BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Governor John Bel Edwards, a pro-life Democrat, said he opposes the bill that would criminalize abortion in Louisiana.
Gov. Edwards’ spokesperson said Edwards calls the bill “problematic” and “patently unconstitutional.” She also said that the governor believes a woman shouldn’t be put in jail if she has an abortion, goes through IVF, or uses contraception.
“In my opinion, it moves in the wrong direction because it would make it a crime for the mother to have an abortion, whether it was a procedure or whether it is medication,” said Gov. Edwards at the Baton Rouge Rotary Club.
The state of Louisiana has “trigger laws,” which would ban abortions immediately if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned.
“It is patently unconstitutional because there is language in the bill that says that no Supreme Court decision, past, present or future, would ever be binding in Louisiana if it was not consistent with that bill,” said Gov. Edwards.
Gov. Edwards said he doesn’t believe the bill will make it to his desk.
The bill introduced by Rep. Danny McCormick that would classify abortions as homicide advanced on Wednesday, May 4. To read HB813, click here.