Louisiana lawmakers oppose adding exceptions for rape and incest to the abortion ban

Despite pleas from Democrats and heartbreaking testimony from doctors and rape survivors, a GOP-controlled legislative committee on Tuesday rejected a bill that would have added cases of rape and incest as exceptions to Louisiana’s abortion ban.

In the reliably red state, firmly anchored in the Bible Belt and where even some Democrats oppose abortion, establishing exemptions to Louisiana’s strict law has been a constant battle for advocates – a similar measure failed last year. Currently, six of the 14 states with bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy have exceptions for rape and five have exceptions for incest.

“I’m going to ask the (committee) members to come to their senses,” Democratic Rep. Alonzo Knox told his fellow lawmakers before the vote, urging them to agree to the exceptions. “I’m begging now.”

MPs voted across party lines against the bill, but the measure failed by a vote of 4-7.

A nearly identical bill suffered the same fate last year, failing in virtually the same committee. Hoping to advance the bill out of committee and to full debate in the House, Democratic Rep. Delisha Boyd, who sponsors the bill, added an amendment to the measure so that the exemptions would only apply to those younger than 17 . The change still wasn’t enough to convince opponents.

“We have cases here in Louisiana where children are raped and then forced to give birth,” said Boyd, a Democrat who shared her own mother’s story to fight for the law’s passage. “I hope that we are clear that this is about protecting the most vulnerable, our children.”

Boyd said she will continue to try to get the bill to the floor and may ask the House chamber to vote to bypass committee. However, this technique is rarely successful for Democrats in the legislature, where Republicans have a supermajority.

While most who voted against the bill did not provide a reason for their vote, Republican Rep. Dodie Horton expressed her thoughts, saying that while she believes convicted rapists should receive the maximum sentence possible, she did but cannot in good conscience allow abortions. She described the fetuses as “innocent children.”

“I think we should punish the perpetrator to the utmost. I would happily hang it on the main street if it were in my power. But I cannot condone killing innocent people,” Horton said.

Like several other Republican states, Louisiana’s abortion law went into effect in 2022 following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade repealed, ending half a century of nationwide abortion rights. The only exceptions to the ban are when there is a significant risk of death or impairment to the mother if she continues the pregnancy, or in the case of “medically futile” pregnancies – when the fetus has a fatal anomaly.

Democrats have repeatedly fought — and failed — to loosen the law by clarifying vague language, eliminating prison time for doctors who perform illegal abortions and adding exemptions.

“It’s abhorrent to me that we have a society where we can’t make exceptions when a young girl’s innocence is taken away in the most despicable way… and now she’s impregnated and someone somewhere wants to force a pregnancy.” 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 year old child to have a baby for the monster that took her innocence?” said Knox.

The bill drew dozens of people to testify, including rape survivors who told their own stories and doctors who argued that their hands were tied by the current law.

The gynecologist Dr. Neelima Sukhavasi told MPs that since the abortion ban came into force, she and other colleagues have delivered babies born to teenagers who were raped.

“One of these teenagers gave birth while clutching a teddy bear – and that’s an image that once you see it, you can’t ignore it,” Sukhavasi said.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7,444 abortions were reported in Louisiana in 2021. Of these, 27 were carried out by people under the age of 15. According to the CDC, 1,338 pregnant patients under the age of 15 received abortions nationwide.

A study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that between July 2022 and January 2024, there were more than 64,000 pregnancies resulting from rape in states that banned abortion in all or most cases.