A new, rigorous report by the nonpartisan National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) is conclusive: Abortion is safe and effective.
The NASEM report also lays out the biggest threat to quality abortion care: Medically unnecessary regulations that target abortion providers, limited training opportunities and a lack of public funding that push abortion care out of reach.
Yet Louisiana politicians continue to support harmful restrictions – trying to prevent women from getting abortion care by lying to them, delaying care, requiring unnecessary tests, making care more expensive and shutting down reproductive health clinics.
The NASEM report authors write that “the quality of abortion care depends to a great extent on where women live. In many parts of the country, state regulations have created barriers to optimizing each dimension of quality care. The quality of care is optimal when the care is based on current evidence and when trained clinicians are available to provide abortion services.” (NASEM report, page S-8)
Lift Louisiana believes that Louisiana women deserve quality abortion care without barriers. That’s why Lift Louisiana is joining with the National Partnership for Women & Families to launch a new campaign to call out the biggest threat to quality abortion care: Louisiana politicians!
Get the Facts
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LOUISIANA POLITICIANS:
- Force providers to give women state-drafted materials that include biased and misleading information, such as a deceptive statement about abortion complications and future fertility and the implication that abortion is linked to breast cancer -- despite numerous studies finding no such link.
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THE NASEM REPORT:
- Clearly shows that no credible research exists to support any of these claims, and states that patients informed medical decision-making “is impeded when state regulations require that women be provided inaccurate or misleading information...” (NASEM report, page 5-5)
- Clearly shows that no credible research exists to support any of these claims, and states that patients informed medical decision-making “is impeded when state regulations require that women be provided inaccurate or misleading information...” (NASEM report, page 5-5)
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LOUISIANA POLITICIANS:
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Force women to wait 24 hours after receiving a state-mandated ultrasound and biased information before being able to obtain abortion care. As a result of the mandatory delay, a woman seeking abortion care must make a medically unnecessary second trip to the clinic.
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THE NASEM REPORT:
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States clearly that “requirements, such as multiple visits and waiting periods, delay abortion services, and by doing so may increase the clinical risks and cost of care. They may also limit women’s options for care and impact providers’ ability to provide patient-centered care.” (NASEM report, page 2-26)
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LOUISIANA POLITICIANS:
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Prevent qualified providers from offering abortion care by falsely claiming that quality care requires a specially-credentialed physician.
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THE NASEM REPORT:
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Affirms that unnecessary clinician requirements are harmful to abortion access, stating that “[b]y establishing higher-level credentials than are necessary….these policies can reduce the availability of providers, resulting in inequitable access to abortion care….Both physicians…and [advanced practice clinicians like nurse-midwives, physician assistants and nurse practitioners] can provide medication and aspiration abortions safely and effectively.” (NASEM report, pages 3-19 to 3-20)
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To learn more about the ways Louisiana politicians are undermining quality abortion care, check out this new report from the National Partnership for Women & Families:
Bad Medicine: How a Political Agenda is Undermining Abortion Care and Access in Louisiana
Across the country, politicians are enacting anti-abortion laws that ignore evidence and science and mandate how health care providers must practice medicine, regardless of the provider’s professional judgment, ethical obligations or the needs of his or her patients. Bad Medicine: How a Political Agenda is Undermining Abortion Care and Access, a 2018 report by the National Partnership for Women & Families, documents this trend. The report finds that a large majority of states have one or more of these “bad medicine” laws.
Louisiana is a key offender, with multiple abortion restrictions that bear no relationship to medical standards, undermine health care providers’ efforts to provide high-quality, patient-centered care and take decision-making away from women. These restrictions punish women – particularly women of color and low-income women – who face multiple disparities and structural barriers that increase their likelihood of experiencing the harm caused by obstacles to abortion care.