Louisiana is home to one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. State legislators have worked for the last three years to add an exception to the ban for underage children who were impregnated through sexual assault, and for the third year in a row the state legislature has rejected it. 

According to AP News, the bill was rejected on a 3-9 vote, with two Democrats joining their Republican colleagues in voting against it. The bill was authored by Democratic Rep. Delisha Boyd, who herself was conceived when her mother was raped as a teenager. “If we’re truly pro-life, we should also be fighting for the life of those children who are raped and molested,” Boyd argued. 

Louisiana is firmly within the Bible belt, so religion fueled much of the discussion around the bill.

Democratic Rep. Patricia Moore, who has also publicly spoke about how she was conceived after her mother was raped as a teenager, opposed the bill. Moore spoke about her faith and the role it played in her decision to vote against the bill. 

“I know we got to protect our children, but to this point right now, I cannot vote ‘Yes’ because I’m constantly hearing that God would take a bad situation and turn it into good,” Moore said.

While that’s a nice sentiment, the data shows otherwise. 

Louisiana has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, with Black women four times more likely to die than white women. In fact, in most states with abortion bans, Black women have disproportionately suffered from adverse health effects. The abortion bans also have seen infant mortality rates go up in the past several years. Simply medically speaking, these pro-life laws are killing a lot of women and children.

If we’re talking simply on the basis of morality, you’re forcing children to endure the pain of childbirth and to face a constant reminder of what is likely the greatest trauma they’ve faced in their young lives. Does God want that for their children? If so, is that a God even worth praying to? I ask this question as a Christian, because I personally believe that it’s on us to do right by our most vulnerable communities. It’s kind of one of the core themes of the book. 

“I know the Bible. But I also know God gives people the ability to do right and wrong,” Boyd said in her effort to give rape victims in Louisiana the right to choose. 

Louisiana had a “trigger” abortion ban which went into effect immediately after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022. Louisiana is one of 12 states in the country that bans abortion at all stages of pregnancy with no exceptions outside of medical emergencies. Of those 12 states, only four have an exception for rape. Since Roe v Wade was overturned, researchers estimate that 64,555 rape-related pregnancies have occured in states with abortion bans. 

The decision by the Louisiana state legislature comes during a particularly trying time for abortion rights nationwide. In Missouri, the state Supreme Court reinstated an abortion ban that voters rejected last November. On the federal level, the Trump administration rescinded Biden-era guidance that required hospitals to provide life-saving abortions, regardless if the state they’re located in has a ban against the procedure. 

Crazy how the self-proclaimed “most pro-life president in history,” is actively making moves that will actively endanger the lives of women and children across the country.