The nation's leading pro-life organization expressed satisfaction yesterday with Louisiana's newest abortion ban. but noted concern over the exceptions allowing the procedure to insure the health of the mother. However. neither Operation Rescue nor any other advocacy group. pro-life or pro-choice. pointed out that the new abortion law barely changes existing Louisiana statutes at all.
This new abortion ban. passed out of the state senate this week. would punish doctors who perform abortions with possible 10 year prison sentences and $100. but allows exceptions to save the life of the mother or if the mother's health would be seriously damaged. It can only go into effect if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. or the U.S. Constitution is amended to allow states to decide on the legality of abortion.
"We are happy for any restrictions to the brutal killing of innocent babies by abortion." said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "But we would have liked to have seen a ban that would go into effect without having to wait on the Supreme Court or a Constitutional Amendment. Both of those processes can take decades. and the children that are scheduled to die today. and next week simply do not have that time to wait."
"The health exception is also a concern to us because we have seen abortionists make careers out of exploiting the health exception clauses in state laws to include any abortion at any stage of pregnancy for any reason." said Newman.
The health exception. which would allow abortions in circumstances where grievous damage would be done to a women's health i.e. prohibiting future pregnancies or intensifying existing medical frailties. is in actuality the only real change in existing abortion law.
If Roe v. Wade were overturned tomorrow. current Louisiana statutes already ban the vast majority of abortions. As recently as the Roemer Administration. this restriction was revisited confirming exceptions only in the cases of rape. or danger to the life of the mother.
Newman expressed dissatisfaction with "heath" exceptions due to a perception that any physical or mental stresses that accompany abortions could. in the eyes of some doctors. do permanent damage to the patient. The Operation Rescue head wondered aloud in a recent interview if post-partum depression would constitute such a permanent harm in some doctor's reasoning. Such a circumstance would qualify most mothers for abortions.
The health change aside. which most other observers contend would be limited to very specific physical circumstances. some insiders have begun to question why the legislature would spend two weeks discussing a bill that would have very little statutory affect. Good government advocate CB Forgotston told The Louisiana Weekly that the new abortion bill constituted little bit more than a political feint.
"The legislators wanted to look like they were doing something. This way they could pass a bill and not really change anything. They could tell the pro-lifers that they had passed a tough bill. but then they could turn to the pro-choice people and say that this does not really change anything; Roe v. Wade is still in force."



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