Louisiana Legislature Approves Financing for Some Abortions

Facing the possible loss of up to $3 billion in federal Medicaid funding if they did not act, the Louisiana Legislature agreed on Tuesday to allow public financing of abortions for poor women whose pregnancies result from incest or rape.

The state Senate voted, 28 to 8, for the measure, and the House, which has balked at the legislation in the past, went along on a 59-40 vote. The bill will keep the state in line with a federal law passed last year allowing federal funds be used to help poor women pay for abortions in the case of incest or rape.

Louisiana had allowed such funding only to save the life of the mother, but last month a federal judge ruled that the state could be denied any future Medicaid funding until it complied with federal law. Last week, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia denied an emergency request by Gov. Edwin W. Edwards and other state officials to lift the lower court order requiring the state to pay for the abortions or give up the federal money.

In urging the Legislature to amend its abortion law, Edwards said the loss of federal funding could jeopardize the “health services for approximately 600,000 people in Louisiana . . . . “

Lawmakers meeting in special session since last weekend saw the debate as one pitting access to abortions against the need for federal funds.

“We’re talking about life versus money, that’s what it really comes down to,” said state Rep. Louis (Woody) Jenkins, a Baton Rouge Democrat who urged the state to stick to its original law.

Quentin Dastugue, a Republican representative from the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, said the loss of Medicaid money might be a good thing. “If we lost a couple of hundred million dollars, I think that would be great. It’s time for us to stop relying so much on the federal government and maybe start thinking about cutting back on what we spend.”

But state Sen. Diana Bajoie, a New Orleans Democrat, argued “we should never have a double standard for people in this state, especially for a woman who finds herself in such a traumatic situation where she’s had a tremendous violation committed to her body.”

In the end, faced with the loss of a huge federal subsidy, the voting wasn’t close. Edwards promised to sign the bill immediately.