Louisiana Lawmakers Advance Bill Making Abortion Homicide—Even If Roe V. Wade Isn’t Overturned

Topline

Louisiana lawmakers advanced a bill out of committee Wednesday that could make having an abortion grounds to be charged with homicide, going far beyond other state-level punishments for abortion, and could take effect whether the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade or not.

Demonstrators protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on May 3 in Washington.

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Key Facts

HB813 passed the Louisiana House Appropriations Committee in a 7-2 vote and will now go to the full House for debate.

The bill “fully recognize[s]

the human personhood of an unborn child” starting at the “moment of fertilization” and grants embryos and fetuses the same rights under law as human beings out of the womb.

This means having, assisting or performing an abortion would be classified as homicide.

The legislation would take effect immediately even if federal abortion rights are still in place and the Supreme Court hasn’t overturned Roe v. Wade, as the bill stipulates it should be enforced “without regard to the opinions and judgments of the Supreme Court of the United States in Roe v. Wade” or any other past or future abortion-related rulings, as well as any federal statutes or executive orders.

Any state judge who tries to block the law should be impeached or removed, the bill states.

What To Watch For

The legislation is likely to get tied up in court if it gets enacted into law, as even proponents of the bill acknowledged Wednesday it may violate the Constitution.

What We Don’t Know

How far-reaching the legislation’s consequences could be. Critics pointed out during the hearing Wednesday the bill could stretch far past abortion and punish those who participate in in vitro fertilization, as not all eggs fertilized during IVF may be successful in terms of bringing about a pregnancy, meaning some would be “killed” as defined by HB813. It could also potentially be used to punish those who take birth control pills, which prevents fertilization, or emergency contraception methods like Plan B, attorneys opposed to the bill noted Wednesday, the Louisiana Illuminator reports.

Chief Critic

“This bill undermines the very system of government in this country,” New Orleans lawyer Gwyneth O’Neill told the committee during Wednesday’s hearing, as quoted by the Advocate. “This bill is reckless. This bill is bad law. This bill is blatantly unconstitutional.”

Key Background

The Louisiana bill moved forward two days after Politico reported the Supreme Court may soon let states outlaw abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade, based on a draft opinion from February that declares the 1973 ruling “egregiously wrong.” Louisiana is one of 13 states that’s set to immediately ban abortion if the court does strike Roe down through “trigger bans” that will go into effect once there’s a ruling. HB813 goes far beyond the state’s existing trigger ban, which would make performing an abortion a crime punishable by up to two years in prison and a $1,000 fine. While many abortion bans that will take effect make performing an abortion a felony punishable by prison time, none punish the person having the abortion themselves, making HB813 particularly extreme in relation.