Much has been made of the Louisiana State Legislature’s advancement of the Abolition of Abortion in Louisiana Act.
“There is no exception for rape, incest or interventions to save the life of the mother,” Nick Kristof wrote on Substack. Kristof provides a list of hypothetical scenarios, including a woman undergoing an ectopic pregnancy considering forgoing lifesaving treatment for fear of prosecution and a woman experiencing miscarriage after a workout potentially facing manslaughter charges.
But the bill in question explicitly states that “nothing in this Section shall alter any existing presumption, defense, justification, immunity, or clemency.”
Among other exemptions, existing Louisiana law states that “nothing in this Section may be construed to subject the pregnant mother upon whom any abortion is performed or attempted to any criminal conviction and penalty.”
Furthermore, under existing law, it’s explicitly not unlawful “for a licensed physician to perform a medical procedure necessary in reasonable medical judgment to prevent the death or substantial risk of death due to a physical condition, or to prevent the serious, permanent impairment of a life-sustaining organ of a pregnant woman.”