Louisiana’s Disregard for Pregnant People and Black Voters Must Not Be Ignored

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed mifepristone, an abortion pill, to be mailed across the country, treating it like thousands of other drugs available through the U.S. Postal Service. The Supreme Court’s order, which is temporary, was issued following emergency motions filed by pharmaceutical companies Danco and GenBioPro, after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order “blocking the mailing of prescriptions for mifepristone” across the country, regardless of whether abortion is legal in the state. Both asked the Supreme Court to order an administrative stay to prevent the lower court’s order from taking effect.

This case is part of an ongoing effort by conservative lawmakers, anti-abortion groups and emboldened attorneys general to eviscerate abortion access nationwide by banning access to medication abortion through telehealth providers. This specific effort has been echoed by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and Rosalie Markezich, who claim she was manipulated into taking mifepristone by her former boyfriend in an attempt to end her pregnancy.

Although the Supreme Court’s order, signed by Justice Samuel Alito, alleviates immediate concerns, particularly for those seeking to terminate their pregnancies, the underlying delusion and harm caused by the litigation in Louisiana is devastating and should not be ignored. Its potentially harmful scope mirrors that of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on voting rights in Louisiana v. Callais, who gutted the Voting Rights Act. Both cases seek to extend Louisiana’s permissive view on discrimination and its narrow stance on gender and racial equality, justice and liberty to the entire nation. The Supreme Court has already granted Louisiana its imprimatur on voting rights. Will she do the same on access to mifepristone and telehealth?

Providing a telling lesson for the rule of law and American democracy, both cases come from a state with a storied and troubling history of racial and gender discrimination. Louisiana’s toxic history of gender and racial inequality dates back to the nation’s founding and presents too many examples today.

In recent years, Rep. Danny McCormick introduced HB 813, which, if passed, would impose criminal penalties of “life without parole” against women who have abortions. The Louisiana House of Representatives Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice voted 7-2 for McCormick’s bill. Notably, the bill was considered so barbaric that even the anti-abortion group Louisiana Right to Life opposed it.

As I noted in the Chicago Law Review In 2024, Louisiana state lawmakers rejected efforts to add incest and rape exceptions to the state’s “near-total ban on abortion,” despite clear public support. In authoring one of two bills to change Louisiana’s dangerous anti-abortion laws, Louisiana State Rep. Delisha Boyd explained that her mother suffered rape and pregnancy at age 15, but “never got over it,” dying “before she was 28, because no one took the time to care for the child who was raped by a predator.”

During a lengthy hearing on Boyd’s bill, which lasted several hours, survivors of rape and incest, as well as doctors and psychologists, offered heartbreaking testimony, including about a 14-year-old girl who “became pregnant after being repeatedly raped by an uncle.” Another story involved an 11-year-old girl. Even a doctor’s testimony highlighting the rape and pregnancy of an 8-year-old hasn’t prompted conservative Louisiana lawmakers to consider an exception to the abortion ban. Notably, this is the same legislature that initially drew the gerrymandered map creating a single majority-black voting district in Louisiana. The Supreme Court endorsed the ruling, weakening a major provision of the voting rights laws to the point that Justice Elena Kagan called the law a “dead letter.”

Already, since this decision, Governor Jeff Landry signed an executive order aimed at “suspending Louisiana’s congressional primary elections after voting had already begun.” According to the American Civil Liberties Union, which along with the Legal Defense Fund and others is suing to block the governor’s executive order, “This illegal executive order threatens the integrity of our democratic system and disregards the voices of voters who already participated in good faith in May’s primary elections. By attempting to halt an election in progress, state officials are creating confusion, undermining public trust, and placing partisan interests above the constitutional rights of Louisiana voters.”

The main thing? Those who care about reproductive health, justice, and freedom should remain concerned and alert to draconian efforts to upend gender and racial equality at all costs, because it will not stop if or when Louisiana gets what it wants. And to be clear, getting what he wants would involve allowing a barbaric level of disregard for pregnant women who might die from miscarriage, rape victims who are denied abortion care, and pregnant little girls deprived of sane, safe, and compassionate health care as a result of incest and rape.

Simply put, the risks for women and gender-expansive people are undeniable. And what’s more, they are evil to black women. The ACLU explains it this way: “Black voters and communities who have long fought for equal political representation should not be forced to bear the burden of illegal power grabs designed to silence their voices. Elections belong to the people, not politicians seeking to manipulate the rules.”

The stakes are undeniable when voting rights are diminished and access to abortion is at stake. In its petition, Danco said the Fifth Circuit’s order “inflicts substantial, certain” and “irrecoverable harm” on the drug manufacturer and the public who rely on that drug. Additionally, they noted that the lower court’s order “imposes chaos on a national scale.” They are right.

The reversal of Roe v. Wade brought chaos, confusion and death. For now, at least, the Supreme Court has stepped in and expanded access to telehealth abortion. But the fight for reproductive rights and justice is far from over.