The Advocate: Melissa Flournoy—Abortion ruling will force us to face responsibilities to babies, children

Louisiana advocates continue to fight for access to reproductive health care. Nearly 80% of Louisiana voters support abortion for victims of rape and incest and for women who need to terminate a pregnancy because of health reasons, including ectopic pregnancies or fetal anomalies.

The total ban on abortion is too extreme.

Who is going to take care of what will likely amount to hundreds or even thousands of children every year who will be born into families in Louisiana which aren't prepared to take care of them?

If women are going to be forced to give birth, then they will need more maternal health care, mental health care, home visitation programs, childcare and all the other support needed to raise a healthy, thriving baby.Many women who seek abortions do so because of financial uncertainty and their inability to care for the child. If it’s all about the unborn babies, those babies need to be fed, housed, cared for and educated. Help women and their families by raising the minimum wage and then provide access to paid maternity leave and health insurance.

Louisiana's leaders — political, religious, and community — need to refocus their attention on ensuring access to education and health care. In a recent letter to the editor, writer John Andrews suggested that if we want to limit unwanted pregnancies, then the state should expand “sex ed” in classrooms and promote access to contraception.

Unfortunately, the same people who are obsessed with the "rights" of fertilized eggs don't have any interest in expanding this type of education. For decades, health and social services advocates have urged our state legislators to increase access to medically accurate, age-appropriate health education, including information on human sexuality and reproduction, to reduce sexual abuse and teen pregnancy and improve overall health outcomes.

We need the organizations and religious leaders who have fought for so long to make abortion illegal to now step up and help reduce the need for abortion.

Time to prove how much you love the babies.

MELISSA S. FLOURNOY

board chair, Louisiana Progress