A New Orleans based OBGYN, Dr. Angela Parise, provided a statement regarding the protocols utilized for pregnant women since the reversal of Roe v. Wade:

As an OBGYN in New Orleans, my practice to care for mothers and babies has not changed since the overturn of Roe v. Wade. I am still able to care for women in a variety of situations, including emergencies. It is unfortunate that misinformation continues to confuse the public. 

I regularly see women who are pregnant well before 12 weeks gestation. There is nothing in Louisiana law that prevents doctors from seeing women prior to 12 weeks gestation. 

Furthermore, I commonly treat patients suffering from the tragedy of miscarriage. Louisiana law is clear that physicians can provide miscarriage management. As doctors and medical institutions, we must love and care for these women with compassion and not abandon them to suffer alone.

Tara Wicker, the Director of Louisiana Black Advocates for Life, also responded to Joshua’s testimony at the DNC:

“There is no denying Kaitlyn Joshua experienced inadequate healthcare in the community I love dearly. I also acknowledge there are systemic problems in our health system, which especially impacts women of color. However, these problems are not alleviated or solved by legal abortion, and they are not the result of Louisiana pro-life laws protecting babies from abortion. Nearly 50-years of Roe v. Wade has demonstrated the destruction and harm it brings women and their families. Our focus needs to be on wholistic care for pregnant women that considers the needs of both the mother and the baby.”

Sarah Zagorski, the Communications Director for Louisiana Right to Life, provided the following statement: 

It is a tragedy that Kaitlyn Joshua received subpar medical care at our own hospitals because of a gross misinterpretation of Louisiana’s pro-life laws. Her experience is heartbreaking but is not due to the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, as the two hospitals reportedly said in a statement.

Protocol for miscarriage care under Louisiana law is clear, and no part of our law requires a physician to delay prenatal care as Joshua was told by a local physician group. Ultimately, the fault for the substandard treatment lies with the practitioners that managed her case. Joshua’s miscarriage was also immediately following the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and there was initial uncertainty on how hospital protocols might be with the new law in place. 

Louisiana law defines miscarriage and differentiates it from elective abortion: “The removal of a dead unborn child or the inducement or delivery of the uterine contents in case of a positive diagnosis, certified in writing in the woman’s medical record along with the results of an obstetric ultrasound test, that the pregnancy has ended or is in the unavoidable and untreatable process of ending due to spontaneous miscarriage, also known in medical terminology as spontaneous abortion, missed abortion, inevitable abortion, incomplete abortion, or septic abortion.” RS 14:87.1 

Unfortunately, the DNC is utilizing a tragic story to elicit confusion and disapproval for pro-life laws. Their ultimate goal is to advance abortion-on-demand, for any reason, up until the moment of birth. 

They are not concealing their agenda, but proudly providing abortions at their own convention. The people of Louisiana, and citizens across America, are overwhelmingly against late-term abortions, abortions paid for by our tax-dollars and abortion for any reason. Make no mistake, this is what the future will look like under the Harris and Walz administration.” 

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Louisiana Right to Life (LARTL), established in 1970, works through education, legislation, inspiration and service to restore the right to life in Louisiana by opposing abortion, euthanasia, and other life destroying actions.