Abortion ban exceptions for child rape, incest fail in Louisiana House committee

A Louisiana House of Representatives committee scuttled legislation Tuesday to create exceptions to the state’s abortion ban for minors who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest. Their vote came after highly emotional testimony from supporters of the proposal. 

The House Committee on Criminal Justice voted 7-4 to reject House Bill 164 that would have allowed persons 16 and younger to have an abortion if they became pregnant after a sexual assault. All seven legislators who voted against the legislation are Republicans.

“That baby [in the womb] is innocent … We have to hang on to that,” said committee member Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, who voted against the bill. 

Rep. Lauren Ventrella, R-Greenwell Spring, also voted against the legislation, saying the proposed law would be difficult to enforce. Teenagers who had consensual sex might feign rape or incest in order to get access to abortion services, she suggested.

But the legislation’s sponsor, Rep. Delisha Boyd, D-New Orleans, drafted the proposal to protect children who are attacked by older men. 

“This bill now is focused on children,” Boyd said. 

Boyd has been open about being the product of a child rape herself. Boyd’s birth father – who she refers to as a “sperm donor” – was a 28-year-old man who assaulted her 15-year-old mother. Her mother never got over the rape, found it difficult to parent and died before the age of 30 after suffering from years of trauma, according to Boyd. 

Several people testified in favor of the legislation. 

Audrey Wascome, an anti-violence advocate from Baton Rouge, said she was a victim of incest who still copes with injuries from the childhood sex abuse she suffered at the hands of her grandparents. While she never became pregnant as a child, she said she was on bedrest for weeks last year when trauma to her sex organs resurfaced 40 years after the rape and sex trafficking occurred.

“I have visible scars both internally and externally on my vaginal area,” Wascome told the legislators. “The only people you’re protecting are traffickers, rapists and abusers.” 

Dr. Neelima Sukhavasi, a Baton Rouge doctor specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, also implored the lawmakers to approve Boyd’s proposal. 

She and her colleagues have delivered babies for pregnant teenagers, including mothers as young as 13, since Louisiana’s abortion ban went into effect two years ago. These young pregnant people can experience health complications that affect them for the rest of their lives, Sukhavasi said, and sometimes don’t have the mental capacity to handle the births.

“One of these teenagers delivered a baby while clutching a teddy bear,” she told the committee.

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The legislation faced powerful opposition. Louisiana Right to Life, the state’s most prominent anti-abortion organization, was against the proposal. 

Dr. Sally Ball, an internal medicine physician from Shreveport, testified in favor of providing more counseling and services to young mothers and their babies instead of opportunities for abortion. Ball said she is the result of incest. Her birth mother was impregnated by her mother’s uncle. 

Democratic lawmakers on the committee expressed frustration that Boyd’s legislation failed to pass. 

“I wish we were at a place where we could have grown-folk discussions about this and make grown-folk decisions about how we treat our children in instances like this,” said Rep. Vanessa LaFleur, D-Baton Rouge, who supported the bill. 

Rep. Alonzo Knox, D-New Orleans, was irritated that Republican legislators didn’t see links between children and teenagers being forced to carry unwanted pregnancies and some of the state’s juvenile  justice challenges.

When parents are too young to adequately take care of their children, those children feel unwanted and act out in unhealthy ways. Sometimes, they engage in criminal behavior, Knox said. 

The same committee that rejected Boyd’s legislation recently approved stiffer penalties for underage teenagers convicted of crimes. Knox said committee members should make a connection between forcing pregnancy on minors and juvenile crime problems.

“It’s a vicious cycle,” Knox said. “This is real people and real life we are talking about.” 

Beyond the child rape and incest exceptions, the House criminal justice committee also voted down three bills seeking to protect doctors from criminal prosecution for miscarriage management.

Reps. Candace Newell and Aimee Freeman, both News Orleans Democrats, brought legislation meant to insulate physicians and other health care providers from facing abortion-related charges if they were only trying to treat a pregnant person’s unavoidable miscarriage or troubled pregnancy.

The measures attempted to clarify and add flexibility to the state’s existing abortion ban so doctors could feel more at ease treating pregnant patients. They included House Bill 56, House Bill 63 and House Bill 293. 

Louisiana Right to Life also opposed these proposals, saying they were unnecessary because there was already enough clarity under the law.

Dr. Kim Hardy, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist who has worked with Right to Life for years, said doctors have not had to adjust their treatment protocol as a result of the abortion ban.

“The law is clear that doctors can take care of miscarriages,” Hardy said. “No [doctor] has been investigated by the state, and no one has been thrown in jail.”

Most of the doctors at the hearing disagreed with Hardy’s assessment, however. Other physicians and one incoming medical resident said they live in fear of criminal prosecution because Louisiana’s abortion ban is vague about what constitutes wrongdoing.
 
They also said the existing laws prevent doctors from administering the best care available to people who lose pregnancies.

“I do believe what physicians in this state are seeking is the clarity … to care for our patients,”  said Dr. Jennifer Avegno, an emergency room doctor and the City of New Orleans’ health department director. “[Doctors] want to care safely for their patients. They are very concerned about being thrown in jail.” 

Avegno and others who appeared at the hearing said interest in Louisiana among doctors in training, particularly as a place to specialize in pregnancy or emergency room medical care, is down. Less interest in Louisiana residency programs is likely to exacerbate the state’s shortage of obstetricians and gynecologists, they said.

Republicans lawmakers on the committee pushed back on this assertion. They said other factors, such as Louisiana’s low rate of reimbursement for Medicaid births, contribute to the lack of pregnancy care.