Louisiana Governor Vetoes Anti-Abortion Bill

Gov. Buddy Roemer on Friday vetoed a strict anti-abortion bill overwhelmingly approved last week by the Louisiana Legislature, setting the stage for an override effort.

Roemer said the bill puts too much pressure on doctors and burdens rape victims with a requirement they report sexual attacks within a week.

“As the bill stands now, its definitions and terminology are so vague that doctors will be unwilling to risk their liberty and professional careers by terminating any form of pregnancy at all,” he said. “And that’s the word of doctors, not me.”

Roemer had met with advocates from both sides of the abortion issue, including doctors, and had lunch with abortion rights activists at the governor’s mansion before the announcement.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Sam Theriot (D-Abbeville) could imprison doctors who perform abortions for one to 10 years and fine them up to $100,000. Its backers hope it will be used to overturn the 1973 Supreme Court decision that established abortion rights.

Theriot said he will lobby to override the veto, and supporters said they may call for an override vote as early as next week.

Roemer said he still considers himself an opponent of legal abortion in most cases but that exceptions in the bill allowing abortions for victims of rape and incest were too restrictively drawn.

Roemer vetoed similar legislation last year because it did not allow abortions for victims of rape or incest. Theriot’s bill did.

The governor’s floor leaders tried to persuade lawmakers to liberalize rape and incest provisions and to allow abortions in cases in which fetuses are so badly deformed that they would not live long past birth.

“Once again, the governor has sided with the abortion providers. He is clearly a pro-abortion candidate,” said Sharon Fontenot of the Louisiana chapter of the National Right to Life Committee.

Roemer’s action was praised by the National Abortion Rights Action League in Washington. Kate Michelman, the executive director, said the bill was dangerous to women and urged state lawmakers not to override the veto.

“He heard the message that we are not for abortion, we are for the right to make these most personal and private decisions,” said Terri Bartlett, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Louisiana.

Theriot’s bill allows abortions for rape and incest victims in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy. But, to get an abortion, rape victims would have to have sought medical attention within five days of the rape and reported the crime to police within seven days of its occurrence.

Roemer wanted to give women 30 days to seek medical treatment and 45 days to report the rape.