The White House was straightforward in its strong disagreement with Louisiana's anti-abortion bill, put in place in the event that the Supreme Court overturns Row vs.Wade. The bill was approved by Louisiana Legislature last week and it would ban abortion procedures and impose serious criminal charges and jail time on doctors who will be performing the procedures.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement, last Monday, that what Louisiana is doing are such 'radical measures' that its legislature has become the "latest step in a growing attack against the fundamental freedoms of Americans", as reported by The Hill.
Press secretary Jean-Pierre assured the public, however, that the President is continually devoted to defending and safeguarding the constitutional rights of Americans afforded by Roe for nearly 50 years, and every woman's right to decide about their lives, bodies, and families.
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Abortion To Be Banned Without Exception From Rape Or Incest
Quoted by Louisiana Illuminator, the White House press secretary further scrutinized the said bill and described it to be "extreme" as it will criminalize abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest.
Moreover, while the said prohibits criminal penalties from being applied to women who end their own pregnancies, abortion rights advocates defend that the latter could still be penalized under other existing abortion statutes.
In a separate article reported by Louisiana Illuminator, Louisiana's criminal code defines person as "a human being from the moment of fertilization and implantation," making it a whole in the bill that can possibly allow prosecution of anybody who ends a pregnancy and not just the abortion providers.
Women's Access To Quality Health Care Harder
Dr. Sara Lever, an obstetrics and gynecology resident, expressed her fears saying that there is a great probability that the bill will make "women's health care less accessible, less patient-centered, less equitable and most importantly, not more safe." Thus, she strongly opposes the bill.
She continued by saying that she loves her job as a doctor for women but what she hates is, "When a woman is at her most vulnerable point, where she has been left to feel like there are no options like she has no control in one of the scariest times of her life."
Senate Bill 342, sponsored by Sen. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, is already on the desk of Gov. John Bel Edwards, Democratic governor, who opposes abortion. U.S News stated that he is expected to sign the bill but emphasized that he would want to study it first. Despite the serious enhancement in penalties, he sees that the bill is plotted to "harmonize" laws already on the books, making abortion illegal when Roe v. Wade is overturned, which may happen sometime later this month.
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