Nearly two years after Louisiana launched one of the strictest abortion bans in the nation, legislators have killed an effort to let voters decide whether to do away with the ban and enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution.
That decision comes on the heels of a report, sponsored by pro-abortion rights groups, which found that fears of criminal penalties for performing abortions are wreaking havoc on the state’s maternal healthcare system, as doctors hesitate to provide miscarriage care for fear of running afoul of the ban.
Rep. Aimee Adatto Freeman, D-New Orleans, said her proposal, House Bill 245, would address those problems.
“What I’m worried about is our decline in care for even our healthy pregnancies that are out there,” she said. “For people to forgo and not have treatment because doctors are afraid to how to treat them is very worrisome.”
As expected in the Republican-led Legislature, HB 245 teetered early in the legislative process: the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee killed it Monday after a lengthy debate.
GOP lawmakers who opposed the bill said they understood Freeman’s concerns about impacts on healthcare options, but felt the proposal, which would have allowed abortions with no exceptions, went too far.
“Abortion isn’t healthcare. Abortion is … ending the life of someone in the womb,” said Rep. Emily Chenevert, R-Baton Rouge. “This amendment doesn’t protect a child. This amendment doesn’t protect life.”
Opponents also said Louisianans already had a chance to vote on abortion. That happened in 2020, when voters backed a measure that added anti-abortion language to the state constitution.
“I don’t think there is something that has happened in the state since 2020 that would cause a sea change in voter support for the ‘Love Life’ amendment,” Will Hall, public policy director for the Louisiana Baptist Convention, told the committee.
But Freeman noted that amendment was adopted while Roe v. Wade was still in place, arguing the landmark Supreme Court decision in 2022 that overturned that ruling has indelibly altered the abortion landscape.
She pointed to recent LSU polling that found most Louisianans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases and even more believe it is warranted in rape cases. Louisiana’s abortion ban does not provide exceptions for rape and incest, though it does allow physicians to perform abortions if a pregnancy threatens the life of the mother.
Other supporters of the bill pointed to the report, which argues that the exception has complicated medical decisions, sometimes dangerously so, as doctors often avoid providing care early on in pregnancy for fear of going against state law. The report was authored by Lift Louisiana, Physicians for Human Rights, Reproductive Health Impact, and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
One health care provider in the report described a patient who had to remain pregnant despite life-threatening cardiac complications.
“’[S]he was quite sick, and they said, ‘No. We have to maximize all medical management options before we could offer any sort of termination procedure,’” the provider said, according to the report. “And I’m thinking, ‘But what if she doesn’t want to wait that long because she could have a heart attack and die? I don’t know. At what point can you act? How many cardiac meds have to fail?’”
Nancy Davis, who made headlines in 2022 when she was denied an abortion even though her fetus had no skull, testified in support of HB 245.
“These decisions are personal and should be protected from government interference,” Davis said.
Critics of HB 245 argued Louisiana’s existing exceptions provide adequate protections for doctors providing life-saving care.
A physician who sees 3,600 patients a year “told me nothing has changed. She fears no criminalization,” said Ben Clapper, director of Louisiana Right to Life, the state’s powerful anti-abortion lobbying group. “She’s able to care for mothers and babies effectively.”
The committee killed HB 245 in a 10-2, with both yes votes coming from Democrats.
Freeman also is sponsoring House Bill 293, which would clarify that performing an abortion requires the specific intent to terminate a pregnancy. It has been referred to the House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice.
