Abortion again legal in Louisiana – for a few days at least

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Abortion is once again legal in Louisiana – at least until Monday – having been banned, then legalized, then banned a second time in the weeks following the US Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v Wade on June 24, USA Today reports.

In the latest development, a state court in Baton Rouge again blocked a Louisiana “trigger law” which had banned abortion upon the reversal of Roe and set a hearing for Monday in which to decide whether the injunction should remain.

Louisiana’s 2006 trigger law was meant to take effect three days after the US Supreme Court’s decision: it outlaws abortion with no exception for rape or incest but with an exception for when the mother’s life is in danger, USA Today reports.

The law carries a 15-year sentence for those who carry out abortions but no prosecution for pregnant women seeking one.

However, Shreveport’s Hope Medical Group for Women filed suit requesting an injunction because the language of the legislation was too vague. A state district court blocked the trigger law from going into effect, but following an appeal by the Louisiana attorney general, the state Supreme Court reimposed the block by sending the case back down to the lower court.

On Tuesday, Baton Rouge District Judge Donald Johnson lifted the block again until Monday, when both sides will argue their cases, and the court will decide whether to keep abortion available or whether the trigger ban will take effect again.

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