The second week of the 2014 Louisiana Legislature was an eventful one, with a bill sailing through the House Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday that would place strict requirements on abortion providers across the state.
HB 388, filed by Democratic Rep. Katrina Jackson of District 16, permits only state-licensed physicians to perform abortions in Louisiana clinics, and also mandates that these physicians have admitting privileges at a local hospital should complications arise during the procedure.
Pro-choice advocates say the bill, if signed into law, would immediately close down three of Louisiana’s five abortion clinics, according to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.
Psychology freshman Cisco Gonzales said Jackson’s legislation is one of the most important bills in Louisiana.
Gonzales, a member of Students for Life, said several members of the anti-abortion University group rallied Wednesday at the Capitol in support of the bill.
“This is another bill that will help strengthen abortion laws and hopefully let Louisiana become the first state without abortion,” Gonzales said.
Rebecca Stewart, president of Feminists in Action at LSU, said in a Facebook message that HB 388 has “absolutely no medical benefit” and noted that “politicians are behind the bill, not doctors.”
“This bill will only further restrict the already sparse health care resources in Louisiana, and its current success is only a reflection of the willful ignorance of the politicians in support of it,” Stewart said.
Early last month, Gov. Bobby Jindal and the state Department of Health and Hospitals rescinded the state’s new emergency rules for abortion clinics amid an outcry from abortion rights supporters across Louisiana.
The now-void rules, which were enacted last November, would have placed new floor space requirements on the clinics and required the hiring of more specialized staffers.
Also on Wednesday in the legislature, the House Committee on House and Governmental Affairs passed a bill that would eliminate the “No Party” option as a political affiliation in the state.
HB 193, filed by independent Rep. Jerome “Dee” Richard of District 55, would instead allow lawmakers to identify as “independent.”