Monday, June 19, 2006

Louisiana passes bill to ban abortion

Holy crap. Looks like that Roe v. Wade showdown might be coming a little sooner than expected.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Governor Kathleen Blanco has signed a bill banning abortions in Louisiana, but for it to take effect, the United States Supreme Court would have to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Roe v. Wade was the landmark decision that made abortion legal.

The bill Blanco signed would prohibit abortion, except when necessary to save the life of the mother. The bill does not include protections for women in cases of rape and incest.

The ban could also take effect if the U-S Constitution is amended to allow states to prohibit abortions.


I'm actually fairly moderate on the abortion debate. I think it's wrong, and I'd never even suggest that anyone go that route, but I believe that women ought to have the choice. I believe it should be much more restricted (no partial birth abortions; it should be restricted to the first trimester). And like many legal scholars I believe Roe v. Wade is bad law, and the legality of abortion should be left to the state. If the people of a state don't want abortion, they should be allowed to vote on it or have their elected representatives pass legislation to that effect.

So we'll see where the Supreme Court goes with this. Ought to be interesting...

UPDATE @ 11:48am: South Dakota has a strikingly similar bill pending (bans abortion in all cases unless mother's life is in danger, even in cases or rape and incest) that will take the matter straight to the voters in the November 7th elections.