Defending Life 2008
Table of Contents
Louisiana 
#2 Most Pro-life State
Overview
Louisiana maintains some of the most comprehensive and protective regulations regarding the health and safety of women seeking abortions and the protection of the unborn. In addition, while the state does not ban human cloning, it does ban fetal experimentation and restricts the destruction of human embryos for research. Yet Louisiana does not adequately protect patients' wishes as expressed through advance directives for healthcare.
Abortion and Protection of the Unborn and Newly Born
Overall Assessment: Protective
Women's Health & Safety
- Louisiana has declared its policy that an unborn child is a human being from the time of conception and is, therefore, a legal person. If the U.S. Constitution is amended or certain United States Supreme Court (USSC) decisions are reversed or modified, the state will again prohibit abortions.
- Furthermore, in 2006, Louisiana enacted a measure banning all abortions once Roe v. Wade is overturned. While the ban includes an exception for life endangerment, there is no exception for rape or incest.
- A physician may not perform an abortion until at least 24 hours after a woman has been provided information about the proposed abortion procedure; the alternatives to abortion; the probable gestational age of the unborn child; the risks associated with abortion; and the risks associated with carrying the child to term. She must also be told about available medical assistance benefits; the father's legal responsibilities; and that her consent for an abortion may be withdrawn or withheld without any loss of government benefits.
- Louisiana also provides a booklet describing the development of the unborn child; describing abortion methods and their risks; providing a list of public and private agencies, including adoption agencies, that are available to provide assistance; providing information about state medical assistance benefits; and describing a physician's liability for failing to obtain her informed consent prior to an abortion.
- In addition, a woman considering abortion must receive information about fetal pain and also be given the option to undergo and review an ultrasound prior to an abortion. The woman must be told about the availability of anesthesia or analgesics to prevent pain to the unborn child. The mandatory informed consent materials will be amended to state that, by 20 weeks gestation, an unborn child can experience and respond to pain and that anesthesia is routinely administered to unborn children for prenatal surgery at 20 weeks gestation or later.
- A woman seeking an abortion following rape or incest and using state funds to pay for the abortion must be offered the same informed consent information (without the 24-hour reflection period) as is required for other abortions in the state.
- A physician may not perform an abortion on an unemancipated minor under the age of 18 without notarized, written consent from one parent or a court order.
- Louisiana requires the licensing of abortion clinics and imposes minimum health and safety standards in a variety of areas, including clinic administration, professional qualifications, patient testing, physical plant, and post-operative care.
- Only physicians licensed to practice medicine in Louisiana may perform abortions.
- Louisiana taxpayers are not required to fund abortions except when the abortion is necessary to preserve the woman's health or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. On the other hand, Louisiana does directly fund programs providing direct support for groups and organizations promoting abortion alternatives.
- Louisiana prohibits organizations that receive public funds from using those funds to provide abortion counseling or to make referrals for abortion.
- Louisiana has appropriated $1 million to the Office of Family Support of the Department of Social Services for abortion alternatives. The funds cannot be used by entities that promote, refer for, or perform abortions.
Protection for the Unborn & Newly Born
- Louisiana bans partial-birth abortion, providing that the banned procedure may be used only when necessary to save the life of the woman, and it creates a civil cause of action for violations of the ban. The measure contains more stringent criminal penalties than the federal law, imposing a sentence of hard labor or imprisonment for one to ten years and/or a fine of $10,000 to $100,000.
- Louisiana has declared that "the unborn child is a human being from the time of conception and is, therefore, a legal person for purposes of the unborn child's right to life and is entitled to the right to life from conception under the laws and Constitution of this state."
- Under Louisiana criminal law, the killing of an unborn child at any stage of gestation is defined as a form of homicide. In addition, an "unborn child" is a victim of feticide if killed during the perpetration of certain crimes, including robbery and cruelty to juveniles.
- Louisiana defines nonfatal assaults on an unborn child as a crime.
- Louisiana law requires that infants who survive an abortion must be given immediate and appropriate medical care.
- Under the Children's Code, "neglect" includes instances when a newborn is identified by a healthcare provider as having been affected by prenatal drug use or exhibiting symptoms of withdrawal. In 2007, Louisiana expanded the definition of "prenatal neglect" to include 1) "exposure to chronic or severe use of alcohol;" 2) the use of any controlled dangerous substance "in a manner not lawfully prescribed" that results in symptoms of withdrawal to the newborn; 3) the presence of a controlled substance or related metabolite in the newborn; or 4) observable and harmful effects in the newborn's appearance or functioning. The measure requires reporting by physicians to the appropriate state agency.
Bioethics Laws
Overall Assessment: Dangerous
- Louisiana restricts the destruction of embryos that have been created by in vitro fertilization.
- Louisiana bans fetal experimentation and includes "embryo" as a stage of life protected by statute. While Louisiana has no statute banning human cloning, this statute may be interpreted to prohibit conducting harmful experimentation on cloned human embryos.
- By law, IVF-created embryos are defined as juridical persons.
- Louisiana specifically prohibits discrimination based upon genetic testing, and particularly prenatal genetic testing.
End of Life Laws
Overall Assessment: Marginal
- In Louisiana, assisted suicide is a felony
- Louisiana provides no effective protection of a patient's wishes regarding life-sustaining treatment as expressed through his/her advance directive, and there is no duty to provide life-sustaining treatments while a patient waits for transfer to another facility.
Healthcare Rights of Conscience Laws
Overall Assessment: Dangerous
Participation in Abortion:
- A physician, nurse, medical or nursing student, social service agency employee, or other person, hospital, medical facility, or corporation may not be held civilly or criminally liable or be discriminated against for refusing to recommend, counsel, perform, assist, or accommodate an abortion for any reason.
- A hospital or medical facility may not be denied government assistance, be discriminated against, or be pressured in any way for refusing to permit its facilities, staff, or employees to be used in any way for the purpose of performing an abortion.
Participation in Research Harmful to Human Life:
- Louisiana currently provides no protection for the rights of healthcare providers to conscientiously object to participation in human cloning, destructive embryo research, or other forms of immoral medical research.
What Happened in 2007
- Louisiana enacted a state ban on partial-birth abortion, banning the same procedure as that proscribed in federal law. The measure provides that the banned procedure may be used only when necessary to save the life of the woman, and it creates a civil cause of action for violations of the ban. In addition, the measure contains more stringent criminal penalties than the federal law, imposing a sentence of hard labor or imprisonment for one
to ten years and/or a fine of $10,000 to $100,000. - The State also enacted a measure requiring that a woman considering abortion receive information about fetal pain and also be given the option to undergo and review an ultrasound prior to an abortion. The woman must be told about the availability of anesthesia or analgesics to prevent pain to the unborn child. The mandatory informed consent materials will be amended to state that, by 20 weeks gestation, an unborn child can experience and respond to pain and that anesthesia is routinely administered to unborn children for prenatal surgery at 20 weeks gestation or later.
- In addition, Louisiana expanded the definition of "prenatal neglect" to include 1) "exposure to chronic or severe use of alcohol;" 2) the use of any controlled dangerous substance "in a manner not lawfully prescribed" that results in symptoms of withdrawal to the newborn; 3) the presence of a controlled substance or related metabolite in the newborn; or 4) observable and harmful effects in the newborn's appearance or functioning. The measure requires reporting by physicians to the appropriate state agency.
- Louisiana also appropriated $1 million to the Office of Family Support of the Department of Social Services for abortion alternatives. The funds cannot be used by entities that promote, refer for, or perform abortions.
- In addition, the State also considered measures banning abortion; prohibiting funding for human cloning but promoting destructive stem cell research; and requiring insurance coverage of infertility treatments.
- The state did not consider any measures related to end-of-life issues or healthcare rights of conscience.
Opportunities for 2008
- Louisiana has not affirmatively banned human cloning.
- Louisiana maintains no comprehensive measures regulating assisted reproductive technologies.
- Louisiana has not banned the use of taxpayer funding for prenatal genetic testing used to encourage or counsel in favor of abortion, as opposed to treatment.
- Because Louisiana does not protect the wishes of patients as expressed in their advance directives, patients are vulnerable to the wishes of physicians and hospitals unless the state enacts a statute mandating transfer and requiring life-sustaining treatment pending transfer (and without a time limit).
- Louisiana provides no protection for healthcare providers to conscientiously object to participation in procedures other than abortion, such as destructive embryo research and assisted suicide.
