Governor Gets New Louisiana Abortion Bill

The Louisiana Legislature late Sunday night passed a new abortion bill--making it illegal for anyone to perform an abortion in the state, except in cases of rape or incest or if the mother’s life is in danger.

Just hours before, another, even stricter bill banning abortion except in cases of danger to a mother’s life appeared destined to defeat because its backers could not muster the two-thirds vote necessary in the state Senate to override a governor’s veto.

Then, Sen. John Saunders proposed adding the rape and incest exceptions as an amendment to a totally unrelated bill on flag-burning. The amendment incorporated the original abortion bill’s stiff penalties for performing illegal abortions: a $100,000 fine and up to 10 years in jail.

The new measure passed the Senate by a 32-7 vote and the House of Representatives, 83 to 22.

It now goes to Gov. Buddy Roemer for his signature to become law, or possibly another veto. A spokesperson in the governor’s office said Roemer would have to study the amendment before deciding whether to sign or veto it. But Roemer has indicated in the past he would accept such a bill.

Terri Bartlett, a lobbyist for Louisiana Planned Parenthood, held a late-night press conference in which she said the new bill is “the most restrictive in the nation and also the most absurd. The only thing that matches it is the mockery of the process in which it was passed.”

But Saunders said he proposed the new measure because he was troubled by the possibility of all proposed abortion restrictions going down to defeat simply because the old measure lacked the rape and incest exceptions as Roemer had demanded all along.

“We’ve been handcuffed,” said Saunders. “The question is now do we accept defeat or do we do all that is left to do? Do we save as many of those 15,000 babies as we can, or do we say wait until next year?” (His reference was to the number of abortions now performed annually in the state.)

With just one day to go until the close of the 1990 legislative session here, anti-abortion lawmakers had given up on an attempt to override Roemer’s veto of the earlier abortion bill, called the strictest in the nation.

In constructing the new measure, Saunders, a Democrat, stripped out all of the bill’s language about flag-burning. That made the flag bill--which sought to cut down to $25 the maximum fine for beating someone who burned the flag--a measure entirely devoted to abortion instead.

“We’ll sacrifice (the flag-desecration bill) to the cause,” Saunders said. “We’ll amend it to make it the abortion bill.” However, questions about the constitutionality of the entire procedure were being raised even as the bill went to the House.

Democratic Sen. Mike Cross, who had sponsored the vetoed bill, opposed Saunders’ maneuver. He argued that exceptions for incest and rape weaken the state’s chance to successfully challenge the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized most abortions.

The real purpose of the bill had been specifically to make a court test case of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision.

On Saturday the Senate, after hours of debate, had voted 23 to 16 to override the governor’s veto of the original, stricter measure--three short of the two-thirds needed to override. But Cross and Rep. Louis (Woody) Jenkins, a Democrat from Baton Rouge--the author of the strict anti-abortion bill in the House--vowed to try again before the Legislature concluded its business at midnight tonight. The legislators were allowed to vote one more time under Senate rules.

On Sunday prospects for passage had grown dimmer by the hour. “We don’t have the votes to override and I’m concerned that we don’t bring this bill back up again unless we do have the votes,” said Sen. Allen Bares.

The political maneuvering went on in an atmosphere of drama. For the second day activists and protesters flooded the Capitol grounds to demonstrate their support of the measure in 90-degree temperatures, and, at one point, in a sudden cloudburst with flashes of lightning.

In the Capitol rotunda, many demonstrators sat quietly in prayer group circles on the marble floor. They wore signs and buttons with a one-word message: “Override.”

Other anti-abortion protesters sang hymns, spoke in tongues, and raised their hands to the skies, some openly weeping. Several people handed out flyers claiming that Mother Teresa, the world-renowned missionary, was in favor of the Cross-Jenkins anti-abortion bill.

Those opposed to the abortion bill also made their presence noted, but in far smaller numbers, carrying signs with the legend: “Who decides--you or them?”

Janet Meyers, a Baton Rouge resident who said she was opposed to the abortion bill, also said she was disturbed by the religious themes displayed by anti-abortion activists. “These are evangelical, fundamentalist extremists, many led by male ministers who want nothing more than to keep their women subjugated, and they’re trying to dictate their beliefs to the rest of us.”

Jenkins, however, who was loudly cheered by onlookers as he entered the ornate Senate lobby Sunday afternoon, said the anti-abortion activists were a positive force “working to save the rights of thousands of the unborn in Louisiana.”