Unfortunately, the floor debate expected in the Louisiana House did not happen this afternoon–the bill has been moved to tomorrow’s calendar. It’s definitely something to keep an eye on, in addition to a proposed abortion ban in Alabama and personhood amendment in Mississippi that would each effectively make abortion in those states.
In Alabama, the abortion ban (which started out as a personhood bill, but because of some amendments may be more accurately termed an abortion ban) has already passed the Senate and should receive a vote in the House by the end of next week.
In Mississippi, the proposed personhood amendment is widely expected to pass by voter referendum in November, but is currently being challenged as an unconstitutional change to the state’s Bill of Rights before the Mississippi Supreme Court. According to an earlier decision, the pro-abortion litigants “carry a heavy burden in attempting to restrict” the people’s right to change the state constitution by referendum.
Faced with the prospect of effective abortion bans being enacted in multiple states, Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, an attorney for the ACLU’s “Reproductive Freedom Project,” says, “We’ll regroup after the chips fall.” Because they know they can’t prevent them from falling.
