It may take more than a week to receive a call to schedule a visit to the Hope Medical Group for Women Clinic, located on the corner of a busy intersection in Shreveport.
The city is located about 30 miles east of the Texas border. in the parking lot of the clinic there are several signs from the neighboring state.
Demand has grown since Texas passed abortion restrictions in September 2021, which significantly restrict access to the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.
This busy clinic – one of only three in the state – could be forced to close, with minimal notice, depending on what the Supreme Court decides later this month.
According to a a draft decision was leaked In a Mississippi law case, the court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade, who has defended federal abortion rights for nearly 50 years. Instead, abortion laws will be set by elected legislators at the state level.
The clinic is the only one offering abortion services in northern Louisiana and also caters to some women traveling from neighboring Texas. (Jennifer Barr / CBC)
“I fluctuate between anger and sadness,” said Kathaleen Pittman, head of the clinic, which has spent decades working in the field.
If the final decision remains the same as the leaked draft, Pittman said, her clinic will be forced to close – although she does not know how soon that will happen.
“Everyone asks me, you know, ‘What plans have you made?’ “Should I close?” I have made zero plans, because it is the only thing I can do to go through every day and take care of the patients who already come to us, “he said.
CLOCKS A look at one of Louisiana’s three abortion clinics:
The latest abortion clinic in northern Louisiana
The latest abortion clinic in northern Louisiana is managing a surge in demand after neighboring Texas tightened abortion restrictions as it waits to hear whether the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn a landmark abortion decision.
Louisiana is one of 13 states with the so-called Activation Act, which severely prohibits or restricts access to abortion in the event of a Roe v. Reversal. Wade. And they are among them 26 situations that are certain or possible to ban or severely restrict access to abortion if the Supreme Court moves in that direction, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research agency in favor of choice.
Lawmakers in this state are some of the most conservative in the country when it comes to abortion legislation. In fact, Republican Rep. Danny McCormick suggested prosecuting patients who had an abortion for murder.
“The act of abortion ends a human life,” McCormick said during a televised session of the state legislature in May. “Taking a life is murder and it is illegal.”
The proposal did not go very far, as it was judged too extreme by anti-abortion organizations in Louisiana.
But Republicans and Democrats in Louisiana have found common ground on the issue, coming together to pass three abortion-related bills in recent weeks. The new measures include stricter penalties for abortion providers and restrictions on access to the abortion pill.
The five elected state senators, two Democrats and three Republicans, all oppose abortion rights – they all vote in favor of bills restricting access.
Inside the clinic
Pittman predicts that these measures will not end abortion in her state, but will increase hospitalization for patients trying to terminate a pregnancy without the help of a professional doctor.
“Desperate times demand, you know, … desperate measures,” he said.
What is happening in the US should also be a wake-up call for other countries, Pittman says. “Do not think you are safe, because no one is; never say never because it can happen anywhere.”
The operating room at Hope Clinic contains a hospital bed and medical supplies. Many of the women seeking the procedure are already mothers who say they can not afford a larger family, says Pittman. (Jennifer Barr / CBC)
CBC News was invited to the clinic and spent a late Tuesday morning talking to patients. Three women agreed to share their stories with the CBC as long as their identities remained protected because they did not want to disclose the details of their medical decisions. CBC News has agreed to withhold their names.
Tuesday at the clinic are procedure days. Patients scheduled for abortion in those days all have a consultation and have completed the 72-hour waiting period set by the state. Patients will drive for hours to get there. The only alternatives in the state are the clinics in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, both of which are more than 375 miles away.
“I’m here today because I can not afford another child,” one patient told CBC News. “Basically, I only have enough to take care of myself and my daughter.”
The woman lives in Shreveport and is in her 20s. is in the middle of a custody battle with the father of her two-year-old child. When she first became pregnant, she put her studies in nursing school on hold.
“I would love to keep the baby, but I’m already having enough,” he said. “I’m still in school and I live with my mom. So, it’s just not the right time.”
A financial hardship
In a city where one in four of its 184,000 inhabitants live below the federal poverty linePittman said she sees many such patients who are already mothers worried that they can not support a larger family financially.
And if Roe vs. Wade were overthrown and Louisiana banned abortion, these women would face the added financial burden of having to travel to another state if they wished to terminate a pregnancy.
A part of a patient’s face is seen while in the Shreveport abortion clinic. She agreed to share her story as long as her identity was protected because she did not want to share details about a medical decision. CBC News agreed to hide her name. (Lyzaville Sale / CBC)
“You have people who can not afford to have children and may fall into poverty,” said a second woman at the clinic, also in her 20s.
She said she had no problem making the decision to have an abortion, for which she drove two hours from her home in neighboring Texas. She dreams of going to nursing school and says she does not have the support she needs to raise a child.
“A child has a great responsibility; it is a commitment of a lifetime,” he said.
The third woman said she had a much harder time making her choice. She lives elsewhere in Louisiana and does not support abortions in most cases, even though she was in the clinic to terminate her own pregnancy.
“How is my health, I know I do not want to go through it,” he said. “I asked God for forgiveness. It’s just a lesson I learned.”
This woman said she almost died when she was pregnant with her son. She had significant complications related to her blood pressure and ended up giving birth at 28 weeks.
The reclining chairs inside the recovery room at Shreveport Clinic where patients can rest after their operations. (Jennifer Barr / CBC)
She is in her 20s and said she fears another pregnancy could endanger her life.
“I want to see my son grow up,” he said as he began to cry.
“Sometimes you will think about it, but you just have to move on with your life,” he said. “It’s hard.”
Her choice runs counter to her personal beliefs. As difficult as it was for her, she said, she did it in the hope of creating a better life for herself and her son.
Any day now, the Supreme Court will issue its decision, something that can change who will make those choices.
