NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana—Despite blistering sun and a heat index of more than 106 degrees, those in need of reproductive healthcare continued to make appointments on Friday at the Planned Parenthood facility in this city. But just hours after the Supreme Court upended decades of precedent, overturned Roe v. Wade, and gutted abortion rights, one 22-year-old woman was equal parts confused and terrified.
“I’m worried about my family finding out,” Miranda, who asked that we not use her real name, told The Daily Beast. “I just don’t know what to do yet, and I feel like I don’t have any options.”
Miranda works at a hotel in a suburb of New Orleans. She’s four weeks pregnant, and she’s scared: She’s not sure if she’s ready to be a mother.
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She and her boyfriend have been going through a rough patch—Miranda said she hadn’t told him he might be a father yet. To help her out, a friend of hers came to the Planned Parenthood building on Friday to get more information for her. The facility doesn’t provide abortions, but it does provide services like ultrasounds and prenatal care. And before Friday, staff members could help refer patients to clinics in the region—there was one in this city—that do provide abortions.
But after the nation’s high court voted to uphold a Mississippi law and sack Wade in its Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, abortion was almost immediately abolished in Louisiana. That’s because the state has a so-called trigger law that was set up for this very post-Roe scenario; this despite Democratic governors having run the show in recent years.
In fact, earlier this week, the state’s trigger provision was updated in a new law signed by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, stating it "shall become effective immediately upon… any decision of the Supreme Court of the United States which overrules, in whole or in part, Roe v. Wade.” The legislation doesn’t make exceptions for cases involving rape or incest, making it one of the strictest abortion laws in the country.
Even before Dobbs, Louisiana had only three abortion clinics—Delta Clinic of Baton Rouge, Women’s Health Care Center in New Orleans, and Hope Medical Group in Shreveport. All three facilities are now effectively cut off to those in need of abortion services.
The only clearly legal option for people seeking an abortion here is to go somewhere else, somewhere they have access. After all, Louisiana has also criminalized out-of-state providers sending abortion medication to citizens in need, even if enforcement is murky at best.
That leaves Miranda—who had yet to decide whether she actually wanted an abortion—feeling forced to have a baby, whether she wants to or not.
“It’s very hard for me to just go somewhere to get an abortion,” she said. “Like, I can’t just go to some state where I don’t know anybody and hope someone will help me.”
As she considered her options, Miranda mentioned that she has cousins in Mexico who may be able to help her find a doctor who can provide an abortion. But even then, it would be difficult to make the trip. And there may be no guarantee: Mexico’s Supreme Court recently ruled that abortion wasn’t a crime, but across that country, access still remains difficult for most women.
“I just feel so alone, you know,” Miranda told The Daily Beast. “It shouldn’t be this hard. It’s my body, and I just don’t know if I’m ready.”
