Louisiana Abortion 'Emergency' Rule Fight Ends for Now

Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals have dropped the “emergency” abortion regulations which threatened to close clinics statewide. Don’t start throwing the confetti yet; this doesn’t mean they won’t stop trying.

“The Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) is rescinding its November 2013 emergency rule for outpatient abortion facilities licensing standards,” spokesperson Olivia Watkins said in a statement on the decision. “The Department will reissue a revised rule and notice of intent at a later date.”

The “emergency rule” would have closed down clinics across the state with ridiculous and nitpicking yet legal guidelines about “paperwork and the size of facilities.” The Louisiana DHH even tried an early version which required mandatory blood tests that would have made women who were looking for an abortion wait for 30 days.

Louisiana is still a hot mess in terms of accessible women’s healthcare, but that doesn’t matter right now. At least for one day, the reproductive rights activists down in Baton Rouge are going to have themselves a victory party.