Skip to main content
Open this photo in gallery:

Kathaleen Pittman, director of the Hope Medical Group for Women, in Shreveport, La., on April 15.Gerald Herbert/The Associated Press

There’s been a cascade of legal battles in the U.S. after the Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion last week.

In 13 states, the decision set off so-called ‘trigger laws’ designed to take effect when Roe v Wade was overturned.

In some states, judges have blocked those bans at Louisiana’s Hope Medical Group for Women, one of three abortion clinics in the state, it’s been a busy week.

Kathaleen Pittman oversees the clinic.

“We are doing our best, which, we’re taking each day as we can, seeing as many patients as we can, while we can.. I will say, the public has been very supportive of us, calling, wanting to know what can we do, how can we help? So and so that’s been – that’s been one bright spot. It has really galvanized a lot of people.”

Louisiana’s trigger law bans abortion at any stage of pregnancy.

A state judge temporarily blocked it on Monday, with a hearing set for the 8th of July.

“It may be temporary. We may not be able to continue much longer. I hope we can. But at the very least, in the meantime, there are women that we are seeing, and this means everything to them, for them to be able to come in and have this procedure done, because this is, it’s life altering. An unplanned pregnancy truly is life altering. And for so many women it is, it’s not life altering in a good way.”

The case is one of several that are challenging Republican-backed abortion laws under state constitutions.

Hope Medical has argued the state’s laws make it impossible to tell when they are in effect, if one or all of them collectively are in force, and what exact conduct is prohibited such as if exceptions exist to save a pregnant woman’s life.

The clinic had to cancel appointments Friday and Saturday but after the ruling they are now completely booked up again:

“We are booked this week, next week for the first visits. And from there, if we have any openings, we will pull from our waiting list. We still have a waiting list of over 400.”

Louisiana is surrounded by other states that had trigger laws that moved to ban abortion.

Some 22 states had laws poised to restrict women’s access to abortion or that took effect immediately following the landmark high court ruling.

Our Morning Update and Evening Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe