LA Committee Passes Bill That Would Keep Pregnant Women on Mechanical Support Against Their Wishes
Louisiana Senate getting ready to vote on Womb slavery bill.
After emotional testimony given by opponents of a bill that would allow the state of Louisiana to invalidate any advance directives when a patient is pregnant, regardless of the viability of the fetus, a committee voted to pass the bill and send it to the full senate. If passed by the senate and signed by Gov. Bobby Jindal, the bill would make it legal for the state to prohibit a family from directing physicians to remove mechanical support from a brain-dead pregnant woman.
The sponsor of the proposed law, Rep. Austin Badon (D-New Orleans), told the Senate Health and Welfare Committee that the legislation would not take away anyone’s rights. “It just gives a voice to the unborn child,” said Badon. “You can still die a natural death.”
HB 1274 would prohibit the “withholding or withdrawing of life-sustaining procedures from a pregnant woman.” The bill does make exceptions for when maintaining mechanical support would not “permit the continuing development and live birth of the unborn child,” or would be “physically harmful to the pregnant woman,” or “[c]ause pain to the pregnant woman that cannot be alleviated by medication.”