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Bill Classifying Abortion as Homicide Is Advanced by Louisiana Lawmakers - The New York Times

The proposal threatens to prosecute women who end a pregnancy, a possible new frontier in the abortion debate as the Supreme Court appears inclined to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The State Legislature in Louisiana advanced a proposal this week that would classify abortion as homicide, going further than anti-abortion measures in other states by making it possible for prosecutors to bring criminal cases against women who end a pregnancy.

The measure was approved, 7 to 2, by a committee in the State House of Representatives, energized by a leaked draft of an opinion indicating that a majority of Supreme Court justices would vote in favor of overturning the constitutional right to abortion.

Still, supporters argued that the legislation should not hinge on the Supreme Court’s final decision. Instead, proponents are pushing for what they see as an urgent effort to halt access to abortion in Louisiana. The bill defines personhood as beginning from the moment of fertilization.

“No compromises,” the Rev. Brian Gunter, pastor of First Baptist Church in Livingston and a leading supporter of the bill, told lawmakers before they voted on Wednesday. “No more waiting.”

Critics assailed the legislation as “blatantly unconstitutional” and said it could have sweeping detrimental consequences, intended or otherwise. In addition to punishing women who obtain abortions, opponents said the bill would arguably criminalize in vitro fertilization and forms of birth control.

The proposal is “a barbaric bill that would subject people to murder prosecutions, punishable by life without parole, for having abortions,” Chris Kaiser, the advocacy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, said in a statement. The vote for the bill to advance out of committee, Mr. Kaiser added, “gives me grave concern for what’s to come.”

“Supporters of this legislation,” he continued, “expressed no reservations about imprisoning people for exercising control of their reproduction.”

The bill’s ultimate prospects are unclear. Yet the legislation in Louisiana reflects some of the immediate fallout of the leaked Supreme Court draft and is one of the more aggressive approaches that could emerge as lawmakers and activists contemplate redrawn lines in the abortion debate if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

Lawmakers in Louisiana, a deeply conservative state, have a strong history of backing anti-abortion measures. Louisiana is the only state in the Deep South with a Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards, but he has supported anti-abortion legislation, angering many in his party by backing a state law barring abortions, including in cases of rape and incest, at any time after the pulsing of what becomes the fetus’s heart can be detected.

Asked about the bill now being considered, a spokeswoman for Mr. Edwards said the governor “doesn’t often weigh in on legislation that hasn’t made it to his desk.”

Although lawmakers in conservative states have advanced a barrage of measures intended to restrict access to abortion, including the prospect of criminal charges for providers, pursuing prosecutions against those who obtain the abortions has divided anti-abortion activists.

While campaigning for president in 2016, Donald J. Trump drew immediate blowback after he said patients who seek abortions should be subject to “some form of punishment.” He walked back his statement, saying later, “The woman is a victim in this case, as is the life in her womb.”

Louisiana is one of roughly a dozen states with a so-called trigger law, which would quickly make abortion unlawful if the Supreme Court overturns the constitutional right to an abortion. A challenge to a Mississippi abortion law has paved the way for the court to reconsider Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision establishing that right.

Still, proponents of the new bill in Louisiana argue that the trigger law is not enough. If passed, the bill would immediately ban abortion in the state, even before the Supreme Court issues its final decision. The bill would also enable the Legislature to ignore court rulings it disagrees with.

“Louisiana has already defied federal law by legalizing medical marijuana,” said Danny McCormick, the Republican representative who sponsored the bill. “If more than 15 states can defy the federal government over marijuana, we can do it to save the lives of innocent babies.”

Critics said — and even some supporters acknowledged — that the legislation, if passed, would likely be thwarted by the courts. Even so, detractors argued that the bill was reckless and stood to have devastating implications.

“It sets a precedent that could undermine our very system of government,” Gwyneth O’Neill, a lawyer who spoke against the bill, said during a hearing on Wednesday. “This bill is blatantly unconstitutional in many different ways.”

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