Louisiana’s Democratic governor on Thursday signed a ban on abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy, a move that puts him squarely in line with the leaders of other conservative Southern states, while provoking anger from members of his own party.
With his signature, Governor John Edwards made Louisiana the fifth state to enact a law prohibiting abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected, joining Mississippi, Kentucky, Ohio and Georgia.
Alabama has gone further, outlawing virtually all abortions.
Louisiana’s law does not contain exceptions for pregnancies from rape or incest.
However, the bill’s signing would not affect the state’s three abortion clinics anytime soon. Louisiana’s law takes effect only if the law in neighboring Mississippi, which was recently blocked by a judge, is upheld by a federal appeals court.
Edwards, a Catholic running for re-election this year, did not hold a public bill signing or issue a statement about it, instead announcing his action through his office.
He had repeatedly said that he intended to sign the measure, citing his faith and saying his views match those of the people in his conservative, religious state.
“This is an issue I’ve been consistent on forever. I am pro-life,” he said earlier this month on his radio show, when asked about the bill.
Louisiana legislators overwhelmingly supported the ban , with a 79-23 House vote and 31-5 Senate vote.
Lawmakers in conservative states across the nation are striking at the US Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationally.
Abortion opponents are pushing new restrictions on the procedure in the hopes that a case will make its way to the high court and two new conservative justices appointed by US President Donald Trump could help overturn Roe.
None of the abortion bans enacted this year have taken effect, and all are expected to face legal challenges that will delay any enforcement of the prohibitions against the procedure.
Opponents of the so-called heartbeat bills say that they would effectively eliminate abortion as an option before many women realize they are pregnant and would violate constitutional privacy protections.
Several hundred pink-clad Planned Parenthood supporters filled the Louisiana State Capitol to protest the ban ahead of the bill signing.
“The unprecedented and extreme attacks on abortion we’re seeing across the country, including here in Louisiana, are dangerous to patient health and well-being,” Petrice Sams-Abiodun, with Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said in a statement.
Louisiana’s law includes an exception from the abortion ban to prevent the pregnant woman’s death or “a serious risk of the substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” — or if the pregnancy is deemed “medically futile.”
However, it does not include an exception for a pregnancy caused by rape or incest, drawing criticism that the law forces continued trauma on women who have been victimized.
Under the bill, a doctor who contravenes the prohibition could face a prison sentence of up to two years, along with medical license revocation.
The abortion-rights debates that divide state Capitols across the nation cause fewer ripples in the Louisiana State Legislature. It is one of the country’s most staunchly anti-abortion states, with a law on the books that immediately outlaws abortion if Roe v. Wade is ever overturned.
Louisiana’s latest abortion ban won support from many Democrats and was sponsored by US Senator John Milkovich, a Democrat.
The governor also won some Republican praise for his position.
“While Governor Edwards and I disagree on a lot of things, I’m proud that he stands for life,” said US Representative Julie Emerson, a Republican.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
The pitch is a classic: A young celebrity with no climbing experience spends a year in hard training and scales Mount Everest, succeeding against some — if not all — odds. French YouTuber Ines Benazzouz, known as Inoxtag, brought the story to life with a two-hour-plus documentary about his year preparing for the ultimate challenge. The film, titled Kaizen, proved a smash hit on its release last weekend. Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening in Paris, with Inoxtag’s management on Monday saying the film had smashed the box office record for a special cinema