FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 12, 2014
[email protected]
Today, Gov. Bobby Jindal signed an anti-choice bill imposing burdensome admitting privileges on abortion providers throughout the state of Louisiana. It is expected to result in the closure of all but one abortion clinic in the state.
Said NARAL Pro Choice America President Ilyse Hogue:
“When Gov. Jindal heralds his newly enacted law, he is celebrating a measure that corners women into using dangerous back alley procedures, unlicensed practitioners and the black market drugs already seen peddled on the streets of New Orleans. By shuttering nearly all legal providers of abortion care in the state, Gov. Jindal is putting at risk the health and safety not only of Louisiana women, but women from the region whose access to safe medical care in their own states has also been foreclosed.
“It is appalling that such a narrow-minded politician would try to build his conservative bonafides by trampling upon a woman’s constitutional rights and using the state government to restrict her freedom to make her own medical decisions. No one should have to look up her rights by zip code. We will continue to work with local groups in New Orleans, the Louisiana women ignored by Gov. Jindal today, and the majority of Americans across the country who agree that politicians should have no authority to legislate against the constituents who elected them and the courts that safeguard our essential rights.”
Earlier this week, Gov. Jindal signed H.B.1262 into law, which would require that a woman seeking abortion care be isolated in a private room and forced to read biased information about abortion services. This bill also requires Gov. Jindal to establish a task force to create the biased counseling materials, which would be staffed with (among others) two “crisis pregnancy center” (CPC) counselors.
NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all Americans. NARAL works to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”
###