NO COMPROMISE - Ben Clapper, executive director of Louisiana Right to Life, the largest anti-abortion organization in the state says his group has no intention to compromise on the state’s strict abortion law and has plans to make it even stricter during the upcoming legislative session next spring.
Louisiana’s abortion ban went into effect under a trigger law right after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade which made abortion legal in the U.S. for almost 50 years. Louisiana’s law bans abortion at any point in a pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape and incest. The only exceptions are to save the life of the pregnant woman or to terminate a pregnancy deemed “medically futile” . Clapper told the Baton Rouge Press club yesterday that his group wants lawmakers to remove the “medically futile” exceptions list.
“We would support removing the medical futile list, we’re still figuring out exactly what our priorities are for the next legislative session,” Clapper said.
Both Anti-abortion and abortion advocates have taken issue with the Louisiana Department of Health’s list of enumerated conditions that make a pregnancy futile allowing a legal standing for abortion. Last week physicians testified before a Louisiana legislative hearing to tell lawmakers that LDH’s list generates more legal confusion for doctors and women who may encounter medical emergencies during a pregnancy.
