Critics have expressed concern over a measure passed by Louisiana senators on Wednesday that would classify abortion as a homicide, potentially allowing authorities to charge women and girls with murder and prohibiting in vitro fertilization, among other things.
Two days after Politico published a leaked Supreme Court draft judgment indicating that the court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade, the measure, named the Abolition of Abortion in Louisiana Act, passed out of a state House subcommittee by a vote of 7 to 2.
The bill will now be considered by the entire House of Representatives. Before it could become law, the measure would still need to receive the support of both the Senate and the governor.
At a hearing on Wednesday, the bill’s sponsor, Danny McCormick, drew a comparison between the attempt to circumvent federal laws protecting abortion and the state’s approval of medicinal marijuana for medical purposes.
The governor asserted that “if more than 15 states can stand up to the federal government, we can do it to spare the lives of innocent newborns.” In the meanwhile, we must not lose hope that the Supreme Court will rule that innocent infants have the right to life.
“The taking of a life is considered murder, and it is against the law,” he said.
Specifically, according to the bill’s text, the state should reject federal abortion decisions such as Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in order to “ensure the right to life and equal protection of the law for all unborn children from the time of conception.”
Reports from Reuters claim that the bill would amend state legislation to allow police to punish someone pregnant with homicide or criminal violence “at any stage of gestation,” according to lawyer Ellie Schilling, who represents reproductive health care providers.
New legislation in Louisiana might result in the prosecution of those who have abortions or those who assist them, according to a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana.
A Reuters report stated that the campaign director for the bill, Chris Kaiser, claimed that the definition of an unfertilized egg before implantation as a person might prevent in vitro fertilization and a variety of other forms of birth control from being used.
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McCormick did not discuss the potential of criminalizing in vitro fertilization (IVF) at the hearing on Wednesday. His office did not respond to a request for comment within a short period.