By: Melissa Flournoy

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.

By: Wesley Muller

While some states call for stricter laws on guns in response to a wave of mass shootings this year, Louisiana saw limited action from state lawmakers during the 2022 regular session.

The only legislation Louisiana lawmakers passed this year directly related to school shootings is a study resolution to look at the impacts of arming school employees. House Resolution 217, sponsored by state Rep. Gabe Firment, R-Pollock, requests that the state Department of Education study the risks and benefits of allowing certain school employees to carry concealed guns.

By: JC Canicosa

Ten years ago, Jennifer McMorris, a Louisiana resident from Mobile, Alabama, was pressured by her boyfriend at the time to drink until she blacked out.

“I just remember passing out and waking up in the morning and thinking, ‘Why am I naked?’” she said. “Six weeks later, after he had been deployed, I was pregnant and I was, well, screwed.”

By: Wesley Muller

The legal battle to determine the boundaries of Louisiana’s congressional districts is now taking place simultaneously at all three levels of the federal judiciary, and the parties involved are fighting on multiple fronts. The decision comes down to whether Black voters will hold a majority in one or two of the state’s six U.S. House districts.

As a federal judge in Baton Rouge prepares to draw her version of a map that will feature two majority-Black districts, an appellate court panel contemplates her ruling to reject a single-Black district map that Republican lawmakers approved in February. Meanwhile, GOP state leaders have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the district judge’s original decision.

Hosted by: Jim Engster

By: Atiya Jordan

The Louisiana Senate has agreed to remove Robert E. Lee Day and Confederate Memorial Day from the state’s legal holiday calendar.

According to the Louisiana Illuminator, House Bill 248, authored by Rep. Matthew Willard, was voted in favor 28-4 by the Senate on Friday. Before that, the House of Representatives approved the bill 62-20.

By: Paul Murphy

Right now, there are more than 43,000 medical marijuana patients in Louisiana.

The number has expanded dramatically since the state authorized the smokeable version of the drug.