Louisiana Senate Rescues Abortion Bill

The Louisiana Senate on Wednesday voted to keep alive a bill that places a virtual ban on abortions, less than three hours after a Senate panel deadlocked on the measure.

The Senate voted 35 to 4 to keep the bill alive, but several senators said their vote should not be construed as meaning they are in favor of the legislation.

The floor action occurred after the Senate Health and Welfare Committee had voted to take no action on the anti-abortion bill.

The seven-member Health and Welfare Committee--with one member who has supported previous anti-abortion measures absent--recorded several tie votes after more than two hours of debate.

The bill already has been passed by the state House. If enacted, it would become the nation’s toughest state anti-abortion law and could set up a Supreme Court challenge to the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, which made abortion legal in all states.

The Louisiana measure would make it a crime to perform an abortion in Louisiana unless the mother’s life were threatened by the pregnancy. Doctors performing abortions could be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison and fined $100,000.

The committee decision not to recommend the bill was a major blow to its sponsors. Under Senate rules, the 39-member Senate had to approve a procedural motion later Wednesday to keep the bill alive. That vote would not have been necessary had the committee recommended the measure.

Gov. Buddy Roemer, a Democrat who opposes abortion, has said he opposes the legislation because it does not include a provision allowing abortions in cases of rape and incest.