Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 9, 1990 TAG: 9007090134
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BATON ROUGE, LA. LENGTH: Medium
The state Senate earlier had failed to override the governor's veto of an even harsher measure that would have restricted abortion even in cases of rape and incest.
To pass Sunday night's measure, legislators cannibalized a failing flag-burning law and outlawed abortion by creating a new crime: simple battery of abortion. The bill was hurried through the Legislature hours after the override failed.
The bill passed 83-22 in the House after a 32-7 vote in the Senate. It passes now to Gov. Buddy Roemer.
The bill bans abortions except in cases of rape, incest or where the mother's life is in danger. It carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine for doctors who perform abortions. It would not penalize the woman who seeks the abortion.
Simple battery in Louisiana ordinarily is a misdemeanor, with a maximum six-month prison term and $500 fine.
Pennsylvania currently has the strictest state abortion law, but it is less restrictive than the Louisiana bill.
The Senate earlier had failed to override Roemer's veto of a bill that didn't allow abortion even in instances of rape and incest. So Sen. John Saunders amended anti-abortion language onto an unrelated bill.
Roemer has indicated he would accept an abortion bill that contained the rape and incest exceptions. Through a spokeswoman, Roemer said he had not seen Sunday's bill and would not comment on it until today.
Abortion rights supporters reacted with incredulity.
"We've just seen the Legislature go from the most restrictive abortion bill in the nation to the most absurd," said Terri Bartlett of Planned Parenthood of Louisiana. "The only thing that surpasses it is the mockery of the legislative process."
"Only in Louisiana could you have a flag-burning bill become an abortion bill."
Rep. Woody Jenkins, the original bill's author, voted against the new version because of his belief "that the unborn is a human being from the moment of conception and we ought not make exceptions to the principle.
"Even though I could not vote for the bill in the form that passed out, it is my hope and prayer that it will be used to test the continued validity of Roe vs. Wade, that it will be used to stop the senseless killing of millions of unborn children."
Proponents of the abortion bill hope it will be challenged all the way to the Supreme Court, leading to a showdown over the 1973 high court ruling that legalized abortion.
The bill Saunders chose to amend was another controversial bill - one that would lower the penalty to a $25 fine for people who beat up flag burners. His version of the bill stripped it of the flag burning provisions and inserted the abortion issue.
Saunders said his amendment was the only chance the state had of passing an anti-abortion bill.
"I don't want any more abortions than we have to have," he said.
The Senate sustained Roemer's veto of the earlier bill Saturday with a 23-16 vote to override, three short of the needed two-thirds majority.
As the Senate began its work Sunday, some 1,000 demonstrators gathered on the Capitol steps and in the rotunda that separates the Senate and House chambers. A strong majority appeared to be backers of the anti-abortion bill, but there were also scores of abortion rights activists.
Near the doors of the rotunda, in black spray paint, someone had scrawled the words "Stop Killing the Innocent." A few feet away, abortion-rights advocates had taped a poster to the wall that read simply "Sustain, Sustain, Sustain."
by CNB