– It’s not me who made you pregnant. You just have to persevere and wait for the deadline. That was the message Lakiesha Brown received when she consulted a doctor because she felt something was wrong a few weeks before the birth in 2014. In the small town of Alexandria a few hours north of New Orleans, it is more dangerous to be pregnant than most other places in USA. Maternal mortality here is four times higher than the US average. It was just luck that Lakiesha did not become part of that statistic in 2014. Lakiesha receives us in a modest one-story house just behind a complex of social housing. She is soon going to work as an assistant for someone who is mentally retarded. Lakeisha has two jobs and works six days a week, and she is a single mother of two. But she was supposed to be a mother of three. As a single mom, Lakiesha Brown’s everyday life is very hectic. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news Drowned in her mother’s blood Lakeisha retrieves a purple box covered with silk fabric. She ties up the little bow and opens it. Under the lid is a picture of a small baby. On top of the box is the tiny little thing he was wearing in the picture. Some other clothes. And a sheet with the small footprints of the baby who was not allowed to live. Lakeisha believes her son would have survived if the health care for those if she had been better. If the doctor she had seen had given her the expensive ultrasound she asked for instead of just sending her home, he would have discovered that the placenta was about to come loose. Lakeisha Brown was about to die in stillbirth. 90 percent of the women here, who experience what she experienced during a pregnancy, die. Lakeisha did not have an abortion. Fear of more deaths A doctor who has run the health station where she lives believes it will be even more dangerous to be pregnant now that women’s abortion rights are likely to disappear. SORROW AND ANGER: The US Supreme Court has decided to set aside the historic Roe v. Wade judgment of 1973 which guarantees women the right to abortion in the United States. It creates strong emotions. LARGE DEMONSTRATIONS: Abortion advocates protested outside the Supreme Court in Washington DC on Friday afternoon. HISTORICAL JUDGMENT: The abortion sentence is historic in that it removes constitutional rights from people in the United States. RESISTANCE: Large crowds had gathered outside the building of the Supreme Court in the capital. CELEBRATES: Opponents of abortion celebrate after the decision of the Supreme Court to be announced on Friday. WORSHIP SITUATION: Abortion advocate Derenda Hancock reacts to conviction in Jackson, Mississippi. The state currently has only one abortion clinic. MUST TRAVEL: Abortion protesters in New York. US authorities now estimate that more and more women will travel to other states in need of an abortion. On Friday, a majority in the Supreme Court decided to set aside the historic verdict from 1973 that secures women entitled to abortion through “Roe mot Wade”. This means that it will now be up to the individual states to decide whether women should have the right to have an abortion. The state in which Lakeisha lives immediately made abortion illegal, but this week a judge blocked the proposal. Dr. David Holcome has worked with public health in the rural state of Louisiana for a lifetime. The clinic where he works is not allowed to perform abortions. But they can inform about the possibility of having an abortion and give advice on contraception. He will probably lose that opportunity now. A legacy from slavery He says that the average income here is just under 200,000 kroner a year. That is half the national average. He shows two maps. David Holcombe is head of health in one of the poorest counties in Louisiana. He does not perform abortions, but can inform women about the possibility of having an abortion. That will be the end of the abortion ban here. Photo: Snorre Wiik / news One map shows the USA, where some areas are marked in different red tones. The darkest areas on the map are where we are now. They show which areas of the United States had the highest proportion of slaves in the population in 1860 just before the Civil War began. The second map has the same colors. It shows the areas in the United States with the worst health conditions in the population of the United States. It is the same areas that are dark red that had the highest slave population in 1860. 85 percent of those who come to David Holcombe’s public clinic are, the majority are women. This is the abortion dispute in the USA * The USA has no formalized, national abortion law similar to the one we have in Norway. Instead, it is a Supreme Court decision from 1973 that secures women’s right to abortion. The ruling is referred to as «Roe vs. Wade ». * A later ruling stated that American women have the right to have an abortion until the fetus is viable. In the United States, this limit is set at the 23rd or 24th week of pregnancy. In Norway, abortion is only accepted exceptionally after week 22, and Norwegian women who want to have an abortion after week 12 must send an application to an abortion board. * The abortion issue is very hot in the United States. Opposition to abortion is particularly strong in conservative states in the south and in the Midwest. In more liberal areas on the east and west coasts, people are more in favor of women’s right to abortion. * Over time, the issue of abortion has become increasingly polarized, as have many other political issues in the United States. * Opinion polls have over time shown that a majority of the American population wants to preserve «Roe vs. Wade ». * Former President Donald Trump has appointed three Supreme Court justices, all of whom are considered politically conservative. This gave the US Supreme Court a conservative majority. * The court is currently reviewing an abortion law passed in Mississippi. It bans most abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. A ruling is expected this summer. * A draft ruling in the Mississippi case was leaked to the news site Politico and published on May 2. The draft indicates that the Supreme Court will accept the law in Mississippi and in practice repeal the federal right to abortion that was secured with the ruling “Roe vs. Wade ». (Sources: AFP, TT, Washington Post, Guttmacher, NTB) – Many here do not get out of poverty and poor health. The number of abortions has fallen in recent years, but for some it is a way to end a pregnancy also because poor healing leads to dangerous pregnancies. “Besides, there are many teenage pregnancies because there is little sex education on school boards because they do not want it,” says Holcombe. A clinic employee at Hope Medical answers desperate women on the phone. On the wall hangs a copy of the famous collar of the feminist icon, Supreme Court judge and abortion advocate Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Photo: Camilla Svennæs Bergland / news Only three abortion clinics Louisiana – which is perhaps best known to Norwegians for its beautiful bluestones and jazz, there are only three abortion clinics. One of these is Hope Medical. A clinic in the far north of the state, near the Texas border. For almost a year, the clinic has been degraded by desperate women from Texas after the state introduced – until Friday – the United States’ strictest abortion law which has made it illegal to have an abortion after week six. At a Hope Medical clinic, several hundred women stand in line for help with having an abortion. Photo: Camilla Svennæs Bergland / news – In recent weeks, we have had a waiting list of over 400 who have wanted to book an appointment with us, says general manager of the clinic Kathaleen Pittman. Pittman has dedicated his life to the job, and fought daily for women across the United States to have the opportunity to have an abortion. Inside her office, a hope sign hangs on the wall. But right now, it may seem that hope is fading. – These days we see very few women who are early in pregnancy, because they have to wait for class, she says. – I fear for the women in Louisiana and throughout the southern United States. Hope is currently the only one of the state’s three clinics that has been confirmed to start up again after the judge blocked the state’s “trigger law” which was introduced immediately after the ruling from the Supreme Court. Hope Medical Clinic is one of three clinics in the state. Photo: Camilla Svennæs Bergland / news In a residential area in New Orleans is a small yellow house. It is the second of Louisiana’s three abortion clinics to remain open. We were actually supposed to visit here as well, but after first being positive, the doctor who works here has become anxious to receive a TV team from Norway. There is no sign on the door, nothing showing what is happening inside the building. It is just a small neutral house where it is clear that as few people as possible should know what is going on. A nervous woman opens the door but does not want to let us in. Abortion clinic in New Orleans Photo: Snorre Wik / news But two blocks away we meet women who know very well that there is an abortion clinic nearby. They are afraid that it will disappear: – I have health problems that make me worried if I get pregnant. If I had to end the pregnancy in order not to end up in a dangerous situation, yes, I would like the opportunity to do so, says Selena Guilbeaux (29) – My concern is that women will be let down. It can be unsafe and dangerous for women. Some may choose to use dangerous procedures if they cannot have an abortion. Molly Horstman (30) is expecting her first child this summer. She’s furious. – I support abortion. I believe all women must be entitled to good health care. And then they must also have the opportunity to terminate the pregnancy. There are many reasons why a woman may need to terminate a pregnancy. Molly Horstman is furious Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news – Someone here has proposed classifying abortion as murder. Fortunately, it was not adopted in the state assembly, says Molly, who adds that she suspects that for many this is about religion. Opponents of abortion who should not have been born In the southern state of Louisiana, a majority of the people and politicians are opposed to abortion. In the United States as a whole, there is a majority in favor of abortion. Sarah Zagorski has for many years fought against abortion in the organization Louisiana Right to Life. As early as 2006, a law was passed in Louisiana that states that abortion will be banned as soon as the Supreme Court repeals Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that outlawed abortion in the United States. This happened on Friday. Zagorski also says that another law will prohibit women from receiving abortion pills from other states. – If someone tries to order such a pill, it will be a criminal offense for the person who sells the pill to send it to Louisiana. Sarah Zagorski disagrees that a ban on abortion will make it more dangerous to be a pregnant woman here. Sarah Zagorski looks forward to abortion becoming illegal in the state Photo: Louisiana Right to Life – We are working to use more money to help pregnant women who need it. They need to feel supported, we must also help them after they give birth. What we want is to put an end to the abortion culture we have in this country. She experiences that women have felt pressured to have an abortion. – The majority of women who have an abortion are poor and black, and many already have children. We need to help them instead of forcing them to have an abortion, Sarah believes. She says that she knows what she’s talking about – precisely because she herself grew up in a foster home and was adopted as a nine-year-old. She thinks she really should not have been born. – My mother was a poor woman with many children who considered having an abortion. I was born prematurely, and the doctor who received me thought I would not survive. I am an example of why abortion is wrong, she says. – Feeling less valuable Lakeisha Brown loves children, and four years after her son Abel died just before birth, she had a daughter Isabella. – She’s amazing. She’s a bundle of energy. God does not take anything from you without you getting something back. Lakeisha Brown shows a picture of her two children. The son Abel died just before the birth in 2014. Photo: Snorre Wik / news Lakeisha is alone with the daughter of four and a son of 14 now. The daughter’s father died of covid-19 last year. Lakeisha is a Baptist and prays to God every day. But she still supports abortion. Lakeisha often discusses the health future of women here with her girlfriends. – We all feel the same. If Roe v Wade falls, there will be chaos. Women here have no one to go to to get the help they need. I think someone will take matters into their own hands and try to end the pregnancy themselves. Lakeisha also fears that more women may end up in dangerous situations during pregnancy as she did. – We are seen as less valuable. There is absolute racism in health policy here. We all follow the same thing. But who are you going to? Who can you talk to about this? Who in our state will admit that they discriminate against us, she wonders. All interviews were conducted before the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday.
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Those affected by abortion bans in the US – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
