NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana ladies who’ve abortions won’t be topic to homicide or different felony expenses after legislators revamped an abortion invoice Thursday night time.
The controversial invoice would have ventured farther towards abortion than lawmakers’ efforts in another state. It will have made ladies who finish their pregnancies topic to felony murder prosecutions.
The invoice by Republican Rep. Danny McCormick unleashed rising opposition from conventional supporters of abortion rights and longtime foes of authorized abortion. McCormick abruptly ended debate on the invoice and returned it to the Home calendar after the modification handed 65-26. The invoice seems unlikely for passage except McCormick decides to try to revive it.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows beneath.
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana’s Home of Representatives, venturing farther towards abortion than lawmakers in another state, is debating a invoice to make ladies who finish their pregnancies topic to felony murder prosecutions.
Republican Rep. Danny McCormick pushed for a Home flooring debate on his invoice Thursday afternoon regardless of a crescendo of opposition from conventional supporters of abortion rights and longtime foes of authorized abortion. Louisiana’s anti-abortion governor mentioned he’d veto it, and Louisiana Proper to Life and the Louisiana Convention of Catholic Bishops are towards it.
“To counsel {that a} lady can be jailed for an abortion is just absurd,” Gov. John Bel Edwards, a religious Catholic and a Democrat who has lengthy damaged along with his celebration on the abortion difficulty, mentioned in a information launch Wednesday.
“Our longstanding coverage is that abortion-vulnerable ladies shouldn’t be handled as criminals,” Louisiana Proper to Life mentioned in a press release.
The Catholic bishops mentioned they’re “unequivocally” against the invoice. And the Nationwide Proper to Life Committee on Thursday issued an “open letter to the nation’s state legislators” that did not point out the Louisiana invoice particularly, however mentioned “any measure searching for to criminalize or punish ladies will not be pro-life and we stand firmly against such efforts.”
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McCormick disagrees, saying a lady who has an abortion must be in the identical authorized place as a lady who takes the life of a kid after start. “Once I give equal safety to the unborn, that is the likelihood,” he mentioned in a Wednesday night cellphone interview.
The Home had not but began debating the controversial abortion laws when the constructing was briefly evacuated Thursday after the speaker interrupted proceedings and mentioned an unknown, unclaimed bundle had been discovered within the capitol’s Memorial Corridor — the cavernous gathering space between the Home and the Senate Chambers.
It got here on a day when laws was already transferring slowly as lawmakers tried to discover a compromise on McCormick’s invoice. The Home recessed for greater than an hour whereas lawmakers broke into teams behind closed doorways to debate the laws.
Pending on the time was a brand new modification by Rep. Alan Seabaugh. The Shreveport Republican is an anti-abortion stalwart. However his modification would fully revamp McCormick’s invoice, eliminating the felony penalties for ladies, permitting abortion to save lots of the lifetime of a pregnant lady and okaying using contraceptives.
McCormick’s invoice has drawn intense scrutiny in gentle of final week’s leak of a draft of a U.S. Supreme Courtroom opinion indicating the excessive court docket is making ready to overturn selections upholding a constitutional proper to abortion.
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There’s no indication but that lawmakers in different states are taking over comparable laws. In Idaho, Republican state Rep. Heather Scott has proposed prosecuting ladies who get abortions, however a committee chairman mentioned Friday he wouldn’t enable it. “There are nonetheless affordable individuals within the Legislature who’re going to make sure that excessive payments like that aren’t going to get a listening to,” Rep. Brent Crane mentioned.
“In my committee, I’m not going to listen to that invoice that places a lady on trial for homicide. For those who’ll take that portion of the invoice out, should you’ll put the physician on trial for homicide … then we are able to discuss having a listening to in your invoice,” Crane mentioned on Idaho Public Tv.
McCormick launched his invoice in March in an try to finish abortion no matter what any court docket does.
Along with rewriting murder statutes to incorporate abortion, it declares that any federal legislation, regulation or court docket ruling that permits abortion is void and that any choose who blocks enforcement of the invoice’s provisions could possibly be impeached.
Edwards known as the invoice “patently unconstitutional.”
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He joined critics of the invoice saying it criminalizes some varieties of contraception and elements of the in vitro fertilization course of. McCormick on Thursday mentioned types of contraception that do not destroy a fertilized egg wouldn’t be affected. And he disputes that the invoice would newly criminalize some facets of in vitro fertilization, pointing to state legislation that already grants rights to an “in vitro fertilized human ovum.”
Anti-abortion laws normally passes simply in Louisiana’s Legislature however the emphatic opposition from some anti-abortion stalwarts may bolster makes an attempt to derail the measure or closely amend it.
Louisiana already has legal guidelines on the books criminalizing abortion, together with a “set off legislation” making certain that will probably be a criminal offense if the Supreme Courtroom reverses the Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 ruling establishing abortion rights. The statutes seem to exempt ladies from prosecution, though some abortion rights advocates have recommended they want tightening.
McCormick mentioned the present legal guidelines are insufficient to present fetuses equal safety underneath legislation. “It is a debate we have to have in Louisiana,” he mentioned. “There are good individuals on either side of the talk.”
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Related Press author Holly Ramer contributed to this report from Harmony, New Hampshire.
Copyright 2022 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not revealed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.
Louisiana burst out to a 20-point halftime lead and then tacked on two late scores to beat Troy 51-30 on Saturday at Cajun Field in Lafayette, La.
The Trojans (3-8, 2-5 Sun Belt Conference) led 14-7 after one quarter but allowed 27 straight points in the second to fall behind 34-14 at halftime. After Troy cut the lead to 37-30 in the fourth quarter, Louisiana (9-2, 6-1) scored the final 14 points of the game to pull away.
“As crazy as this game was and the ride this season has been, I could not be more proud of the way that the team came out in the third quarter to get us back into this football game,” Troy coach Gerad Parker said. “There are so many good things, but there weren’t enough good things early. They got up on us, and then, some self-inflicted things made it so we could not get up on them in the second half.”
Troy’s four possessions in the second quarter ended in two interceptions, a three-and-out/punt and a turnover on downs. Louisiana, meanwhile, scored five straight times — three touchdowns and two field goals — in the quarter.
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Matthew Caldwell threw for 230 yards, four touchdowns and a pair of 2-point conversions for Troy, but was intercepted twice. His 1-yard TD pass to Trae Swartz and 2-point pass to Devonte Ross with 11:31 to play made it a 7-point game, but Robert Williams returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown to put the Ragin’ Cajuns back up by 14.
Louisiana’s Bill Davis added a 1-yard touchdown run — his third of the game — with 1:09 left to set the final score. Chandler Fields passed for 323 yards and two TDs for the Ragin’ Cajuns, who can clinch the Sun Belt West championship by winning at Louisiana-Monroe next Saturday.
Kenneth Almandares also kicked three field goals for Louisiana, while Fields threw scoring passes of 20 yards to Tavion Smith and 44 yards to Lance LeGendre. Keyon Martin had a pair of interceptions to lead the Ragin’ Cajuns’ defense, which broke up nine Troy passes.
In addition to the 1-yarder to Swartz, Caldwell’s touchdown passes covered 30 yards to Ross, six yards to Brody Dalton and four yards to Jackson Worley. Caldwell also threw two-point passes to Ross and Landon Parker.
Troy finishes the season at home next week vs. Southern Miss, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The game will stream live via ESPN+.
It’s the final home game of the season for the Arkansas Razorbacks as they host the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in a pivotal matchup at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
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With kickoff set for 4 p.m. ET on ESPN+, the stakes couldn’t be higher for the Razorbacks, who are eyeing bowl eligibility in their final push of the 2024 season.
Jonas Nantze #60 of the Arkansas Razorbacks runs onto the field before a game against the Texas Longhorns at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on November 16, 2024 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Jonas Nantze #60 of the Arkansas Razorbacks runs onto the field before a game against the Texas Longhorns at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on November 16, 2024 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images
How to Watch Arkansas vs Louisiana Tech:
Date: Saturday, November 23, 2024
Time: 4:00 PM ET
Channel/Stream: ESPN+
Stream: ESPN+ (watch now)
For Arkansas, this game is about seizing an opportunity to secure bowl eligibility after falling short in two previous attempts. The Razorbacks enter the matchup at 5-5, fresh off a 20-10 loss to Texas where offensive struggles and costly turnovers proved to be their undoing. With only two games left in the regular season, this matchup is a must-win for Arkansas to punch their ticket to the postseason.
On the other side, Louisiana Tech is playing spoiler while clinging to its slim bowl hopes. The Bulldogs are 4-6 but riding high after a gritty 12-7 victory over Western Kentucky last week, where their defense served the Hilltoppers their first conference loss of the year. This will be a battle on Saturday, make sure to tune in.
WATCH: Arkansas vs. Louisiana Tech on ESPN+
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Louisiana voters will decide whether to make it easier to send younger teenagers to adult prisons in a constitutional proposal next spring.
The Louisiana Legislature approved Senate Bill 2 Friday with a 70-25 vote in the House of Representatives and 28-10 vote in the Senate. The measure will be on the March 29 ballot that will also feature a major rewrite of state financial policy.
It would remove constitutional limits on crimes that can get people under age 17 sentenced as adults. Legislators would then have to enact new laws outlining how courts could send those minors to adult facilities.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry backed the proposal and sat in the Louisiana House of Representatives as legislators debated and voted for the bill Friday. Still, it barely made it through the legislative process. The proposal only received 70 votes in the House, the exact number it needed to advance to voters.
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Ahead of the narrow victory, Republican leaders appeared anxious to get through the House vote quickly and moved to cut off debate and questioning early. House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, also told Rep. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, she had missed a deadline to amend the legislation and refused to let her bring up her proposed change for debate or a vote.
One of the sponsors of the legislation, Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, also made a last-minute change to the bill to limit the offenses for which youth could be moved to adult prisons to just felonies, in part to address reservations lawmakers had about moving more young people into adult facilities. Prior to that change, the amendment would have allowed the Legislature to draft new laws to move minors to adult prisons for “any crime.”
Fifteen- and 16-year-olds, and in more restricted circumstances 14-year-olds, already face adult prison sentences for limited crimes without the constitutional amendment. Those offenses include murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated battery, a second or subsequent burglary of an inhabited dwelling and a second or subsequent violation of some drug crimes.
Youth advocates have said the broadening of that list to new offenses would do lasting harm to young teens caught up in the criminal justice system.
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Teenagers transferred into adult prisons are at much higher risk for sexual abuse from other inmates and don’t receive the same counseling and educational services available in the juvenile system. Adult sentences are also often years or even decades longer than what youth in juvenile facilities serve, advocates said.
Supporters of the constitutional amendment, which include the Louisiana District Attorneys Association and Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association, have said prosecutors need a larger list of crimes in order to hold younger teens accountable.
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Villio and Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, the sponsors of the legislation, mentioned a few crimes they think should be added to the list. Cloud said she would like to make the law applicable to carjacking, drive-by shootings and human trafficking. Villio said she was interested in adding fentanyl offenses.
Attorneys who represent youth in criminal matters said many of those offenses can be used to transfer teenagers to adult prison under current law.
They also questioned why human trafficking was being brought up as a concern because prosecutors rarely charge adults with that crime. Any teens accused of the offense are also likely being trafficked themselves, advocates said.
In an interview Friday, Villio said her intention is to get more crimes that “involve serious bodily injury” added to the list. Youth in the juvenile justice system who attack security guards and other workers at those facilities should receive harsher punishment, she added. Villio’s proposal comes on the heels of another law that greatly expands the transfer of teens to adult facilities. Earlier this year, Landry and lawmakers passed legislation that treats all 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system. The measure took away discretion from district attorneys to put accused 17-year-olds through the juvenile justice system instead of adult courts.
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