HEALTH

Why Women's Rights and Access to Water Are Now Tied in New Orleans

New governor elect's quid pro quo: enforce abortion law, or you won't receive state funding to fix crumbling water infrastructure

It's no secret that Black New Orleanians have a rebellious spirit. After all, the Crescent City was the setting for America's largest slave revolt, led by Charles Deslondes. We're also home to the oldest Black neighborhood, the Tremé, where free Black people began to buy property in the early 1800s. Our city is culturally unique, even within Louisiana, reflected in our traditions and voting patterns, which differ drastically from outer lying parishes. Politically speaking, we are a spot of blue surrounded by red, so city officials do not always see eye-to-eye with state officials.

For instance, when Louisiana passed an abortion ban in 2022, the district attorney for Orleans Parish, Jason Williams, a Black man, made it clear he did "not intend to enforce the trigger law," which would penalize doctors or providers who terminate pregnancies with $200,000 fines and up to 15-years in jail. In other words, Williams was doing what he could to protect women's rights in New Orleans despite the state law. Of course, Williams' decision to refuse to enforce state law was rooted in the idea that, democratically speaking, New Orleans voters, those who put him in office, overwhelmingly supported women's reproductive rights and disapproved of the ban. So, while state officials may have given Williams the side-eye, he was acting consistently with the will of the people.

Now, new governor-elect Jeff Landry, a Republican, has threatened to withhold funding for New Orleans unless the district attorney agrees to start enforcing the abortion ban. This is an extortionist strategy, one that tries to twist the district attorney's arm into stripping women of their rights. It's important to note that District Attorney Jason Williams is not the only New Orleans official holding the line. Mayor LaToya Cantrell, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson, Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson, and "members of the City Council — have enacted policies or said publically that they will not arrest or charge people accused of violating the abortion law." Currently, the law is not on the new governor-elect's side since a Louisiana judge blocked the state from enforcing the ban "for the second time" in June of 2022, calling the legislation "too ambiguous." However, many doctors have reported feeling confused "by abortion exceptions in Louisiana," and it's having an impact by "limiting essential care."

New Orleans' water crumbling water infrastructure

New Orleans, like many predominately Black cities in the deep south, has outdated water infrastructure. It's very simple to understand what we need — investment. The city's website states that the "annual probability of a water infrastructure issue arising in New Orleans is 100%," a phenomenon that causes periodic boil-water advisories due to loss of pressure and deprives residences and tourists of access to safe, clean water. Unless you've worked in the French Quarter, as I have, you will never understand the feeling of shame as customers scrunch their faces in disgust after you explain that the restaurant cannot offer them tap water. You can offer them bottled water, as we do. Still, they begin to question everything, from the cup of tea you pour for them to the quality of the water food is prepared in. The worst part is that the city provides limited information on the duration of the problem or advice on how to explain this problem. Been there, done that. Not fun.

To make matters worse, New Orleans and other cities in southeast Louisiana are currently facing the threat of salt-water intrusion, which experts expect will deprive residents of access to safe drinking water for months. What is "salt-water intrusion," you may be asking yourself. Due to drought conditions, salt water from the Gulf of Mexico has begun to seep in and flow upriver. Since residents in New Orleans and southeast Louisiana depend on water from the Mississippi River, this salt-water intrusion was a slow-moving disaster. In September, President Joe Biden declared a federal emergency for the "salt-water intrusion in the Mississippi River, " threatening New Orleans' water infrastructure.” Thankfully, the Army Corps of Engineers says they will be able to mitigate this salt-water intrusion problem by mixing water, but that still doesn’t solve the problem of New Orleans’ crumbling water infrastructure. In Essence, Gabrielle Perry pointed out that the new Governor-Elect has threatened to withhold funding to fix New Orleans' "decaying water infrastructure" until city officials willingly prosecute women seeking abortions and reproductive healthcare providers.

Black people living in New Orleans, particularly those who remember the Bush administration's disastrous governmental response to Hurricane Katrina, a category five storm that killed over a thousand residents and displaced millions along the Gulf Coast, are no strangers to neglect. They remember what it's like to wade through flooded waters, looking for food, water, and shelter, to lose their homes and worldly possessions in the blink of an eye. However, now that the new governor-elect is planning to intentionally deprive resources to New Orleans if officials continue to protect women's rights, this is more than neglect; it's an attack on a city ten feet below sea level, struggling to stay afloat. We are a city that welcomes the world with open arms, yet we're often mistreated or used as a political hot potato. Girls, women, and pregnant people need their rights protected. And the citizens of New Orleans deserve access to clean, safe drinking water. This quid pro quo, tying the two together, is undoubtedly cruel.

So, if you're wondering why women's rights are tied to New Orleans' crumbling water infrastructure, you'll have to ask the new governor-elect, Jeff Landry. He's the only one who seems to think that threatening New Orleans as city officials and the federal government attempt to mitigate this natural disaster is a good idea. Far too often, predominately Black cities are deprived of access to clean water, like Jackson, Mississippi, and Flint, Michigan. Now, you can add New Orleans, Louisiana, to the list. Elections have consequences, and while most residents in New Orleans voted against Jeff Landry, he won the support of outlying parishes. Strangely enough, Landry hasn't even been sworn in yet, and already, he's targeting predominately Black parishes. This is only the beginning.

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