Louisiana’s New Abortion Law

Utah was first this year. Louisiana went last month. How many other states can be far behind? The security of women’s rights guaranteed under Roe vs. Wade is vanishing under political pressure from the Bush Administration and the current U.S. Supreme Court. The Louisiana Legislature voted to override Gov. Buddy Roemer’s veto and supported a punitive abortion law that will sentence offending doctors to 10 years of hard labor.

Curiously, it did not impose criminal penalties for women seeking abortions. Obviously the legislators feel that women are incapable of making decisions. The Louisiana law smacks of the self-righteous sexism that is at the heart of the anti-choice movement.

These self-appointed moral arbiters say they are concerned about the fetus. But if they truly cared about the sanctity of life and believe abortion is murder, why would they only prosecute doctors and not the women who made the decision to terminate their pregnancies? Isn’t the contractor just as guilty as the hired gun? The answer lies in the anti-choice movement’s irrational belief that women are not capable of being responsible, moral decision-makers.

Until we decide collectively that the true criminals are the lawmakers who knowingly pass such barbarous laws, many more women and responsible medical personnel will suffer. Let’s work to have the federal government pass the Freedom of Choice Act and set a national standard of protection for choice that cannot be violated by individual states.

After all, if you can’t trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a child?

ROBIN SCHNEIDER

Associate Director

California Abortion Rights Action League

Santa Monica