On June 12, Gov. Bobby Jindal signed House Bill (HB) 388 sponsored by Rep. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe. This piece of legislation, in concert with HB305, spells out new restrictions on abortion clinics within the state of Louisiana and brings all eyes to Shreveport as the last bastion of a woman’s right to choose.

HB388, also known as the “Unsafe Abortion Protection Act,” is the source causing approximately six of the seven abortion clinics in the state to soon close their doors unless they are able to meet the conditions of the law.

One of this law’s two major outcomes is that doctors must “have active admitting privileges at a hospital that is located not further than thirty miles from the location at which the abortion is performed or induced and that provides obstetrical or gynecological health care services.” A curious restriction due to abortion being one of the safest surgical procedures for women in the United States; a fact echoed by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Medical Association (AMA).

The second major restriction of HB388, which is supported by HB305, signed into law on the same date, and HB1262 signed earlier the same month, pertains to the way information is distributed and presented to patients. These bills leave it up to Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals and the House of Representatives’ Health and Welfare Committee to create the information that is to be provided for both general education and to women 24-hours before an abortion.

Arguing over the appropriateness of these laws is a lost cause, as most individuals have their minds made up over this polarizing topic. I would submit that this is not a question of “pro-life” or “pro-choice,” but a question of priorities, and ask you to consider the following information:

Typically when Louisiana is compared to other states we fall on the extreme side of the rankings, gravitating to the worst results. Surprisingly, according to the Guttmacher Institute, abortion rates in Louisiana are below the national average, and have changed very little between 1991 and 2011. The national average is 16.9 out of 1,000 women of reproductive age compared to Louisiana’s 13.1, putting us toward the middle of the pack when compared to other states. In 2005, Louisiana’s teen abortion rate ranked 39th in the United States, with a rate of 10 abortions per 1,000 young women ages 15–19 compared to the national rate of 19 abortions per 1,000.

Now compare this to the fact that Louisiana boasts the 5th highest teen pregnancy rate as reported by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. In 2011, Louisiana ranked 1st in the nation in primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis rates (9.9 per 100,000), 1st in gonorrhea rates (202.3 per 100,000); 3rd in chlamydia rates (697.4 per 100,000); and 3rd in congenital syphilis rates (29.3 per 100,000 live births) according to the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH). The Shreveport region has the highest rates of gonorrhea, chlamydia, and P&S syphilis of all nine regions in Louisiana. That’s right, Shreveport is the worst of the worst in the United States. Finding statistics on contraceptive use by teenagers in our state is difficult because Louisiana is one of five states not recording data on teenage sexual activity for the Department of Health & Human Services.

Considering the comparatively low abortion rate, versus the astonishingly high teen pregnancy and STD rates, could it be that abortion laws in Louisiana should focus more on preventive measures, rather than make more restrictions on what happens “after the fact?” Louisiana currently does not mandate sexual education be taught in schools, rather it is permitted with an “opt-out” policy for parents. On May 14, Rep. Patricia Smith (D-East Baton Rouge) sponsored HB369 which would have mandated sexual education, including medically accurate and age appropriate education starting at elementary school. This bill was involuntarily deferred to committee.