| Gov. Bobby Jindal and Rep. Katrina Jackson |
Unity for Life
How HB 388 overcame division
to protect Louisiana women
By Rep. Katrina Jackson (D-Monroe)
On May 22nd, the Unsafe Abortion Protection Act (HB 388), a bill that I authored, made final passage through the Louisiana Legislature by an overwhelming bipartisan margin. In a gesture that rarely occurs on the House Floor, I called all 52 co-authors of HB 388 to stand beside me as we sent the legislation to Gov. Bobby Jindal's desk. And let me be honest. While there have been many times I haven't seen eye to eye with some of those legislators, I was honored to stand with them on that historic day. A few weeks later on June 12th, Gov. Jindal signed HB 388 into law in my hometown of Monroe.
Over the last few months I watched in amazement as our state came together to protect women, transcending lines of race, gender, and political affiliation. By requiring abortion physicians to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their facility, HB 388 will ensure that women who do choose abortion and experience complications, such as hemorrhage, uterine perforation, or infection from an incomplete abortion, receive the highest standard of care possible at a local hospital without any delays. If abortion facilities cannot meet these basic standards by Sept. 1, they will not be allowed to perform abortions in Louisiana. Our nation must remember: There is no constitutional right to a sub-standard abortion!
When it became public that I was authoring this bill at the beginning of the 2014 session, people began asking me, "Why would you, a Democrat and black woman, be the author of this legislation?"
The answer is simple: It is the right thing to do.
Standing for life and protecting women should not be a Republican stance or a Democratic stance. It should not be a black stance or a white stance. It should be a human stance. God has created each of us, and He has called me to be true to my calling as a Christian and stand for life in the Legislature.
Unfortunately, none of this stopped abortion advocates from decrying the legislation. The criticism I found most astounding was they called HB 388, my legislation, a "war on women." Of course, one of the first to voice this rhetoric was Cecile Richards, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the nation.
In a CNN Opinion article, Women Won't Stand For Abortion-Rights Roll Back, Richards claims that "extreme politicians are grandstanding at the expense of women's health and safety." Richards argues that politicians are restricting access to abortion, and women won't stand for this because these bills don't have the support of most Americans.
However, it looks like Richards overlooks a few very important details. HB 388 was drafted by women, authored by women, supported by women, and voted for by women. Let's take a look:
* The legislation was drafted with the expertise of Dorinda Bordlee, a female attorney with the Bioethics Defense Fund.
* The bill was supported by the testimony of Kathy Kleibert, Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals.
* Along with my authorship in the House, Sen. Sharon Weston Broome carried HB 388 in the Louisiana Senate.
* Two-thirds of the female members of the Louisiana Legislature voted in favor of HB 388.
* HB 388 is modeled off a similar law in Texas that was upheld unanimously as a constitutional protection of women's health by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
While Richards tries to convince us that the requirements HB 388 propose are unnecessary, evidence and testimony prove otherwise. In the House Health & Welfare Committee, Cindy Collins, the founder of the Louisiana Abortion Recovery Alliance, conveyed her own experience of being injured during an abortion, only to be told by the abortion provider to "get up and get out." Cindy has since dedicated her life to counseling other women who have first-hand experience that abortion harms women both physically and psychologically and is more than the "minor surgery" asserted by abortion advocates.
Ultimately, when Ms. Richards says "extreme politicians are grandstanding at the expense of women's health and safety," she is referring to me as well as many others who are truly concerned with protecting women. As a woman and as a Democrat, I find this insulting and offensive. My message has been that regardless of whether someone identifies as "pro-life" or "pro-choice," we should all be able to agree that women undergoing surgical or drug-induced abortion procedures deserve better than substandard medical care.
As I see it, Ms. Richards is not speaking for "women;" she is speaking for the abortion industry. As the head of the largest provider of elective abortion in the nation, Richards and Planned Parenthood have a financial interest in opposing laws that require abortion providers to meet the same standard of care expected of any other surgical facility. The reality is women believe in implementing legislation that makes their health and safety the number one priority.
As you may know, it is rumored that abortion facilities in New Orleans and Baton Rouge will close as a result of HB 388. As of today, we have no proof to substantiate these claims. Only time will tell.
But no matter what happens, I have been honored to stand with men and women, Democrats and Republicans, and both black and white legislators to pass HB 388. We have overcome the lines that divide us to protect life, and I look forward to doing just that throughout the rest of my career.
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