions.
“it certainly didn’t seem like an algae bloom because I was in the water, I caught a fish and I put some water in the cooler to keep my fish cool and it almost looked like oil in it,” Grossman said. “I know some people think it’s an algae bloom, but it certainly smelled and felt and looked like oil.”
A Gulf Islands National Seashore spokesperson confirmed to WEAR News on Tuesday that the substance is algae.
WEAR News crews were at the beach as officials with the Escambia County Marines Resources Division came out take samples.
“What I found here washed up on the beach is some algae — filamentous algae, single celled algae — that washed ashore in some onshore winds,” said Robert Turpin, Escambia County Marines Resources Division manager. “This is the spring season, so with additional sunlight, our plants, they grow in warmer waters, with plenty of sunlight.”
Turpin says this algae is not harmful.
He also addressed the concerns that this could be oil, saying he’s familiar with what oil spills look like.
He says he appreciates when people like Grossman raise the concerns.
“The last thing in the world we want is something to gain traction on social media that is faults in nature that could harm our tourism,” Turpin said. “Our tourism is very important to our economy, and we want to give the right information out to the public so we all enjoy the beaches and enjoy them safely.”
Turpin says if you see something or suspect something may be harmful on the beach, avoid it and contact Escambia County Marine Resources.
Videos show standing water inside Detroit elementary school, as source reports sewage smell
SF mayor assures there’s ‘no imminent threat’ after FBI report warns Iran aspires to attack CA
A look at Dallas Cowboys’ 2026 NFL draft picks after Osa Odighizuwa, Solomon Thomas trades
Dolphins focus on secondary, special teams with addition of three players
Kraft Group reaches deal with Foxborough on security funding for World Cup games at Gillette Stadium – The Boston Globe
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Reporter’s Notebook: Trump’s SAVE Act ultimatum runs into Senate reality
Not ‘a litre of oil’ to pass Strait of Hormuz, expect $200 price tag: Iran
Tornadoes hit Illinois, Indiana and Texas as severe storms sweep US
EXCLUSIVE: ICE says El Paso detention facility will stay open under new contractor after $1.2B deal scrapped
Von der Leyen ‘acting outside of competence,’ Araud tells Euronews
-
Wisconsin1 week agoSetting sail on iceboats across a frozen lake in Wisconsin
-
Massachusetts1 week agoMassachusetts man awaits word from family in Iran after attacks
-
Detroit, MI6 days agoU.S. Postal Service could run out of money within a year
-
Pennsylvania6 days agoPa. man found guilty of raping teen girl who he took to Mexico
-
Miami, FL1 week agoCity of Miami celebrates reopening of Flagler Street as part of beautification project
-
Sports7 days agoKeith Olbermann under fire for calling Lou Holtz a ‘scumbag’ after legendary coach’s death
-
Michigan2 days agoOperation BBQ Relief helping with Southwest Michigan tornado recovery
-
Virginia1 week agoGiants will hold 2026 training camp in West Virginia